I need some strong advice.....

[SWMOzebra]

Originally Posted by Chess Ref

Example. I'm Trail,player drives from partners primary we have all kinds of colliding ,falling, pushing, shoving and partner has a no call. Now I'm lead and I come up with a call on a similar play. And so it goes all night.

My suggestion is two-fold, for whatever it's worth (maybe .02, maybe not): (1) make sure your "money" partners switch with you on every whistle you can and (2) if you can't be consistent with your partner then at least be consistent with yourself. If you're the lead on the V end of the floor and call contact on the shooter, then you better be calling the same contact as lead on the H end of the floor.

When a coach eventually asks you about call discrepancy (and we all know one of them will), you simply state "Coach, I'm calling my primary as consistently as I can" or "Coach, I didn't see the contact you saw...it was in my P's primary, you'll have to ask him about it." No matter how much you want to, NEVER throw a partner under the bus to a coach. It makes us all look bad in the long run.

Good luck and hang in there!

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by SWMOzebra

When a coach eventually asks you about call discrepancy (and we all know one of them will), you simply state "Coach, I'm calling my primary as consistently as I can" or "Coach, I didn't see the contact you saw...it was in my P's primary, you'll have to ask him about it." No matter how much you want to, NEVER throw a partner under the bus to a coach. It makes us all look bad in the long run.

Good luck and hang in there!

For red: By using the words 'my' and 'I' your are indirectly throwing your partner under the bus. (IMO)

For purple: "Coach, my partner had a lot better look, you'll have to ask him about that play"

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

For red: By using the words 'my' and 'I' your are indirectly throwing your partner under the bus. (IMO)
For purple: "Coach, my partner had a lot better look, you'll have to ask him about that play"

Coach is questioning a partner’s call:
“Coach, that’s a good call, as a crew we have to make that call.”
“We’re calling it on both ends.”
“Coach, he/she was right there and had a great angle.”
“Coach, we’re not going there, I can’t let you criticize my partner.”
“Coach, he/she had a great look, but if you have a specific question, you’ll have to ask him/her, he/she’ll be over here in just a minute.”

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Coach is questioning a partner’s call:
“Coach, that’s a good call, as a crew we have to make that call.”
“We’re calling it on both ends.”
“Coach, he/she was right there and had a great angle.”
“Coach, we’re not going there, I can’t let you criticize my partner.”
“Coach, he/she had a great look, but if you have a specific question, you’ll have to ask him/her, he/she’ll be over here in just a minute.”

Not gonna throw my partner under the bus, but I personally would not say this part if I didn't believe it.

[Back In The Saddle]

I don't have a lot to give as far as what to do with the money men. Just have two thoughts for you to consider:

1. You've moved up this level because of what you have been doing.
2. These guys are still at this level because of what they do.

Seems pretty obvious to me that you need to not only keep on doing what got you here, but continue working on what will take you to the next level.

Best of luck to you.

[shishstripes]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

I don't have a lot to give as far as what to do with the money men. Just have two thoughts for you to consider:

1. You've moved up this level because of what you have been doing.
2. These guys are still at this level because of what they do.

Seems pretty obvious to me that you need to not only keep on doing what got you here, but continue working on what will take you to the next level.

Best of luck to you.

I was actually thinking the same thing, you've caught up to them, work hard, and that hard work will be acknowledged and pay off in the end. While they are still working that same level, you will move past them.

[Rich]

The only piece of advice I can give is that there ARE people who call too many fouls. The place I normally see this is during the JV game before mine, where there's a whistle ever 20-30 seconds and the game starts at 5:50PM and is still going (even with 7-minute quarters) at 7:20PM, pushing my game's start time back. I've seen both teams in the double bonus in the third quarter for no good reason. To those officials, contact equals foul, and they will never move from those games. With no real associations (the state doesn't require membership and the games aren't assigned from them anyway), the local guys hired to work JV are usually happy to stay there and it shows.

I'm not saying you are doing this and, yes, we do brag when we have games with only 18 fouls. It means we had a game with little fouling, though, not a game where we ignored everything just to get off the court.

