First varsity boys game
 

I started doing varsity girls last year, and had my first varsity boys game last night. A couple notes:

1. I got a call from my primary assignor asking if I would take this game -- 1 h 40 minutes away! Game fee will cover approximately half of my mileage.

2. I think I did OK. I had two great partners and tried to match their game. I might have missed a minor travel and maybe a couple of other things, but I didn't have a "stinker" -- you know, the call that has everyone in the gym either screaming at you or scratching their heads asking "what the heck was that?" I made one or two calls as L on C's side of the lane, but they were double whistles. Still working on the different PCA's for 3-person.

3. Two smallish teams that play basically the same game. We had about 30 fouls in the first half, including a double T that partner called in the 1Q. It was right after a shooting foul where the shooter ended up on the floor. The fouler kinda stood over him in a threatening way (not quite taunting), and the shooter's teammate got up on the fouler's face. One coach said "isn't that a little quick?" Partner replied: "Should I have waited until they threw a punch?" Didn't have any further trouble that night.

4. Second half went much smoother. Oh yeah: to complete my initiation and to make sure I didn't get home quickly, we went to overtime (sorry Padgett).

I didn't tell my partners that it was my first varsity game until afterwards. Didn't want them to worry about me. It was good.

Beautiful response and quite accurate, too.

Hoorah!
 

And even more importantly, they didn't notice! Good job.

You were wise to take the game, even if you had to drive through a blizzard to get there. If you hadn't, you might be doing nothing but junior varsity girls next year.:)

Assignors have a long memory when it comes to the officials that'll go out of their way to help them out when necessary. If they don't, they damnwell should.

Congrats, mbyron! Glad it went well...

Exactly my thinking. I have moved up faster than average, and I attribute that partially to trying to help out.

I also attribute it partially to the gang here. You know who you are. :)

You know, I've noticed that myself. Every association is full of the guys who always complain about their partners, their assignments, locations, the gym the have to ref in, the coaches they have to ref against, how many games they're not getting, etc etc etc.

I decided last year to make a concerted effort not to be "one of those guys" and be the guy in the association that my assignor thinks of when he thinks "now, I need a guy I know I can rely on who's not going to be a whiner." I don't turn games down, even if it means working with a guy I don't especially like or against a coach I've had problems with or in a gym that's a little further than I want to drive that day.

And, just a few weeks ago, during my evaluation, he said pretty much that (that I was a guy he could always rely on), and my name has come up in discussions of which JV officials to put in the "transition pool" next year.

So, I think it helps a LOT to be "low maintenance" and just be the guy that can be relied on.

Not to run this thread off topic, but here is a very good post by BITS about working with assigners http://forum.officiating.com/basketb...tml#post629132

I forgot to add this to the original post (and I apologize in advance for tooting my own horn).

I think my best call of the night was actually a no-call. One partner (very professional, very solid official) was L and I was C. H1 was driving the lane, went up, and crashed into V1, who was set and vertical. H1 crashed to the floor, missing his shot.

We both held our whistles. Then I look at L and he's making this signal that says "straight up and down!" H1 initiated the contact, but V1 was put at no disadvantage (he was big, and didn't budge).

So we head the other way, and I'm thinking, "good patient whistle, good no-call." It was certainly not a perfect game or even my best, but I nailed that one!

Congrats on your first boy's varsity game and from the sound of it, a quite successful one at that!

Out of curiosity, how long have you been officiating basketball?

Atta boy! ;)

I'm curios too. Mbyron's posts have great credibility. Hard to believe it's his first B/V game. Like he's been around forever. Hardly ever disagree with him.

Just goes to show the power of professional writers... :D

I Was Surprised Also ...
 

Agree. It almost knocked my socks off. I did a "Danny Thomas Spit-Take" and then double checked the poster's username.

What were we saying about confidence vs. ego? ;)