Tonight may be a GI, GD, GO game
 

I have a coupoe of varsity games (girls and boys) tonight with a couple of partners I am unsure about. This is a weather make up game and I am the only one of the original crew that was available tonight so I got new partners for this game.

I have had one game this season with my U1 - he is "okay" but his mechanics are a little sloppy and his table reporting needs some work - basically needs to slow down. I have never called with my U2 but I have seen him officiate other games - he is a relatively new official so he still has a ways to go. The last time I saw him he did not understand three man rotations very well but hopefully he has read up on them but I am not holding my breathe.

I think I am going to need a strong pre-game to ensure it isn't a mess out there.

Robby

Sounds like you'll have no problem looking extremely sharp out there. Embrace the opportunity lead your crew by helping them look good!

They could be viewing it as a chance to learn.

Everything negative that you mentioned about your partners has to do with their mechanics. I'd be a little bit more concerned with their actual play calling myself. Weak mechanics do not necessarily equate to having "a mess out there". The coaches and players could give a damn less about our mechanics. They'd rather we get the calls right instead.

It almost sounds like you're making up excuses before the game for having a bad one. Try to be a little more positive when dealing with weak partners. It makes for a better...and more enjoyable...game.

JMO.

I agree that mechanics aren't as important as making the correct call but they still need to be as sharp as possible. And I hate to criticize a fellow official on their play calling but the one game I called with my U1, he blew a few obvious calls and we had to correct a few things (such as him lining up for free throws when I had pointed to the floor for inbounding and failure to grant a TO because he thought the HC was out of TOs). The couple of times I have seen my U2, he gave the ball to the wrong team on a AP (and didn't catch it in time to be corrected), called a three second lane violation and the team hadn't gotten into FC status yet and called an intentional foul that most thought was unwarranted). I pass these off as "rookie" mistakes but still hurts the game.

Not making excuses for a poor game - just realizing there will be more pressure on me tonight as the R to ensure we have a good game and to watch everything closely. I usually work with the same partners and never have to worry about things like this.

I have yet to come up with a good reason to have a weak pre-game. Even when working with partners the 5th or 6th time during the season, a strong pre-game is absolutely essential so that the crew is on the same page.

Like JR said, be more positive and remember to have fun!

I hear people say this but it drives me crazy. Our mechanics are what sell the calls. Someone still complains if we have great mechanics. But great mechanics might give you a pass on a few calls that are close. It is like if you go to a restaurant and the place is nasty, you probably will not enjoy the food as much as a place that is very clean and sanitary with the same quality in food. The presentation matters.

That should be a challenge you are willing to take on. If you are really a "lead official" than this is something you should want to do with pleasure. Not all of our partners are going to be as experienced or seasoned as we are the longer you do this. And you cannot worry about every call that someone makes. They will have to live and die with what they call and explain their reasoning for it. Call your game and move on. Only get involved when it is something administratively that needs to be handled. None of us are perfect and not all partners are going to be that way. Seize the moment and prove you belong. Whether they belong will be determined and something they will have to answer for, not you.

Peace

Have you asked yourself what could YOU have done better on those plays?
At some levels, the U1 & U2 may have said that YOU blew the FT sitch.
In addition to pointing to the spot for the ensuing throw-in, did you verbally say "white ball, endline?"

They hired a crew of three, not three individuals!
Did his partners have whistles on the AP sitch? A mere whistle could kill it & give the ball to the correct team.

Did somebody ask him if he wanted to go with an IW on the 3 second sitch?

INTs can be a judgment call...

Officials that know better but do nothing to assist the crew of three are looked at as U99s & they are only hiring Rs (if you know what I mean).

I embrace those opportunities!! Being the R means nothing more than tossing the ball up & making decisions that we all dont agree on. Make your crew feel like they are all Rs. Lead by example, hell, give your toss to the least skilled official & see if that motivates him/her to work harder, be more receptive & become your #1 advocate!

I agree with your view of mechanics. I believe you can "sell your call" better with good mechanics.

