Advice for a new official

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by theboys
For what its worth (one cent maybe), here's a howler monkey's perspective. In addition to those things quoted by Chuck:

1. Ignore fans completely, unless they become abusive. In a small setting ask the coach or an administrator to address the fan. If that doesn't work, kick 'em out. Nothing much worse than a ref who gets in a yelling match with a fan.

2. Ignore coaches unless their whining becomes excessive. If you feel comfortable doing so, use wit to defuse situations. I wish I had more referees like the people who post here...I think. If a coach whines a lot tell him/her to have a seat. I find I grow a lot quieter when I'm sitting on my brain.

3. Don't take any crap from players.

4. After the game, get off the court asap, even if you have another game on the same court in a few minutes. I watched a hotly contested game where one ref left the floor, and the second chose to sit down at the scorer's table. The ref who remained got into a loud shouting match with a parent. Not pretty.

More excellent advice, particularly #1 & #4. Ignore the
fans. No ifs, ands or buts. If you need to kick a fan out
of the gym have someone else do it - security, league director, coach, anyone. As for #2 & #3, I believe
each official goes throgh a process where he gets
comfortable with the how he handles coaches/players. I, for
one, usually will try to actively engage coaches and players. If I'm ignoring someone then I've already
written him off as an @sshole & he's on a very short
leash. Frankly this is not something that new guys can
easily do, but generally, it's better if the new guy
listens. But if you're as new guy working a full schedule
you'll probably have your fair share of T's, deserved &
undeserved.