First Game in 4 Hours!
 

My First Ever HS game is in 4 Hours!...Called my R last night and he did not know that he was scheduled to work the game..YIKES!

I think I already made my first solid call BEFORE stepping on the Court:)

Good luck...try to have fun.

Good luck tonight. Be patient with the whistle and slow down, don't be in a rush. Have fun!

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Act like you've been there and no belted pants!!!!!!:D

And remember the first rule of officiating. :D

You guys knew it was coming, didn't you.:rolleyes:

Good Luck
 

Have fun, have a patient whistle, let us know how it goes.

The games get easier as you move up. Better players better coaches and better refs!

Have fun.

In football, I experimented with a longer lanyard a few seasons ago. It's designed so that you can hold the whistle in your hand and run without having your arm restricted by the short lanyard (football officials, at least the good ones, do not work with the whistle in their mouths).

My first thought that day was to remember rule number 1 of officiating. Recently, I realized that rule also applies when wearing a necktie.

Nevermind ...
 

That's either some long necktie, or some long ...?

Enjoy ...
 

Have fun. Be sure to give us an update tomorrow. With all the gory details.

Depends how much you bend over in the process.

Chances are the R on this game with you will not be the best or worst official you ever work with, but you WILL remember him. Try not to let him, or your experience, or lack of, get in your head during the game. Focus on the calls and the action. Nobody else in the gym knows that it's your first (except maybe the R)

Don't forget to BREATHE! Good luck,

Don't think of it as your first HS game - think of it as just another game where you do your best. I am sure you don't try less at a MS or JV game just because it isn't a HS game so give it your best and don't worry about what level it is - no need to put pressure on yourself that you don't need

Don't forget
 

to double check your bag. Be ready for anything. My first V contest the R says I'm givin the pregame and tossin it!

Good advice, except now his game is finished! lol

Where are ya, OP? Updates...!

He's probably just getting done........ ;)

He'll be back with all the gory details I'm sure!

It gets better, doesn't it?
 

I got to my VG game the other night and between when I last looked at Arbiter and I got to the game there was a change and I moved into the R. Hey, it happens....... It wans't my first V game though.

UPDATE: The R turned out to be a guy with 40 years plus experience and took control of the game from the minute we stepped on the court and he counseled me thru the game and was very verbal.

Here is what I experience my first ever time on da floor:

1) Watch the Ball way too Much!
2) Need to get deeper off the base line and not right on top of it for a much better angle.
3) Multiple times messed up on throw in by not being on the outside of the player..2nd half I corrected this by telling player please hold your spot and then I could position myself correctly
4) Kicked an over and back call
5) I was way too slow with the pace of putting the ball back in play..waiting for partner to get set. He told me to pick up the pace at half time and I did!
6) We had a book problem..player not listed..the R assessed the T.


Good Stuff:

1) Commuincated well on throw in spots
2) Paid attention to who the shooter was and who foul was on
3) started and stopped the clock with proper mechanic
4) Solid Free Throw Admin
5) Coaches did not yell at us
6) Survived the game with no major problems :)

Thanks Guys for all your Kind Words!

ONE LAST ITEM: My Flexbelt unhooked and fell down my leg onto the floor in the middle of the game..YIKES!

During your first V Game?
 

Classic!

Originally Posted by The_Rookie
ONE LAST ITEM: My Flexbelt unhooked and fell down my leg onto the floor in the middle of the game..YIKES!

10 years from now this will be really funny when you are telling your friends about your first high school game.

Billy did, but you caught me by surprise.

I shortened mine. Almost had a situation like that once. And others have had worse things on the floor.

Funny how this is deemed to be important in some areas. At our games, we self-select the R mainly based on "who did it last game."

The R has always been selected with our assignment systems in VT & here in FL. I think that is because the software requires a designation in part. But, the assignor also makes those decisions. I have been R some of the time, but on what would be perceived as less stressful matchups. Which is fine by me. It gives me an opportunity to learn.

We have a regular crew, just like we do in football. The three of us work together a majority of the time. I am the crew chief, so I'm always listed on Arbiter as the R. When our crew works, we rotate the R position each night. I'm comfortable doing that because we have a veteran crew and I know we're on the same page.

