Hello to all. I am a first year basketball official, raw as can be. I will be doing Miami-Dade high school games, JV and girls for the most part. I have not called a game yet. Would love to hear some feedback on what to expect,what I should try to do/not do, etc.

What is a good site to get uniform, equip, etc. that is not so expensive.

Eddie,

Welcome to the forum and to the officiating community. This is a great place to learn and share ideas.

Last year, I was in your shoes. Those first few games will be exciting and scary. Prepare yourself by learning the rules thoroughly and the mechanics as best as possible.

Someone mentionned last year that it takes approximately five years to really feel like you are comfortable. I know that I am so much more confident this year compared to last, so I can imagine the difference 3 or 4 years will make.

As for practical advice:
1. get a good whistle and blow it hard
2. only call what you see, try not to anticipate a foul or violation
3. look off the ball when it is not your primary
responsibility
4. hustle to get into position
5. learn from your experienced partners, have big ears and a little mouth
6. have fun

I get my stuff from Honig's (www.honigs.com)

Jay



[Edited by Jay R on Nov 10th, 2002 at 02:24 PM]

Read as much of the mechanics book to understand where you need to be and what you need to call. Buy a Simplified and Illustrated Rulebook as soon as possible. Great learning tool for things you almost need to visualize to understand. The rulebook alone might be very confusing, so buy this book directly from the National Federation.


Try Gerry Davis Sports, in my opinion the are the best for basketball. You can get basketball equiptment anywhere, but you want quality stuff. They have very good quality equiptment. Do not worry so much about price. If you do this on a regular basis, you will need to be more concerned about about the quality of the stuff you have. Considering all the washing and abuse it will go through in just one season.

Peace

Gerry Davis Sports


[Edited by JRutledge on Nov 10th, 2002 at 03:10 PM]

I am in my 6th year as an official and I have 1 further piece of advice: Only hear what you have to hear while on the court.

The other items given to you are all excellent. Work hard and enjoy the game.

If you want to prepare properly, go to the zoo with a tape recorder and tape about 2 hours of howler monkey screaming. Then - lock yourself in a closet and turn the tape on full blast. Do this while running in place.

Also - practice the phrases, "no, coach", "that's not what happened coach" and "coach, you have obviously confused me with someone who gives a dump."

Then, make yourself an Advil and Tylenol milkshake and drink it.

Eddie --

Don't worry too much about Padgett's advice. Every human situation has its bad moments, and you'll endure your share of them, but you get through it by remembering that you're in charge and it doesn't have to break you.

The best advice I received was, "Hear the music!" Relax, enjoy yourself, and feel great.

First year official and you're going to be doing high school already? Are you doing any lower level games? Some guys start out at the bottom and work their way-up.

lol. if you're good at this stuff edit in phrases like
"that's a travel!"
"one...two...three...four...five...he's living in there!"
"call it both ways!"
"you're losing control! someone's gonna get hurt!"

actually it's not that bad (usually), good luck, have fun, let us know how it goes...(btw, I prefer a stoli & vermouth milkshake, but I wait until I get home! :)

Thanks guys
 

I appreciate all the responses and advice. Someone mentioned about going straight into high school. I will be doing JV and girls to start not varsity. I am trying to work myself into a recreational league as well, all of this is new so I guess it takes time to land these games and opportunities. Hey I will now get my share, I confess of getting on the ref's when I have gone or played in games so I know what comes with the territory. I have not called a game but I think your demeanor,attitude, and consistency will set the tone.

As some have said going in I want to call what I see and be sure of my calls. I agree from the feedback I have been getting I keep hearing make sure you are in position and don't get lazy during the game.

Hey if there is anymore advice please keep it coming, I love to hear advice from experienced people that are willing to help.

Question.

From the moment we are involved in high school and recreational leagues, what is the process and likelihood of the opportunity to do college and pro games? Is it time-years, experience, a combination, or who you know?