So I would step back and make sure that you do, indeed, have a patient whistle and are judging foul/no foul decisions based on advantage/disadvantage (up to a certain point, at least). I do know there are some games where we called <30 fouls in a game where some of these JV crews would've called well over 40. Let's just say our version of reality is, IMO, better than theirs.

But hey, I've worked with these kind of guys, too. You can see in your peripheral someone getting hammered with no call. It could be poor judgment, poor positioning, or what you said -- a desire to just get it over with and get out. Don't reach, though. It will do you no good in the short or long term. It will get you into bad habits when you finally do get to work with better officials.

[chartrusepengui]

Are you assigned partners or can you choose. Here, I get to choose my partners and have been very careful finding the "right" kind of official. I have my partner for 2 man, and we have two others that rotate working with us in 3 man.

[mbyron]

If you get stuck with what you're calling a "money guy," in pre-game try appealing to his sense of how the game is best officiated. Use "we need to..." and emphasize that you're a team. Appeal to those noble motives and that love of the game that brought him to officiating in the first place.

It doesn't always work. But I think it's the right place to start.

[OHBBREF]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Use "we need to..." and emphasize that you're a team. Appeal to those noble motives and that love of the game that brought him to officiating in the first place.

It doesn't always work. But I think it's the right place to start.

Be yourself, call your game, and there isn't much you can do beyond that.

Someone is going to notice you doing it right.

But do not over extend and get into making calls all over the floor.
That is just going to make the issue worse for you and easier for your partner.

If it is an elephant and has to be made that is one thing, but let your partner hang himmself.

[Chess Ref]

Hey thanks for all the suggestions. There's a couple I can grab on to and hopefully, NOT , use tonight. But I'm glad I have some fresh eyes to look at stuff like this.

[dbking]

Here is my $.10 worth of advice....

It all starts in the pregame. I know that there are guys that do not like to do a pregame regimen. However, when you are new to the group or you do not know the partners, then this is essential.

Have a script for pre game. I have one, it is on a card and make the pre game a team effort. Talk extensively about advantage, disadvantage and displacement. Also talk about protecting the shooter.

Include a review of what the crew knows about each team. Also talk about consistency as a crew and that there are three teams on the floor. Your job is to be the best team on the floor.

Include in the process some what ifs and how are we going to handle.

On floor, work the heck out of your primary. At first time out, come together as a crew and discuss a couple of plays that have happened and ask your partner what he saw.

Your words to the coach should always be, "Coach, I had the same exact call. I trust my partner. He/she was in position to make the call." or "Coach, I do not know but I will talk to my partner and either he or I will get back to you."

Review the plays at half and discuss if you are following your pregame. Do not count fouls. Sometimes it happens that you have a whole bunch more fouls.

Post game, discuss again and ask the coach to send you a tape. Review the tape with an open mind. Find out if you are too tight or partners are too loose.

Chart the tape:

Grade all violations: Correct, incorrect, missed or can't see on tape and where each of you called from. Also note of whether they were in your primary or not.

Grade all fouls: Correct, incorrect, missed or can't see. Also mark where you had double whistles. Chart the distribution of fouls by primary, L,T and C. Note whether they were primary or not.

You may find out more from tape review than you do during / after the game. Share the info with your partners. See if you can open some dialogue. At the end of the season, I would put together enough data and share with your mentor / person you admire. Cut a number of clips in video to share with mentor and get some feedback.

You do not need to do every game but do the ones that felt good and the ones that felt bad.

Hope this helps....

[Juulie Downs]

Find the highest person in your association that you think does a great job, and ask them what to do. The politics are as important as the calls you make.

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by chartrusepengui

Are you assigned partners or can you choose. Here, I get to choose my partners and have been very careful finding the "right" kind of official. I have my partner for 2 man, and we have two others that rotate working with us in 3 man.

Assinged. We have over 300 refs in our assigning pool. I have consistently been assigned the "money" refs. It could be just a function of where I'm at in the pecking order. First 12 games this year I have had 7 of these refs.