Ok, I can certainly see that. I thought he was making a general claim that the liability is worse, so he would never do it, regardless of the state's position.

Billy Mac,

I'd add one more thing to your list, in large, bold, all capital letters: DON'T GET SO CAUGHT UP IN "WORKING SOLO" THAT IT DISTRACTS YOU FROM CALLING YOUR GAME!

Not that it's ever happened to me ;)

Billy,I know right were you are coming from with your comments earlier in the thread. We have several instances up here on Board 7 where due to lack of officials, some games are assigned only 1 official from the start. It's just the nature of the beast. Too many games / not enough officials. We dedicate one of or Better Officiating meetings to this very subject at the beginning of the season and go over with our brother and sister officials the best way to handle working alone.

That is kind of hard to do when you list a bunch of guidelines for what is basically an unusual situation. ;)

Peace

The funny old thing about this human race thing, is that different people react differently in the same situation.

For me, it would have been helpful to have possessed more one-person knowledge going into the game I was thinking about. With only a handful of vague notions about how to work alone, I was WAY too focused on the details of how I was going to try to work the game, and not focused nearly enough on cleaning up guard play/hand checking, which would have saved me a LOT of grief during the actual game.

So I suppose Billy's list might consume one official, to the point where he cannot focus on the game, and yet free another official from having to think about mechanics so that he can focus on the game. ;)

I have found that this is the best way for me when I have worked alone. You can try to start out thinking you can see enough going from free throw line to free throw line and stay opposite the table, as some suggest. But when the action is in front of the benches and you can't see through people, you need to get your butt over there. I go as deep as I need to and back and forth from table-side to opposite side. I don't see how you can do a good job working alone if you stay on one side of the court. It's hard and you miss things, but you still have to do as good a job as you can.

What I find difficult as well is when my partner shows up in the middle of a game that I started alone. It takes a few minutes for me to stop looking all over the place and stay focused in my primary.

Once again, this is not supposed to happen. If it does happen I would not want to hold an official to a strict guideline when I am not the one who is going to be on the court. If I am watching someone work alone, I am certainly not going to begrudge them on how they do it. If you want a well called game, make sure you have 2 officials are working the game and it is better if you have 3 officials. If you want to come up with a guideline that is perfectly fine with me and many others here I am sure. I am just not going to downgrade an official for doing something very difficult even for the most in shape person. If anything I would only be concerned about are they trying to hustle. Other than that, they need to survive.

Peace

Why Are We Both On The Same Side Of The Court ???
 

This is so true.

Perhaps I misread BM's intentions, but my impression was that what he wanted to put together was some useful information and strategies that would assist the official who finds himself in the unfortunately position of having to work alone, not to put together some kind of standard one-person mechanics manual that officials would be held to and graded on.

That seems like those are his intention, but I question the intention for the reasons I stated earlier. If that is what you want to do, more power to you. I just think there are bigger problems to worry about than trying to come up with a standard when everyone does not agree what those standards should be. Even if you set a standard and people do whatever they want then what?

Peace

I have had to work alone a couple times (albeit, lower level games) and I don't think I would have found any guidelines to be useful in these games. The only hope is a good pre-game conference with the coaches and then a good one with the captains. After the tip the only thing I tried to do was continue to move and give myself every opportunity to have as good a look at the ten players as possible. Sometime that would mean being high and other times you got caught low because of the flow of the game. Afterward the coaches have made it a point to let me know they appreciated the effort I made in the game.
Working alone happens so rarely that putting together guidelines just does not seem like time well spent.
( I still had a parent in one of the games yelling for three seconds and all I did is turn around and say "you're kidding me right?")

I'd have stopped the game, given the parent a whistle, and told him that it's his job to call 3 seconds while you watch everything else. The catch? Mr. 3 seconds can only call it against his team. ;)

One Mississippi, Two, Three, What Do You Mean I'm Missing A Great Game
 

Your right. Three seconds may be the hardest call to make in a one person game.

Your second sentence is included the guidelines that I posted, so in essence, you are following some of the guidelines:

Coaches and Administrators Conference
The first thing that you should do is to bring both coaches, and the game administrator, together, explaining that your partner has not shown, or is injured, and that you will be officiating the game alone, to make sure that everyone is in agreement that the game will be played under these circumstances. Set the parameters for the game at this time. This will give them an idea of what to expect if they agree to play the game with only one official. Be honest and upfront that you are going to miss calls because there will be things that you will not be able to see. Request coaches cooperation, express advance appreciation for them assisting you in keeping themselves, and the game, under control. Tell them that you may even ask them for help on out of bounds calls in front of them. This is a great time to stress and remind them of the importance of good sportsmanship and the example that they can and should set for their players. Advise the game administrator that the cooperation of spectators will also be expected.

Pregame Captains And Coaches Meeting
In the pregame meeting with the captains and coaches, explain that you will appreciate, and expect, the cooperation from all ten players on the floor. You may ask them for help on out of bounds calls. Tell them that if you do not know who caused the ball to go out of bounds, and both sides try to argue that it was off of the other team, then the possession arrow will be used. If you tell them your expectations up front, they will work with you. Let them know that you expect the players to retrieve all loose balls out of bounds, since you are observing the players on the court.

I remember my first one person, back then we called it one man, game. I tried to go baseline to baseline, trying to be the lead as much as possible. I quickly became exhausted. I also tried to call all the out of bounds by myself, never thinking to ask the players, or coaches, for help. When I wasn't sure, we had a jump ball, back then we didn't have an arrow, we had jump ball at the foul lines as well as the center circle, so we had a lot of jump balls that game, and you know how much fun those can be, especially with only one official.

I wish that someone had suggested some guidelines, not mechanics set in stone, to me before my first one man game. I would have had, as you suggest, a really good pregame with the coaches, and the captains, and would have included the site director in the conference. I would have avoided, as much as possible, trying to go from lead to lead, and instead, with few exceptions, spent most of my time going from trail to trail. I would have used the players, and coaches, to help me on some out of bounds calls. Without any guidelines, I was forced, after doing several one man games, to come up with my own "mechanics" by trial and error. The guidelines that I borrowed from the Greater Sudbury Board of Basketball Officials (IAABO Board 106), and the Topeka Officials Association (Kansas State High School Activities Association), weren't new to me. I, as well as any other official who has done more than just a few one man games, already know these common sense guidelines. Our local board justs want to write them down so that the first-timer has a little head start on his, or her, difficult task.

Yep, my biggest fear about working a game by myself would be missing all those 3 second violations :D

Do I Blow The Whistle When The Ball's In The Backcourt ???
 

That's why I like Back In The Saddle's suggestion. Instead of a 30/35 second shot clock operator, have a three second shot clock operator. Be sure to select the parent with the biggest mouth for this job.