I accept the responsibility as lead to ensure we have a good game. I am not saying that I won't take that responsiblity seriously. I was not serious about it really being a GI, GD, and GO game. I take every game seriously and do my best to enjoy a game and help those officials that may be less experienced.

[QUOTE=tref;725861]Have you asked yourself what could YOU have done better on those plays?
At some levels, the U1 & U2 may have said that YOU blew the FT sitch.
In addition to pointing to the spot for the ensuing throw-in, did you verbally say "white ball, endline?" When I have a foul I do tell my partner several things. I first establish eye contact and then if it is shooting I will say something like "white 2-2 is my shooter", if it is to be inbounded I say "white ball at endline and point". My partner always knows what it is we will be doing.



Since I wasn't on the floor at the time I am unsure what the other officials were doing but I know he put the ball into play very quickly and thus the officials had very little time to respond.


Again, I wasn't on the floor that game - I can't speak for the other officials but when he called the 3 seconds, the otehr team was given the ball.

I have been doing this for over 20 years and am the R about 75-80% of the time so it isn't like I don't have experience in what to do with a crew, etc. I also let inexperienced officials take the R role (check books, toss ball, etc) so they can get experience. I call a lot of MS ball so I can work with less experience officials and mentor them. I tend to think I do a pretty good job at it. But, as I am sure others have found, not every official wants any advice as they think they already know it all.

Not used to hearing vets speak as you did initially, but...

Nuff said!

It was a statement made tongue in cheek. Just airing some concerns out in this forum. As I said, my only game with U1 didn't go real well and when I said to him at half time "let's ensure we establish good eye contact and inform each other if we will be shooting or inbounding" he got very defensive. I tried to remind him to slow down on reporting so we ensure the table knows what we called. Again, he got defensive. He jsut kept reminding me how long he had been calling ball. At that point I decided to let it go as I didn't want to have to call the rest of the night with a pissed off partner .

The mistakes U2 made are rookie mistakes - we all made them and still make mistakes.

So, you're working with Yabut & Costello.

I heard that! I know how that can be, I am just now learning how to trick my partners into doing what I need them to do.

"I'm not rotating well, what can we do to have better rotations in the 2nd half?"

"I'm doing a terrible job of giving you eye contact, will you help me with this?"

Funny how switching the situation around & putting it on myself doesn't make my partners defensive & keeps them open to admitting their mistakes.

I do not even know what those mean. And I did not say you did not take the game seriously. Just saying keep it in perspective and do your job. You do not have to babysit for others when they are there working the game too. If they cannot handle it, that is not your complete job to help them through it. But they were assigned for a reason. Just work the game and take it as a challenge.

Peace

Rut...are you saying you don't know what GI, GD, GO mean?

...it's in your tag line...;)

This is not Twitter. ;)

Peace

Ended up with two very good and competitive games. Both games were within 3 points so it was a close game the entire night.

We had a good pre-game. I emphasized (1) eye contact, (2) good mechanics, (3) keeping the bench under control, (4) knowing these two school are big rivals, I told them to watch for rough play, especially during TOs as the teams are leaving the floor. Overall we had a good night, one coach warning and one technical on player for unsporting conduct.

My U1 did a great job. You would think it was a totally different person than our first game together. At half time of the girl's game he said he missed a travel call and felt bad about it. I told him if that is all we miss tonight we will have a great game. My U2 did fairly well. He missed several rotations, didn't blow the whistle before putting ball in play after a TO (well he did after the half :) ), his mechanics were pretty sloppy - more "showy" than proper and called an unbelievable amount of traveling calls - several I though were not traveling but I am not going to correct him on the floor. He and I had several double whistles while calling something in my area. While I don't like many of those, at least when he doubled on me, he called the same thing I did or was going to. i don't know if I will be calling any more with either of them the rest of the season. We only have another week of regular season and haven't received our playoff assignments yet (of course that is assuming I am going to get some ;) )

On a side note - I saw my ex-fiancee' there. Found out that her son played on one of the teams. I haven't seen her in years and after the game she came up to me and said "You stink" (jokingly I think :confused: ) I said "well I see your opinion of me hasn't changed over all these years" :D

Overall a good night and a fun couple of games to call.