Excellent point on "have a rhythm". I've been trying that recently with kids and rec games before HS season starts.

Here is what I do:

Blow the whistle, yell either "offense or Illegal screen," and then punch in the respective direction. I have a bad habit of not putting the fist in the air or instead of punching, I point. But the majority of the time, its whistle, offense and then punch.

I try to go fist in the air as I'm hitting the whistle and then use that same fist for the team-control foul signal in the driection that we're now going. I have the bad habit of usually saying "this way" as I'm punching. Then when I report I report color, then number, then team-control (with signal), then illegal screen with proper signal...Long switches are hit or miss around here. I will tend to initiate a long switch if I'm lead in this situation working with my (immobile) usual partner for youth travel games. It's just faster than waiting for him to get to the other end.

Don't Get Any Sand In Your Shoes ...
 

Rookie officials take note, this is a good suggestion.

Back In The Saddle: You must be really tired after your volleyball game. You have to give signals and stand on that "ladder thing", without moving the entire match?

Well, yeah, except for the "landing the airplane" thing :D

This is actually harder than you might think. I start to tighten up after standing straight up in one spot for an hour or so.

What's "Landing The Airplane" ???
 

Touché.

****This post is not meant, in any way, to suggest that using proper mechanics is not important!!!****


Any one who has seen me ref knows that my floor mechanics are not great. They are very stripped down and "college", not very NF. I referee a fair amount of HS games and had gotten pretty far up the food chain locally, far enough that no one ever said anything about how my mechanics were not proper for HS games. That being said, I moved to another state and was a nobody there. My first season there I had a game between the #1 and #2 ranked 5A teams in that state. (that caused a huge uproar among the local officials, but that's another story)

There was an evaluator from the state office at the game watching me and my partner. I had 3 PC fouls during the game, which was won by the visiting #1 ranked team. After the game we were in the locker room with the evaluator going over the game and the PC fouls came up in the discussion. The evaluator said that the calls were great and that they were all needed in the game. He praised me several times for the good calls and then proceeded to rip me for never putting my fist in the air to start the foul call sequence. (I just point and yell "offense"). The ripping lasted lots longer than the praise ever did and then he told me what great calls they were and left. I sat in stunned silence for a few moments until my partner changed the subject.

My point in all of this is do what they want you to do wherever you may be. I moved back to my original state and can use my "regular" mechanics, but in the other state, I needed to do what they wanted. Observe and adapt. Do what you are supposed to do in your area.

IMO, a very important philosophy that often gets lost in our discussions about officiating.

Supervisors/Evaluators are human and have their own quirks and peeves. The ability to adapt is very important to career progression.

On behalf of the Cadets out there- we will be evaluated and floor tested this season (if not already). How do we know which evaluators want which things? For instance, our cadet supervisor has several evaluators he sends out- pretty standard, I suppose. For evals and floor tests, is it best to just concentrate on trying to use the proper mechanics, or will we not know what we are doing wrong until we hear it or see it graded afterwards? What if the evaluator is not in tune with the supervisor? Does that happen?

PLeeezzze Uncle Stripes, can you tell us the story? Pleeeze!

On minor things, sure. But hopefully supervisors are hiring evaluators who promote the boss's philosophies.

I moved in to this new state and was put on the V list right away (I was fortunate to have been able to work a scrimmage where decision makers could watch me work ina "real game" environment). This state uses officiating crews for basketball. For the first half of the season, I had no partner. I just filled in where the assignor needed officials. I had not sold my house in the other state and so my wife and kids were not with me. I had nothing else to do so I reffed as much as I could and was fortunate enough to work with the best officials in the area ( a major metropolitan area). That was a real boon for me because I got to know the "right" people early in my time there.

One of the top guys got hurt around Christmas time and was out of the rest of the season. The assignor asked me if I wanted to take his place for the second half of the season. I knew the partner and accepted right away.

The #1 vs. #2 game was the last game of the season. The two teams are rivals, the play in the same league and the #2 team's only loss to that point was on the #1 teams home court. It was the biggest regular season game in the state that year.

My partner called me and told me to get there early because the gym would be full. When I got to the game (prior to the JV game tip off), I was met by acop at the parking lot to tel me the lot was full. I identified myself as a game official and they told me that they had saved me a parking spot. I was escorted to a tennis court and I parked there.

I went directly to the gym and I got one of the two last seats in the gym (the other was for my partner who got there about 10 minutes after me). Ticket sales and the gym were closed before the JV games started. It was a loud, packed house for both games. Once my partner got there, he told me that his phone had been ringing off the hook all day with other officials (not the guys who had already worked with me, but from guys who didn't know me and only heard about me) wanting to know who was working the game with him because his regular partner was hurt. He told them he was working the game with stripes and then it started to hit the fan...they we all mad because I "hadn't earned the right" and "was brand new" and "couldn't handle the game" and "other guys deserved it more" and so on. My partner handled it perfectly. He totally stuck up for me and assured them that I was more than qualified.

The game went fine and then after the game his phone started ringing again (from the same group of guys) wanting to know how badly I had screwed the game up. Once again my partner totally had my back and let them know that things had been fine. He could have sold me out or thrown me under the bus, but he stuck up for me. I learned a great lesson about being a good partner off the court as well.

Stripes...........good story, thanks. I've had guys move into my area and experience the same situation you had and as in your case, they deserved the big games.

ok an illegal screen is a violation...so then in that case you would just stop the clock with your hand straight up in the air, then do the signal for an illegal screen point to the spot and color of the team that is going to be having the ball for either you, or your partner, to know where the ball is going.

am i right?