When one of my two partners closes out, and we have a fill-in, I work the R. I don't want someone I'm not as familiar with making a decision as the referee that could get us in hot water. If I'm the one the assignor is going to call the next morning, then I'm calling the shots.

Or rock-paper-scissors.

Seriously, though, what shots do you call? You toss the ball (or designate the tosser) and have defined areas of responsibility as the referee, but the R's responsibilities don't include telling the rest of the crew how to work the game.

If we whack a coach, the R will traditionally file the "loss of coaching box" report with the state, but even there as long as it gets done it doesn't matter who files the report. Of course, we don't have a central assignor and we've only ever had one conference assignor who tried designating the R (he also refused to hire crews, which is the area norm), but he only lasted 2 years in the position.

Or say something like, "I don't feel like running the extra 42 feet, I'll be the R tonight."

Busy this week? I have 3 (tonight, tomorrow, Thursday). Only one is a tourney -- the championship of a 4-team thing tomorrow night.

My pregame recently as R has included "Other than tossing the ball, there's only a few things that the R alone has responsibility for. Your job as U(s) is to make sure we don't get in any of those situations."

Exactly. But I've worked with Rs who think it's their jobs (you know one of these guys) to tell the Us how to officiate. I want all my partners to be Rs (in the camp-speak vernacular, not as the designated R for the game) and the only time I'll jump in is if we have something weird and I don't know what's going on or I don't think the coaches were adequately notified.

(Example: We had two players get tangled up after a basket. T blew his whistle, stepped in while they untangled, and then got ready to put the ball in play. As the L, I had no idea what happened -- I thought maybe we had a delay-of-game warning, which would need to be recorded. The coach in my lap had *no* idea what had happened. So I hit my whistle and asked my partner and then communicated to both benches. I was the R on the game, but I would've done the same had I been the U1 or U2 in the book.)

5. Double dip on Thursday, JUCO followed by a non-conference between D1 #2 and D2 #2.

All 3-person except tonight. :)

Great advice Bob.

Never said it did. :confused:

The shots I call are related directly to the referee's responsibilities. Most specifically, that's addressing any issues that might occur with the table crew and the proper administration of the game. I can't, and I'm not going to, over rule a call but as the R I'm going to make sure we properly penalize anything that's called. We're going to discuss situations as needed and if a decision has to be made, I'll make it.

For example, this happened in a game two years ago when we had a fill-in.

Second half, A1 is holding the ball in the low post when B1 attempts to grab it. A1 is doing a good job avoiding the held ball when there's a whistle from the trail. TWEET, "TIMEOUT!" He grants a timeout to Coach B. Coach A gives me a "WTF" look? I have to agree.

We grant the timeout to B. After the timeout, I explained to her that A1 had possession of the ball and that the timeout should not have been granted. As such, it's A's ball on the endline.

Had I not been the R, the situation could have been more difficult to correct.

Why? Any official can screw that up and once the whistle blows the only choice is to enforce it as an IW and give the ball back to A. I can make that mistake if I'm the R, U1, or U2. If the R granted that timeout, I would make sure that I stepped in and made sure that we got it right.

I don't see any magical powers required here.

I usually let the junior person (if I'm working with a stranger) "be the R" if only to let that person lead the pregame, etc. Once the game starts, it's usually obvious if one official's stronger than the other, anyway.

Umm...if B's coach requested the TO, and it was incorrectly granted (because A still had the ball), the TO is still awared and taken under Fed. rules. It's an IW only under NCAA rules, I believe.

Maybe that's why Tony needed to step in as the R. :)

But, otherwise, I agree with both of you. Of course, there aren't any "magical powers" associated with the duty, but sometimes a stronger personality is needed on a crew, and that person is usually better off being the R.

The *whistle* is an IW. The timeout is then granted by rule.

Ok, figured you knew that. :)

I only wanted to point that out to newbies that might want to simply say "never mind" and not grant the TO. I happen to "own" this rule because of...ahem...experience. :eek: :(

Only the R...
 

can declare a forfeit, that is a pretty big shot to call. Did it once at a church ball game (of course) where I was the R the U1 and the U2.

