Concentration and Delaying Whistle
 

Whats everyones keys to concentrating on play in your calling area? I find it hard to concentrate when the ball is close to my area. When looking for off the ball illegal contact I catch myself glacing in the direction of the ball to make sure it hasn't reached my area. Is this normal? I'm a first year official doing JV/Middle games in 2 man.

Also, I know one of the keys in our area this year is delaying our whistle for a split second to rule if contact was advantage/disadvantage.
-Is there any so called "tricks" anybody uses for delaying a call?

Thanks

1) I think you have this question backwards. If the ball is in your area, you have it until it leaves your area AND the other official picks it up. So, when the ball is NOT in your area, you don't need to be so "anxious" to see the ball to know the *instant* it enters your area.

2) This one is hard. It comes with experience. You can try to recognize and "call" (to yourself) the contact first, then make a second "foul" or "no foul" call.

I'm really using this on fastbreaks, I'm literally chanting to myself

"Let the play finish."


It's working.

One thought on this that really helped me out in my development. It's about body position for me. If the ball is not in my area, I turn my body toward where I'm supposed to be looking. I rarely am standing parallel or perpendicular to the lines, I'm usually angled to where when I'm looking ahead, I'm looking at my PCA.

That said, even moreso in 2-man than 3-man, you have to be very aware of where the ball is. But focus, focus, focus on the action in your area. Pick the two players who are most likely to be the focus of the play, and pay attention to what they do. You have to be aware of all players, but normally there is just one or two matchups that really has the potential for "trouble".

My game came a long way in this area when I got comfortable with two ideas: first, a late whistle that's correct is always better than an early whistle that's incorrect; secondly, watch the entire play. That includes what happens after contact.

There are some calls that are just there. A clubbing that has to be called and you can whistle immediately. But most contact requires seeing everything that happens including how contact impacts a player. If you are waiting to see the "result" of the play, you will automatically have a more patient whistle.

While working on this, by the way, you will have to be willing to blow your whistle quite late sometimes. I still have a whistle or two a game that seems "late". But I get many more of these right now, and a lot less of them wrong, than I used to.

Good luck in developing this part of your game.

I agree 100% there.

Primary coverage - I constantly count the number of match ups in my area. I use this tool all the time and it allows me to concentrate on those matchups.

Delayed whistle - I was told this and had to work with it in rec games for a number of games to get it right. Count to one thousand and one after you think that you should have whistled, then blow. The times to avoid this is hard / intentional / flagrant calls. After a while it becomes ingrained. It will look weird to players, coaches and fans while you are developing the technique. That is why I did in summer / rec ball. It is now much more natural.

Doing it has helped me a great deal this year...my 2nd.