Do any of you find yourself changing your normal style of calling to match your partner(s)?

Last night I worked with an experienced older official who calls only JV and Middle School ball. He had a tendency to let the teams play more physically than I am comfortably with. I found myself ignoring a lot of contact in order to match his style and make the officating consistant on both ends. I have experienced this same thing with inexperienced officials who haven't yet learned the types of minor contact that creates an advantage-disadvantage situation.

Yes, we did switch on just about every foul, but it just doesn't seem as "professional" when one official calls it tight and one calls it loose.

I'm sure I am not the only one who has had this experience. What do any of you do in this situation?

1. Call your normal game and make your partner look good/bad.

2. Match his style to make both of you look good/bad.



INSANITY - Continuing to do what you always do and expecting different results.

This is something that should be addressed in a pre-game. I always ask a "foreign" partner how much contact they let go - especially hand checking and post play.

In situations where your partner is calling the game extremely differently to you, the ideal is to compromise and meet in the middle. Use a time out or between quarters to discuss it with your partner.

If your partner doesn't meet you in the middle, then in fairness to the players, the only option is to meet their standard of refereeing. However, this can be a real problem if your partner is letting way to much contact go, someone could gt hurt.

After thinking about, I guess there is just no easy answer :)

This will mess you up.
 

Do not call the game just to mirror your partner. This will get you in trouble as well as your partner. You have to call your game and your game only. You start trying to call a game just to mirror you partner, you might find yourself just as wrong as your partner. Instead of one bad official, there will be two bad officials on the floor (or the way they will look at it). Call the game with advantage/disadvantage in mind and leave the "tight" and "loose" terminology behind. "Tight" and "loose" is not really subscribed by the rulebook, but advantage/disadvantage is.

Now what you might do, if your partner is calling handchecking, you might be aware that certain defenders are handchecking. But it does not mean that you call it. Or if your partner is calling some fouls on screens, you might be aware of what is going on off-ball, but do not just call something because your partner is calling it. You might be calling things that are not there.

Peace

STOP !!!!
 

ranjo,
This is your sixth year it is time to develop your own game based on <u>your</u> present knowledge and experience
Do not waste your time trying to match your partner, as I did.

BIG Temptation, but BIG Mistake!
I know.

If you continue trying to match a different partner every game, you have no identity. You have only mish-mash!
I know.

If a coach sees you with three different partners and three different games, he doesn't know what to expect... you're inconsistent!
I know.

Develop your own game personality now. The sooner the better.
I know.

Yes, take tips from your partners, learn from them, but call your own game. It is not too soon! It is not too late!
I know.

Establish a starting point. Then adjust your thoughts as you learn and grow, and not because you changed partners.
I know.

Then, after you have <u>Your game</u> defined within your thoughts and philosophy,
<LI>Use it, don't lose it.
<LI>Trust it, don't rust it.
<LI>Believe it, don't leave it.
<LI>Amend it, don't pretend it.
<LI>Work it, don't shirk it.

I know!

mick

Re: STOP !!!!
 

Mick, you shootin' for the Nobel in Philosophy?

Re: Re: STOP !!!!
 

I thought he was going to the Johnny Cochran School of Law. (If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!)

Chuck

P.S. -- Is there a Nobel for Philosophy? I don't think so. :confused:

As an experience official, ask yourself why your partner is not a varsity official. Then see what calls you can and should match. Obviously, block charge should look the same. Show some intellegence in what you match. At camp a few years ago, the clinician was talking about matching your partners calls. But he was assuming good officiating from his partners, not poor. Overcoming a bad partner is one of the challenges you are now faced with. That is a different discussion. I had a rookie that if I had matched his calls we would have had a lousy night. I called everything I could in my area of the floor and some in his to cover the game. He was just to scared to blow the whistle. Blow your whistle. Call your game. Do your switching and you will get through the night. What is going to happen if an evaluator steps out of the stands after the game and ask you why you weren't calling anything? He came to see you call, not your partner and you just lost a chance to call in the state tournament. Sorry.

Thanks to all of you who replied. I suppose I knew the RIGHT answer all along, but it always helps to hear it from somebody else.

Mick - Sounds like you have been there before. What a great response! Hope its not copywrited as I plan to use it at a future board meeting.

INSANITY - Continuing to do what you always do and expecting different results.

Speaking as a non-referee, I gotta tell ya, its interesting to hear these kinds of issues from a referee's perspective.

As a coach, what I ask for from refs are consistency and fairness. If one ref is making the majority of the calls, it not only looks bad, it can also call into question those two factors. I know, I know, I'm just a howling monkey, but its true.

The points you make about using the pre-game and in-game play stoppages to discuss philosophical differences are critical to avoiding such circumstances.

I understand the points some of you make about avoiding being labeled as wishy-washy, etc. They're valid points. Just be prepared, right or wrong, for more abuse than usual if you and your partner can't come to a workable compromise.

I have to agree with Mick here on this topic. You cannot spend your entire career worrying about matching up with partners. Mind you, I am not saying not to work with your partners, but each game that you work is completely different in its own way.
Sometimes on given nights, you might be the official that is forced to make all or most of the calls because of the calls being in your primary area.
However, I do have to agree if there is contact at one end of the floor and it is being called, then contact at the other end of the floor has be called as well.
In short, develop you own game based on experience and advice from games and other officials. After a while, you will develop a rythem of what you are comfortable with and what you are not comfortable with.

John Sandlin

Coach,
Regarding your patronizing warning, we try to be prepared for every thing, every personality, every night, every game.

If you really think we aren't aware that we are judged at every whistle, then think again.

We do know we are putting it on the line every time we make a call, or no call. We don't have the luxury to say, "That's gotta be something!" We aren't allowed to guess. We have to use our eyes and not our emotion. You can stand there on the sideline second-guessing. We don't have that option.


<u>And</u>, do you honestly prefer two mediocre officials to one mediocre official and one solid official? Hmmmm.

mick

I can easily stop the abuse! :D

You know you can ask questions, make comments, etc. You move to abuse, and I'm gonna sit you down.

John,
Given the different philosophies of officials, contact may be called differently. The slight differences in officiating is part of the reason to make sure we use proper rotations.
But, when we work with the same partners regularly, the calls become more homogeneous because of all that quality *windshield time* we get driving to the game, and with the way your Association works, I would expect much more constency than most other areas. ;)
mick

Well this is why you are a coach and we are officials. ;) It is very difficult to even try to mirror a partner, when you are doing your job. If I am watching my area and doing my job, it is not uncommon for me to not have a clue what my partner called and why. If I am watching him, then I am missing what is in my area. Especially in a 3 Person game. If you want consistency, you need to worry about that from each official individually. If officials know what they are doing, you will see similar calls from each official. And you will also see times when one official is making a lot of calls. That does not mean anything is wrong, it just means that is the way the game flows.

BTW, about the abuse thing, some of us do not give a damn (lack of a better word). You can complain all you want, I will just tune you out and worry about other things. As long as you do not get personal, question my integrity or say a few choice words to me, complain all you want. I will treat you like you are not there. Because if you are upset and do not want me back, I probably passed many schools to get to your's. :D

Peace

Few coaches are able do that (recognize a given call from a given official) on a regular basis.
About all they look at are the shirts in many cases, just like we often only see colors and rarely see numbers except when we have to report them.

How many times have we officials been chastised for a made call that we never even saw?

Some coaches think they are more than they are.