Toughest call for you?
 

I'm a first year, and I wonder what's the most difficult judgment call for you guys to make.

For me, it's the hard drive to the basket block/charge call (as the lead).
(follow up question: what specifically do you concentrate on to make the right block/charge call)

Block/charge is among the easiest of calls for me.

The most difficult call for me is travelling. Kids are doing amazing things with the ball these days and they're really crowding the border on what travel is or isn't.

For me, it's also the block/charge, especially as the lead official. It hasn't happened enough in my games for me to get used to it. Some good advice I recently received about being lead official is to step back off of the baseline some, and move out toward the 3 arc to get a wider field of view. I've gotten myself caught too many times basically right underneath the basket and have missed some calls because of it.

Concur.

While not as experienced as some, I find the block/charge easier to call too. If the defender has LGP and the offensive player doesn't get their head and shoulders beyond the defender (over simplification) it is easier for me to call/sell as at the younger levels - say F and below, so few players, coaches, fans actually get/see the call, they are usually overjoyed and elated that someone actually called it.

While traveling is a more common violation/call, it happens so often at the younger levels and I just feel I miss it more than I should....and my evaluators have let me know that. I need to work on this.

PS - I called a player-control foul in a VG game last night and the fans went absolutely wild like they had just won the state championship. It was one of the more surreal moments of my career.

Traveling is the hardest for me.

This is a tough one. It's either icing or pass interference, especially when they happen in the backcourt.

basket interference, goaltending

oh yeah, and that call to my wife telling her I just accepted more games tomorrow night:D

HA! Very funny!

Amen to that

Calling the jump ball on a blocked shot when the defender's hand gets on top for a split second before the shooter releases the ball.

When I first started it was the block/charge. Now its traveling.

No question, traveling.

I think the most difficult call is getting the shot off the glass/block right. Sometimes they can occur so bam-bam fast, it can be difficult to know if the ball hit the glass first or if the hand hit the ball first.

If you referee the defense, block/charge is easy.

If you'll pick up the pivot foot, traveling is easy.

Bobby Knight would concur. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRZSr...eature=related

I'm not sure I understand. What difference does it make if the ball hit the backboard first or not? Isn't it a matter of the ball in downward flight. Short guy on layup can put ball off glass and still ball on upward flight.