Worked with "That Guy"
 

Guess it was my turn in the "That Guy" lottery tonight. I worked a couple of Jr High games with a partner that just loved calling all over the floor. A couple of long distance calls on plays right in front of me that would have made Ma Bell blush.

He was a nice guy but he made me feel like handing him my whistle and taking off early. One play during rebounding action right in front of me while I was at trail. Defender comes across, lightly brushes opponent in the back and doesn't displace him. I pass on the foul as my partner is hammering his whistle. I think I heard the bus warming up to run me over after I overheard a fan yell out "That was right in front of you, how'd you miss that one?" :rolleyes:

Ah well, I've been away from the court for a couple of weeks so it was nice to be back at least.

Isn't that the case in most games at that level? You usually work with someone really, really new or someone that is not that good to begin with.

Peace

True enough...got to keep paying dues I suppose.

Part of the maturation process is to work with people that are not as good as you or as experienced and learning to work around it.

Peace

What I was usually ask my partner is the following (if he is approachable)

1 - if you are watching that action then who is watching your primary???

2 - I thought that play was marginal contact, do you think you could have

passed on that play????

3 - And of course, if you blow your whistle again I am going to leave !!!!!

I usually begin with, "What did you see on that play?" More than once I've been surprised to learn that "that guy" picked up something I didn't see and would have called if I had.

But normally it transitions to a discussion about letting me call my own plays. ;)

Instead of #2, I'll just comment on how there was no affect on the play.

I don't usually have problems with this kind of stuff with the guys I work with, but I was with a guy once last year in a 3-whistle game and again this year in a 2-whistle game who has a tendency to call other people's line on OOB calls. As C in 3-whistle he would call the Lead's endline, then in the 2-whistle game this year he kept calling my line all over the court no matter where he was. I talked to him the first chance I got and told him that I could handle my lines, and if I need help I'll let him know. That straightened things out.

Thank you for the advice, folks. I certainly need to get better about initiating these types of discussions, even if it is after a game.

I had a game last year that I wasn't mentally ready for (a traffic accident had me showing up just in time to walk out onto the court.) I kept hitting the whistle on my partners' OOB lines; and knew I was doing it. It was just strange.