Working with a Veteran

[jTheUmp]

I'm a second-year basketball guy myself...

Last year, whenever I was working a game with a veteran official, I'd always say something like this to them before the game: "I know you're not going to be looking at me all that much, but if/when you see something I'm not doing right or that I could improve on, please let me know so I can get better". In fact, I plan on using this line again again this year.

I've had a couple of partners who wanted to do the "no switching because I'm lazy" routine, which I normally countered with "Do you mind if we keep up the normal rotation? I still struggle with when to rotate, and that's something I really was hoping to work on today."

You'll also find that you'll quickly figure out which guys have ten years' experience, and which guys have one years' experience ten times. Make sure you take to heart the advice/pointers of the former, and forget/ignore most of the advice of the later.

Another good way to get vets to warm up to you... Ask them for advice about how you should have handled a situation that happened in one of your prior games.