I am not ready!!!!

[JRutledge]

I had a discussion with a very well respected official at the D1 level in Men's Basketball. He asked me what camps I was attending this summer. I expressed that to him I want to attend a D1 Men's camp maybe next summer. Well when I said that I was really asking what he thought about my chances or just what he thought about me attending such a high level camp. This was exactly what he told me.

"You are not ready."

I already know this so that did not suprise me or upset me. Then he went on to say,

"Camps like that are not places to learn, they are places to get hired."

Then he made comments about what decisions the make about officials.

1. The judge you one your game management
2. They judge you one the way you deal with players and coaches.

"Officiating at those camps is not about blowing the whistle, it is about all the other stuff you do. They observer EVERYTHING you do and judge you on that basis, not what you just call."

His last comment to me was, "you have to see the anticipate the play, watch the play develop, then make a call. And most of all, you cannot guess."

Interesting conversation and I am sure I will have more with him. But I want to move up to at least D1 at some point, this is no different than anything I have heard before.

Peace

[zebraman]

"you have to see the anticipate the play, watch the play develop, then make a call. And most of all, you cannot
guess."

Now that is something I completely agree with - anticipating the play is so crucial. And it gets a little more clear every year doesn't it? Seeing the block/charge coming before it happens and surprises you. Seeing a pass floated lazily in the air and anticipating that two opponenets are going to collide while going after it. Recognizing a team's offense so you know where the action is going to be and can be in position. Etc.

Z

[Love2ref4Ever]

I have heard similar things from a couple of officials.
From my own expierences I have seen good officials "fade away" during the course of a camp week. If it's a camp where you work three games a day, for four to five days you better come in shape and be ready to hustle by day four and five.Also if the camp games are all played out doors This may be extra work on your body, so be prepared.One of the reccomomdations he mention was "game management, and camp coaches & players can get really crazy sometimes. So you have to be able to communicate with them, and if you must "take care of business." I also agree that anyone can "blow there whistle," it's the calls you don't make determines how good of a official you are.One thing that bothers me sometimes about D1 officials is, if you ask them what camps should you attend they sometimes wll not suggest any one paticular camp. I was told this is due to the fact that if this paticular camp does not work out for you, you can't say "why did you suggest that I attend this camp?" Yet if they ask you what camp(s) will you be attending and you mention a paticular camp, sometimes there response may be "Why are you going to that camp?" The best one I have heard from a D1 official is, if you want to go far in this business you need to have a godfather that can help you.

[ChuckElias]

This is just my opinion, and it's quite possibly wrong, but I think that "being ready" for D1 is really overstated. There are a whole bunch of really crappy little D1 conferences where the level of play is not that much better than really good D2 schools. And there isn't even the added pressure of guys expecting to be drafted. I know that everybody would love to work D1, but it seems to me that if you let a very good D2 official work one or two of these crappy D1 games a year, that would get him/her "ready" for a major conference sooner than going to camps or working even more crappy D3 ball.

My first D2 game (it was actually my first college varsity game, too), I was called in as a last minute replacement. It was a good game and I did (I think) a very respectable job, with one notable exception. Anyway, after the game, the R says, "So what was the biggest difference from your other games?" And I knew the answer he wanted, so I said "The speed". And it was a little faster than what I normally see. But that was not really the biggest difference. The biggest difference was the intensity of the players and coaches.

My point is that I think you can give a guy a taste of the intensity of D1 ball in a "minor" conference, without making him call a game that is vastly different in quality of play. This is not to say that anybody can work the Atlantic Sun or the Northeast Conference. But I think there's a mystical feeling about all of D1 ball that's just not justified.

Again, just my opinion.

Chuck