Thanks

Re: Thanks guys
 

There will be extensive debate on this. You really have to attend camps or referee schools to be elgible for college and pro. Years of experience is only one factor, but if you are precieved to be good you might be moved along much quicker. Of course the experience you have will benefit you, but some individuals have talent get opportunity that others do not get. Who you know always means something, but that does not mean you will be hired just on that fact. Who you know might get you in the door or the opportunity, but others are not going to crash and burn based on your mistakes. A D1 Official might get you a look by a recommendation, but it does not mean you will get hired or ever advance based on the recommendation alone. I think even more important is where you live. Officials get hired from where they live as much as anything. If you are in an area that has many other higher level officials, you might be seen quicker than the official that has no college officials around them. No different than a basketball player that comes from a school where other D1 prospects have come from.

Really there are so many factors and what might apply to me might not apply to you. Ask around your neck of the woods and find out who might be on that level around you. These people can much better answer you question and give you greater detail.

Hope that helps.

Peace

Re: Thanks guys
 

Question.

From the moment we are involved in high school and recreational leagues, what is the process and likelihood of the opportunity to do college and pro games? Is it time-years, experience, a combination, or who you know?


Thanks [/B][/QUOTE]

WOW....dude, you have some great aspirations there!!
Haven't even officiated one game and you are inquiring about being a Pro Official!

This advocation of officiating, as you will see, is fiercely competitive. Forgive me for smiling, but you asking about being a Pro Official is like a youngster asking about being a Pro Basketball player the first day he's given a ball.
In order to make it too that level, either playing or officiating, you pretty much have to dedicate your whole life to it.
Heck, Eddie, if it was easy...everybody would be doing it.
Don't let me discourage you though...hang in there...and just have fun at the level you are doing. :)

RD

Re: Re: Thanks guys
 

Nothing wrong with asking. Becoming a pro or NBA ref does not mean you have to have done HS varsity or even college for a long time to get to that point. Obviously that is usually where most might start, but there are officials that have made it without doing a single HS varsity game. You have to go to camps and learn the way the NBA officiates. That is quite different than what all the other levels do. The NBA are looking for much more than officiating experience, they are looking for people that can handle pressure. They will teach you how to officiate if need be.

Peace

Don't worry about this advice. My first game was Boys 9th grade. A game I called rookies night out. My partner had one game under his belt and I had none. The coaches, one had one game and the other had none. We had fun and got through the game without anything stupid happening. Some places you work your way up others you start at the top. Where I am now, I worked some 1a varsity games with rookie officials. We had a good game and they did a wonderful job. Not perfect but I got better results then with 20 year vets.

The thing I say to rookies is relax. Call your game. Find a mentor. I looked for advice from everyone I could find. I had my mentor that I could call anytime to hash out ideas with. Then at the game site, if there was someone there who knew more than I did, I was all ears. I listened intently to what they had to say. I am now in my sixth season and I can honestly say, I am still learning.

How long before college or pro? That all depends on you. I know of an official who called a regional playoff game after two years. I know people who after five years have a division III college schedule. Of course I know people who have officiated for 15 years and still don't have a solid varsity schedule. It all depends on the individual. Thea area of the country he is. How fast he is willing to submit his ego, and learn from someone who is where he wants to be. After six years, I still don't have a college schedule. Why? I have not been able to stay in any one place and have not gone to the right camps.

Tim Roden
 

Very well said partner!!!

Peace

My point was first year officials don't usually start out at the JV level. In our association our first year guys start out doing middle school and AAU and work their way up. We have over 75 refs in our association and if a new guy started out at that level would piss off some guys who have been doing this for a few years. It's called ratings. Our association covers over 20 high schools with 5 schools playing at the top level. Our JV games precede the varsity game and most of the time the varsity coach is on the bench. It would be a little tough doing your first game for anyone under these conditions. Not saying that maybe later on during the season you could get scheduled for a JV game. I guess it also would depend on your location, number of schools, number of refs in your associations, etc...

