Level of Officiating

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by iref4him

Last night I was evaluating two referees officiating a boys varstiy game. One official is young and up coming. The official is a veteran. The game has past the veteran and the young official has gone to camps to improve himself. As the game went on, I noticed the younger official going away from his game and officiate like the veteran. I have seen him 5 times this year. This was his worst game.

Afterwards we talk. He said that he felt so out of sync with the other official that he just lost his focus. I told him that you can't officiate to the level of your partner. If he is doing a bad job, you have to maintain your game or step it up. With the other games, he has worked with much better officials than his partner last night. He officiated better at those other games. He said he had a hard time feeling comfortable with the partner last night.

I told him I understand and I have been there also. He was a coach at one time. I asked him how many times did you tell your players who cannot just play to the level of your competition. You have to play your game, even when the team is weaker than yours. I said the same for officiating. You cannot officiate to the level of your partner. You have to work harder when the partner is pulling his or her weight. YOU have to maintain, stay focused, call your primary, and when necessary step it up to manage the game.

My question is - do you beleive that you sometimes officiate to the level of your partner(s)? What do you when he feel yourself going there?

Just the opposite for me. I tend to focus harder knowing that we as a crew have a weak link. It actually happened last night, with a very weak partner and the R and I talked about it prior to our pregame. That said, you may find yourself trying to cover his area to compensate for his perceived shortcomings, which I try not to do. Rather than save comments for halftime, at timeouts I may bring up concerns that need to be corrected immediately.

Conversely, I've been with top officials, and on the food chain, I'm the third guy as far as experience goes. I don't ever think I was the weak link however and try and bring my level of officiating up to my partners.

As the sales guy at Best Buy told me "your sound system is only as good as it's weakest link", so it may apply to an officiating crew.

[Loudwhistle]

Originally Posted by fullor30

Just the opposite for me. I tend to focus harder knowing that we as a crew have a weak link. It actually happened last night, with a very weak partner and the R and I talked about it prior to our pregame. That said, you may find yourself trying to cover his area to compensate for his perceived shortcomings, which I try not to do. Rather than save comments for halftime, at timeouts I may bring up concerns that need to be corrected immediately.

Conversely, I've been with top officials, and on the food chain, I'm the third guy as far as experience goes. I don't ever think I was the weak link however and try and bring my level of officiating up to my partners.

As the sales guy at Best Buy told me "your sound system is only as good as it's weakest link", so it may apply to an officiating crew.

Agree completely, I have a hard time not watching my partners area in two man when I know they are weak. The longer you reff the more you get accustomed to "knowing" where to look for key fouls or violations during common plays. I know watching my partner's area is wrong, but as a crew we are judged as a unit and sometimes game flow can be attained by picking up some of their missed calls. I'm mainly talking about games below HS. In three man HS, I generally will not call a foul in another person's area unless it is dirty.

[bbcof83]

As a younger official I do find myself struggling with this issue from time to time. In my under-varsity games I have no problem calling my game and, if needed, I don't hesitate to step up, "be the man" for that game, and take control no matter the experience of my partner. I haven't yet put my finger on why I can't do this at the varsity level yet. Probably just inexperience...

I think mbyron is right that sometimes "officiating down to your partner's level" is driven by a drive for crew consistency. I know this is wrong but in my head I'm thinking: "I'm not about to start calling everything to compensate for him/her. And if s/he let a lot of contact go at that end, I better let it go at this end. Right?" That's what goes through my head at the time. In actuality, I'm lowering myself to my partner's level. How do we combat this erred thinking?

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by bbcof83

I know this is wrong but in my head I'm thinking: "I'm not about to start calling everything to compensate for him/her. And if s/he let a lot of contact go at that end, I better let it go at this end. Right?" That's what goes through my head at the time. In actuality, I'm lowering myself to my partner's level. How do we combat this erred thinking?

Stay focused and call your game. Don't worry about "this end, that end," because if you're switching correctly (or initiate some extra switches) it will even out.

If a coach complains, just say, "Coach we're all doing our best out here." Leave it at that.