I recently met a new official and she is eager to improve and be the best official that she can possibly become. The subject of camps came up and she mentioned to me that a couple of people (one who is not even a referee) told her that she should wait to start attending camps. This disturbs me because I am a "Camp Guy" and since attending camps I have learned so much that I am quick to suggest to other officials who have never attended camps to give them a try. Now, I need some feedback from other ofiicals into the pro's and con's for new officials attending camps. This person also reads the post on this website and will read everyone's feedback. So please don't pull any punches!

The only reason to NOT attend camps is if you don't want to improve, or want to improve at a snail pace... tell this person to get to camp...the feedback from the on-court time is important, but the input off the court - just sitting around and bs'ing with the evaluators and listening to their experiences and philosophies - that's where the real learning takes place!!

I went to my first camp (a instructional camp run by a D1 assignor who hired out of the camp) after my second year. My only regret about it is that I didn't go a year sooner. If you want to be the best you have to learn from the best. Go to the highest level instrucitonal camp you can get. One like my first is ideal. The instructors loved new guys because they had so much to learn and they are all eager to learn it.

You just gotta go.

When I first started officiating, I thought I knew what I was doing. Then I went to camp. WOW! Talk about a wake-up call! I found out that I didn't know anything. It would certainly be better if a new official could go to a camp designed for new or inexperienced officials, but it's not a necessity. Camp directors and counselors understand that new officials have a lot to learn but I think that, overall, they will be very supportive.

That's my $ .02.

ditto BktBallRef, I worked for three years. I was a great official. Then I went to my 1st camp. :( I quickly found out how bad i was at officiating. I found out I didn't have a clue. This was a good thing b/c i wanted to learn. I have been going to camps ever since. I attend 5 to 8 camps every summer. Its a blast. :) I may not be great , but i hold my own, all b/c of camps.

Reason.
 

I think that it depends greatly on why you go to camps. If you go to learn you should always go to them. If you go to get hired, you might find yourself disappointed.

Expectation has a lot to do with your experience and if you got anything out of it. Some are to get hired, others are for training and learning. The training and learning camps are the best for younger officials. The evaluation type camps are for those that want to get hired. You have to choose which ones are right for you.

Peace

Before you guys jump all over me just hear what I have to say.

I see nothing wrong with officials who have finished their first year of officiating attending an officiating camp. The key is that the new official attend a teaching camp as opposed to a tryout camp, i.e., the billions and billions of camps now run by college conference assigners.

There are many local teaching camps available, it is just that the new official has to do some research to find them. Now here comes the IAABO promo guys. IAABO conducts four or five officiating camps every year. With the exception of one camp, the emphasis is on two man mechanics, which is what 100% of all new officials use the first couple of years, at least of their career. For the IAABO camps, one can to to the IAABO web site (http://www.iaabo.org) to get information of their camps.

100%? I have to disagree with you there. Our JV officials work the 3 man system. While they do use 2 man for middle school games, most 1st year officials will also get JV games their first year. We also use 3 man in 15U and older AAU games. We have a lot of inexperienced officials working with veterans during these games.

The first camp I went to was a 3 man camp. Of course, it was easier then as there was no rotation. But everybody switched on every foul. Don't get me wrong, learning the 2 man system is important. But in some cases, it's important to learn 3 man just as quickly. Different areas do things differently.

Interesting that in NC the JV officials work 3-person. In VA, at least in northern VA, we work 2-person freshman and JV. We work 3-person for all varsity games and we have several rec leagues that are 3-person.

Regarding camps, I echo what you guys are saying. My first camp was the George Tolliver camp at JMU and it was all 3-person and I had never worked 3-person. Talk about a learning experience! I had been offiating for a couple of years and thought I was fairly good, but knew I needed to get much better. We had one camper that came from Colorado and he had never officiated a game at any level. He said he wanted to learn the right way from the beginning and he did. As I watched him throughout the camp (4 days), you could just see how much he was learning. He won the award as the most improved (naturally).

Stripes, what was the name of the first camp you went to?
To the others: What are the best instructional camps you know of?

The IAABO camp was the first one I attended, it's a great
camp for the first timer, geared towards new refs, very
nice staff, solid fundementals, not at all competetive.
They have camps in the southeast, check 'em out at http://www.IAABO.org

The Pro's And Con's Of New Officials Attending Camps
 

There are a couple of 3 person instructional Camps that stand out to me and they are George Tolivers Camp, and Hoop Mountain. I am sure there are more, but I can only give feedback on the ones that I have attended. Are there still camps out there that only use 2 person crews?

Love2,

When were you at Hoop Mountain? I attended in '99 and '00. Maybe we worked together?

Chuck

The Pro's And Con's Of New Officials Attending Camps
 

Chuck,
I attended Hoop Mountain last summer, sorry I missed you the previous two years!

One of the best instructional camps that uses a 3-man system is Donny Vaden's Camp at VA Tech. I have been the past 2 years and wish I had gone sooner. I waited 3 years before I went to a camp. At Donny's camp, there are a mix of NBA, D1, D2, D3, and veteran high school officials as evaluators. The on-court and off-court instruction is great and you usually work about 3 games a day.

I think the cost is about $225.00 (includes meals and dorms). There are usually about 60 officials there from VA/NC/WV area. Even one guy came from Texas last year. The dates this year are June 19-22. If anyone wants anymore info, feel free to e-mail me.

[email protected]

goodluck this summer