You have set some good goals and go for it, but take your time and learn. Watch the varsity games, ask questions, study the rule and case books. Another good hint...look good! A good clean uniform, polished shoes, clean shaved will make you look professional. First impressions go a long way.

For HS, the key appears to be the size of the metropolitan area in which you reside. This is my 8th year. My first year was in the Dallas Metro area, and I was assigned several JV games at 5-A schools. Did I belong in those games? No way. I was horrible and I still feel bad for my partners that year. But it's simple supply and demand. The larger the area, the more games and more supply. Large metro areas (like Miami) usually experience a shortage of officials relative to the number of available games.

My second year I moved to Wichita KS (uggh) and found myself doing YMCA youth, bitty basketball and 6th grade catholic league stuff, which is probably where I belonged. I had to attend a camp the next summer to be "picked-up" by the JV assignor! Go figure. My third year I was in St. Louis MO, and was back to doing JV and some Varsity.

Colleges are different. Most have to attend a camp to get in. It is harder to establish yourself in lower college conferences if you constantly move, but it can be done. I am not the best official at any level, but I am adaptable, and willing to listen, and college supervisors are looking for folks who can call it the way that league wants and not your own brand. Good luck!

This is my first season in basketball. My first game, tomorrow night, is 5A JV Girls. The association to which I belong doesn't schedule any games below freshman. So, rookie officials start out with freshman and JV games. Do I belong there, probably not. But that is where the entry level is, so that is where I will start. It's just how the association works. No bragging, no appologies, just reality.

Good luck .
 

Sleeper,
Don't forget to have some fun. ;)
mick

I am a second year ref so I would like to add somethings that worked for me.

Try to call some scrimmage games. Find out if your association has some to offer. If not find a mentor, call some schools and offer to work some. My mentor and some other veteran officials worked with me in 6 or 7 scrimmage games before the season started. Sometimes they mirrored me and told me where to look, what to watch for, etc. Sometimes I mirrored them. Very valuable and I felt very comfortable by the time my "first" game came.

Keep a journal of every game. Write about good points nad bad. At the end of every entry, list 3-5 things you want to work on for the next game.

Read this forum everyday. Note things you learned.

Read your rules. Find the test questions and answers and go over them often.

Get in front of a mirror and practice your mechanics.

Good luck! I hope you have a great and fun year.

For what it's worth, the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area has NO shortage of refs! This year, we have a huge first-year class (due in part to a certain newspapaer article that appeared last spring), and the second and third year classes have not shrunk. It is fiercely competetive to get the "good" varsity games (fortunately, I'm not at the point where I have to worry about it, yet) and we actually had more people sign up this year to be mentors, than mentees. Amazing, but true!

The photos accompanying the article must have been quite glamorous to attract so much attention!! :)

Chuck

[Edited by ChuckElias on Nov 15th, 2002 at 08:38 AM]

Also as a second year official let me add somethings that you old folks forgot:
1. Listen to what a more experienced partner says. He may be off base, but if you listen, and don't talk, you make a good impression.
2. Understand why you called what you called.
3. DON'T DO REC league. If you want to move up, stay away from rec league. What will happen is that if you are doing Rec League every Monday and your assignor needs someone to fill in on a Monday, you wont get the call. Also, not all rec league ref's take it that seriously.
4. Do as MANY SCRIMMAGES as possible. That is the time where you can pick the brains of experienced ref's. They will be able to give you a few things to concentrate on for the season.
5. Finally, get yourself in front of a mirror and practice your mechanics. It feels dorky, and if you leave the water running souds suspicious, but how else are you going to know what you look like? It is awkward, but it is EXCELLENT practice.
Go get em! My first year, I did about 8 scrimmages and off they sent me. What a treat!

I know Rut is going to agree with you on rec leagues. I will put my two cents in on it. In my area, rec league and HS refs are 85% the same. Our rec leagues are at times that we wouldn't find another basketball game like Saterday morning. I treat them as scrimmages. They are fun as long as you stick to the younger kids. You get into adult league and then I agree with Rut. Stay away. I am glad you did this many scrimmages. Your assignor will find a way to thank you.

