First Games
 

Got 2 Jr. High boys games today. I've read some of the horror stories about officiating at that level...I hope I come back alive!

Ensure to come back and tell us: how wonderful it was; how quiet and appreciative the parents were of your efforts; how the coaches knew all the rules and shared with you; and how the players are all headed for Duke, Memphis, Ky, Ks, and NC! :p

Good luck!

In the Chicago area, we should just focus on making sure they all take their own SAT's

with the right Coaches there is no need to take the SAT:rolleyes:

You should have fun. Yes, they can be a pain. But they can be pretty good. I havent worked them in a long time. But I remember my first year officiating. After a bunch of freshman and bad JV games, a mentor of mine said we were going to go do some junior high games. I first complained saying, I work low enough level, do I really need to go down. He said (and was right) that these games are often better attended, have more cheering (though the parents are more psycho) and have some better players than the games I had been working. Granted, he cherry picked a few for us and we worked at a junior high post season tourney of some sort. He also said many of these kids have played AAU together for some time and may be better as a team than the ones I was used to and also that a couple of the kids--though 8th graders now--will start on varsity as freshman. He was right. The games were way better than my freshman games.

So there is a story of good, fun, quality play at the junior high level to counteract all the bad stuff you have heard.

Go have fun!

Good luck! I have my first game tonight, a Sophomore boys game. Two 8th grade girls games tomorrow and a pair of 7th/8th grade boys games on Thursday.

Coached at that level (and no I did not know the rules.) :o
I am doing a lot of reffing at that level. It's fun if I have the right attitude. I do a fair amount of preventive officiating, some instructional officiating in the rec leagues at this age and some instruction for coaches as well.

The biggest problem can be the score keeper and clock operator. I make sure they concentrate on the basics and communicate with each other throughout.

Good luck - let us know how it goes.

Just got back...I made it.

My partner was an older gentleman with a limp. Needless to say we didn't do much switching. I did make a note of when it should have happened though. Got a few whistles from him in my area, but not too much of a problem

The games themselves were ok, and only one out of four coaches said anything to me, and he was asking a question. Had one play where I was L, and A1 shot the ball from behind the basket and it hit the basket supports. I blew the whistle, and then immediately realized it wasn't my whistle to blow. Oh well, the game wasn't close and we played on.

Had one comical situation...beginning of the second half, it's A's ball. A1 forgets which basket he's going towards and when he gets the inbound starts heading for the wrong basket. He then realizes his mistake, stops dribbling, and starts walking back toward the division line. Felt bad for the kid but we had no choice but to call travelling.

Other than that, nobody got hurt, and there was no overtime!

Very nice! Keep working hard and take something from every game.

I'm sure Mark is proud you didn't have overtime! :D