Preparing for partners who are new

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by zeedonk

Any particular checklist of things to go over that are over and above the regular pregame conference? Have you ever informed a coach that "hey, my partner today is doing his first game/in his first year" type of stuff? How do you respond to a coach who is asking you about partner's positioning, blown call etc? I will always stick up for my partner, however, what happens when there is an obvious blown call (one is fine, a series is different) and the coaches are on you about him/her?

Z

You should always have a pre-game no matter who you are working with. As you get more experienced the things you talk about will change, but you always want a pre-game.

You do not want to alert the coach of the experience level or lack of experience of partner, especially before the game. That is a big no-no!! Coaches often do not know the difference anyway and you do not need to give them more ammo to go crazy.

Lastly we all blow calls. It is not your responsibility to save your partner if they mess up a call. What you do not want to happen is a rule or obvious mistakes go unaddressed during a game. You know like not shooting the right FTs and putting the ball in the wrong spot. But you do not have the responsibility to take back a judgment call or some other play they called in their area. And most of all you need to communicate to your partner. And when you think you have communicated enough, communicate some more. And keep in mind you have not been doing this very long, so you have to worry about your job too. If you worry so much about your partner, you forget about yourself.

Peace