A few thoughts
 

I did a few years of jr. high rec ball before my first year of HS ball (this season). Our first year class had its first scrimmage this week. You could tell a huge difference between the few people who had rec experience and the many that didn't. I recommend youth rec league for practice.

One other thing that hasn't been said is to Slow Down. I'm still working on that. I make the signal then start walking to report it. One thing about the rec league is that the clock doesn't stop at the whistle so I am used to being fast. I have to work on that.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Man this site is awesome, seriously folks. Being a first year with no experience, and having so many people post their responses with advice is great. I feel real comfortable coming on here every day and reading about the respnses to my post and all the others. I can't stress how much that helps me get a real grip on what to expect and what to work on prior to getting it going. I just got my initial schedule and it is mostly private school girls' JV. I don't care I just want to get it going and gain some experience and develop my mechanics.

Is there anything different to expect from a girls game to a boys. I know the basic differences tempo, skills, the game is probably more of an outside game I would imagine. I mean what are some things to look out for as far as calling the game. I have not seen a girls jv, however I have seen girls games and they tend to make alot more violations(traveling,double,etc.) Are we supposed to call it any differently or blow the whistle until we are purple.


Thanks again guys, great feedback and alot of fun checking the responses in general.

I'm going to disagree here. I think new officials should do as many games at any level that they can get. The more games that you do, the better you get as an official. My experience has also been that you will see all the weird and unusual stuff in the rec league games. Once you see it, then you will know how to handle it.

Get ready to hear
Ball, ball, ball, ball, ball...... all night long! :D

Andy, I am going to sort of disagree with your disagreement! I am coming at this under the assumption that there is some BB background here. In rec league you will not have as much pressure to get your mechanics right. You have the clock usually running etc. You can pick up a lot of bad habits. If you stick with low level games, I.E. MS Boys and Girls, and/or JV, you will see plenty of weird stuff. Also, there will be an added pressure to make the right call, the right way. Now, I DO agree that if it won't conflict with a regular schedule, then by all means get some rec in and get the experience if you want, but understand that not everyone will take it as serious.

I still like to do some rec games. I am a second year ref so my games on the court are usually as the ref with the less experience. That is good because I am always learning but tend to follow instead of lead.

In rec, I work with people usually not having much of a clue so it allows me to lead more and try to help those people, so I think both levels serve a good purpose.

Speaking in generalities –
The speed of the boy’s game vs. the girls will be a real eye opener.

Girls tend to have less body control, so you will find a lot more bumps than with the boys. Then again, the boys have a lot less fear of taking a hit or crashing into someone. A joke I have heard is that under Advantage/Disadvantage with boys you decide when to call a foul. Whit girls you decide when NOT to call a foul.

Girls tend to be apologetic if they commit a hard foul (not the flagrant type of hard). Boys are either macho or arrogant about hard fouls.

It is said that white men can’t jump. Well it is really true that white girls can’t get off of the ground to save their life.

With boys I can’t tell you how many times one of them has come up to me after the horn and thank me for doing the game – because there were so few times. With the girls it is just the opposite. Heck, in a rec league game a few weeks back I had a girl come up to me after the game and apologize for giving me a hard time about a call. This was one of those leagues where everyone on a team is from the same high school and the HS coach just happens to be in the bleachers or doing the clock/book. ;)

I'll agree with your disagreement (wha?)

Rookies got a lot of bad calls to get out of their system.
Work as many games as you can tolerate, rec, or whatever.
At some point stop doing them, you'l know when it's time.
But for now just get out there & get some experience.

Claw, scream, kick and demand feedback from other referees. Someone mentioned to make sure you listen to veterans and keep your mouth shut. That's bunk. There's a difference between disagreeing and discussing. Ask questions. If you don't agree, find out their reasoning. Filter out what you can use, smile and say "Thank you, may I have another?"
If your association has mentors, get one and use him/her. Have them tape you on the court and review things you did right as well as things you did wrong. If your association doesn't have mentors, ask them to start!