That's great unless you get the occasional idiot assigned with you. What if the guy who you made the R says, "No, I'm the referee and this is what we're going to do"? Then we have a problem on the floor where officials are disagreeing with each other. For example:

I was working the bases in a rec league baseball game a few years ago. As the pitcher came set while looking at the runner at 2nd, the batter stepped out of the box. The pitcher started his motion and stopped when he saw the batter out of the box. The idiot behind the plate called a balk. I tried to explain that it was clearly defined in the rules that this was not a balk. Coach B also knew the rule and it didn't take long to get ugly. In the end, the idiot wouldn't listen.

So please don't tell me it can't be an advantage to be the head official in such a situation. No, my way, that's not going to happen when I have a choice.

Magical? No. By rule? Yes. They're listed in rules 2-3 and 2-5.

I can have the junior person give the pregame. I can even have him toss the ball if I want to. I don't need to make him the R to do that.

There's no right or wrong here. If that works for you, great. Hope it doesn't bite you in the a$$ some day. My way works for me and that's the way I will continue to work it.

Stoopid IAABO Mechanics ...
 

IAABO mechanics mandate that when a technical foul is charged to the head coach, then the referee, and only the referee, will inform the head coach that he, or she, is required to sit down.

Here, in our little corner of the Constitution State, we have decided to ignore that mechanic. We have the noncalling official infom the head coach that he, or she, is required to sit down.

I just discovered that this season. Got that question wrong on the IAABO mechanics exam.

Well On Your Way!
 

This is willingness to accept feedback and do a good post-game review for yourself tells me that your head is in the right place, you are good at taking care of business, and that you're on the right track. Keep it up!

And I own it too.....recently. Thankfully, it was in a fall, developmental league.

The nice thing about ownership of a rule is that you rarely go out and buy the same model again.

Agreed!
 

and after I applied the rule, the V coach said I should not grant the TO and go with the IW, and neither of my P's supported me.

I got a bunch of s$%t for it, but knew, even after granting the TO wrong, I applied the rule right. :rolleyes:

I knew something would come up tonight after all this discussion.

So, I'm the R tonight and the lead (2-person). The trail administers a throw in after a timeout on the backcourt endline. A has the right to run the endline.

A1 runs the endline, but the inbounds pass is deflected on the court by B and goes out of bounds in the corner of the court. My partner goes to administer the throw-in in the exact same spot and signals that A can run the endline again.

If you were the lead, what would you do here?

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

Well, in this situation, who was or wasn't the 'R' definitely affected the game.

Problem is that even if he was the R that poster may not have been able to do anything. Some crusty veterans (whose main crust is the one that forms on their rulebooks) simply won't yield and simply don't care who the R is. There's a fine line between "being the R" and having a situation escalate into a full argument on the court between the two officials.

Trust me, about this time last year I was posting about a similar situation.

This is EXACTLY why I am always the R when I have a fill-in.

If I'm in this situation and I've allowed the fill-in to be the R and he refuses to handle it properly like the R is this thread did, there's nothing I can do about it. And it's my *** that'll get chewed the next day.

No, it's not gonna happen to me. If we screw up, it's because I screwed up and I'm responsible. It won't be because I let someone else be the R who wouldn't listen to me when I knew he was wrong.

Easy enough when you are working with a regular crew and/or a fill-in where you are a well-known quantity who can easily assert your authority. It becomes a lot more difficult in the scenario where one is working a lower class game (many of us have forgotten that experience) where one or more of the officials are either green or think that they're 30 year vets who could stop learning 15 years ago. You can't have an argument on the court between partners and sometimes it's better to swallow your pride and allow an incorrect ruling to stand rather than to show divisiveness with the crew. If your area teaches that the Us give deference to the R in a situation where one of the Us alone makes a ruling, then I guess we have different operating environments.

Rich, that's been my whole point from the get-go.

I have never said this works in every situation, everywhere, for everybody.

I said this is what I do when I have a fill-in on my crew and I am assigned as the R by the booking agent.

Do what works for you.