First camp advice

[zeedonk]

Thanks for the advice- I'll go with the "OKs" and "thanks" the rest of camp.

When might it be appropriate to ask any of the observers or directors for further explanation or to discuss a particular play in more detail? Obviously, its not during the game or while they are involved in another game- after the games perhaps?

Or should I not push the envelope without a specific invitation? It sounds like an obvious question, but if the observers don't want the campers to get too deep into what they advise, then I don't want to seem ungrateful or that I'm arguing with them. I/we don't know the answer, or I/we don't know why I/we should have passed on that call, that's why it's my/our first year and first camp. Ask or figure it out for myself?

[Camron Rust]

This situation reminds me of a funny issue I encountered at camp several years ago....

I'm lead and Observer1, on one end of the court, is telling me I need to move to spot X. After a trip or two and a foul or two leaving me lead on the other end of the court, Observer2 is telling me I need to move to spot Y. It happens that spot X and spot Y are very different directions from each other relative to where I had been positioning myself. Each trip to the opposite end of the court, I keep getting "corrected" on my position since I couldn't figure out where I should be with conflicting info.

We got to the end of the half or a timeout and the observer I was closest to was starting to talk about the position again. I responded that I would be happy to do as he asked but that the guy on the other end of the court was telling me to move the exact opposition direction and I was having a hard time figuring out how to do both.

He had a good laugh when he realized what was going on and the dilemma I was in with to sets of conflicting instructions.

Aside from a case like that, I agree...not much response is advisable.

[mick]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It happens that spot X and spot Y are very different directions from each other relative to where I had been positioning myself.

Closing down vs. going wide?

[Odd Duck]

At the last camp I attended I worked with an official who was new to 3-official mechanics. I don't rememeber the specific point, but apparently during our post-game session with the evaluator he received input that conflicted with something said previously. I thought his response was great and I have put it in "my toolbox".

He said "Excuse me but I am confused and since there is a very high probability my confusion is my fault can I ask some questions?" His first question started with "Earlier in the camp I understood the clinician to say I should..." and ended with his restatement of what the evaluator just said and asked for some assistance in reconciling the advice. I thought that was a great approach in bringing up conflicting advice without being a "Yea but" camper.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Odd Duck

At the last camp I attended I worked with an official who was new to 3-official mechanics. I don't rememeber the specific point, but apparently during our post-game session with the evaluator he received input that conflicted with something said previously. I thought his response was great and I have put it in "my toolbox".

He said "Excuse me but I am confused and since there is a very high probability my confusion is my fault can I ask some questions?" His first question started with "Earlier in the camp I understood the clinician to say I should..." and ended with his restatement of what the evaluator just said and asked for some assistance in reconciling the advice. I thought that was a great approach in bringing up conflicting advice without being a "Yea but" camper.

Did you work a game with me? This is more or less what I do and did just a few weeks ago at a camp at Central Washington when I received apparently conflicting information. The evaluator was happy to expand on his comment (the two statements were not actually conflicting...just one was misunderstood) and I ended with "Thanks, I've got it now".

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by mick

Closing down vs. going wide?

Exactly! Was a really fun experiment to try to split my body in half and cover the same play from two angles.