Most of all, enjoy the ride!

I agree with this: tape, tape, tape!!! Go watch a good game with good refs, and then go home and watch yourself. You can learn a LOT this way.

With regard to rec games, during the season, it's probably best to avoid them. But the rest of the year, do as many as you can get. There is usually a good mix of levels, and you can work at a higher level than duringthe season, so it helps pull you up. Insist to your partner that you want to go by the book as much as possible so that you don't develop bad habits.

Decide ahead of time what you are going to work on, and then do it. If the game is going to be a blow-out, work on calling tight, or calling loose, and watch how your work affects the game. If the game is close, work on positioning, or off-ball attention. One really great block/charge call because you were watching off-ball, solves the whole block/charge problem. Your percentage goes up about 50 points. Rec games are the place to get this down.

Difference between boys and girls? Speed. Jumping ability. That was an eye opener. I called a game my first year in which the two girls in the jump ball cirle were 6'5". I threw the ball to the ceiling and neither one of them got more than 6" verticle in their jump. Yes there are exceptions but not many.

Another would be the tendency to not be able to wrestle free a held ball. In a boys game we can let them fight for a ball and one will win. In the girls game we will more often then not call a held ball. They also like to congregate in the lane during rebounding. All ten of the girls are there congregating and they can be there without creating a foul. Boys have to jump all over each other.

Of course the higher up you go, the better the play is. Girls do just as good of job of hitting 3 pointers and controlling the basketball as boys. I love a well played girls game. That game I mentioined above had more three point shots made then I had seen in many boys JV games.

In my first season of calling girls HS ball, after calling 7 years of boys ball, I had a situation that I will never forget which is a perfect example of Tim's point.

The ball had been knocked away from the dribbler and rolled a few feet. A1 goes to one knee to retrieve the ball. As A1 lifts the ball off the floor to attempt a pass to a teammate, B1 reaches down and puts both hands on the ball.

The moment B1 touched the ball, the two girls literally stopped playing and just looked up at me to blow the whistle. I even waited a couple seconds and they just sat there. I couldn't believe it. They just stopped. Finally, I had to blow the whistle.

This was a varsity game, too.

Chuck

Aaaargh, I hate that! We put all this work in the weight room. My player rips the ball away and here is a jump ball whistle to protect the fragile little girls. My most-used comment to officials during the game (well, right after "what did you see from your angle on that call?") has to be "They are big girls, let them play!"

I think you misread Chuck's post,Coach.Chuck was gonna let 'em play,but the girls stopped.Chuck had no choice but to blow the whistle.If you had used your most-used comment in this case,you would have been just another WRONG coach.

Not sure what you hate about my scenario, Coach, but please be assured that neither of these girls wanted to "rip" anything. They figured the play was over once they both touched the ball. I hate that, too :)

Chuck

Sorry, my bad. You did the only thing you could do in your scenario. I was making the jump in my own mind to what I usually see happen in our games.

My regular partners and I let 'em "Git it", however, there are some ugly situations on the floor when we'll call a jump, with the ball <u>not firmly in control</u> of anyone, in order to prevent something really messy happening.

(Maybe that come from once being a parent)

Anyone else do that?
mick

Absolutely!!! Goes a long way toward keeping things under control...esp. in a girl's game - those things can really come back to haunt you later...

Eddie,

Being a young official myself, I can probably offer a few things that have worked for me.

1. Find a Mentor

2. Get to a camp. I highly highly recommend JB Caldwell's camp in July. Its in Daytona Beach held in conjunction with Embry Riddle's team camp. Go the first session if you can (sun - thur) because the ratio of instructors to campers is 1-2 and the game schedule is only about 3 a day. Call JB at Embry for more info.

3. Get on multiple assignors sub lists and keep a uniform and your game bag in the car. You never know when opportunity will knock.

4. Dont send assignments back unless you have too.

5. Work. Nothing will beat game experience. At your stage....girls, boys, grade school, jr. high or high school, anything. The only thinkg I would not work is adult rec leagues.

6. Get into the casebook

7. Read this message board and dont be afraid to ask questions.

8. Stay after your JV games and ask the varsity guys for feedback. WOnt hurt to watch them work and it shows that you care about moving up. Word gets around.

9. Stay in your primary, ref the defense, call the obvious and trust your partner.

Good Luck

Larks
Veteran in Training

In my co-rec games, I generally come up quickly with the thumbs - probably to prevent anyone from becoming a parent. ;)

And "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" all within 2 seconds during a throw in. :-)

Josh

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rainmaker

Quote:

Originally posted by Z REF we actually had more people sign up this year to be mentors, than mentees.

Juulie - you forgot the largest PBOA category - mentals!

Thanks for the feed back Larks. Like I said this sight is def. a kicker. Apparently officials really are a close knit group, great comments and advice, non-stop, really helps people like myself. Daytona that is barely a 3 hr or so drive for me being from Miami. When do you have to sign up for that real early or around May-June? I already have a mentor and I will look out for camp dates and such. So no rec. leagues huh? Well, my schedule does not look real worked up for now being a first year. So I was thinking about doing some rec. leagues to get my feet wet. My approach will def. be serious as I cannot afford myself the luxury of going through the motions, I don't have any yet. I have heard some people say scrimmages are a good form of practice. I have inquired and found out that scrimmages are NOT allowed in my association and state. Not sure about state, but def. association. I thought that would be a good form of practice but it is banned.

May or June sounds right. Call JB. He will help out in any way he can. Also, it never hurts to have a connection like JB or any of the other Florida guys you will meet at the camp. There are plenty of assignors that help with camp / come to watch prospective officials. I'm from Ohio and will fly down for this camp again. Trust me....get there.

Here is their website: http://www.db.erau.edu.

I'm from Ohio and will fly down for this camp again.[/B][/QUOTE]Won't your arms get tired?:confused:

Is that why you're called Larks?:confused:

Isn't Capistrano in California?:confused:

What's 6'22",643#,and lives in a tree?:confused:

"What do you get when you cross a Lark with a pelican?"
"A sore pelican!" :D

Eddie,

Larks has given you very sound advise, especially for a "young" official. IMO, the soundest reason for avoiding rec ball is the potential partners with which you will work. While some competent officials work this type of ball, many times the folks you run into will be "career" rec officials who rarely read rules, never attend camps, and probably don't attend meetings or rules clinics. The danger in working with this group is that you may tend to learn their habits or seek their advise (due to lack of any other input) and this could place you in a disadvantageous position going forward.

Left with no other choices, it is still better to be on the floor versus sitting on your couch. But you should be able to be selective. Try the local Y, Salvation Army or Catholic leagues. Usually these groups will use certified officials and this provides a great training ground. Men's rec would be my very last choice. Since your schedule is open this year, try to go to a few games and watch the veterans work. This is great training as well. Good luck!

Andy,
I am in agreement with Dan's agreement of your disagreement.
Especially with your last sentence:
<li>"Once you see it, then you will know how to handle it."
mick

Right. But it could be an African swallow. That's my point.

Won't your arms get tired?:confused:

Is that why you're called Larks?:confused:

Isn't Capistrano in California?:confused:

What's 6'22",643#,and lives in a tree?:confused:

"What do you get when you cross a Lark with a pelican?"
"A sore pelican!" :D [/B][/QUOTE]


Hey...JR made a funny! (Actually I did laugh)

Hey...I'm not fat....just big boned! At least that is what my wife tells me....bada bump.

Here's one...A couple who'd been married for over 50 years was sitting on the sofa, when the wife said, "Dear, do you remember how you used to sit close to me?"

He moved over and sat close to her.

"Dear," she continued, "do you remember how you used to hold me tight?"

He reached over and held her tight.

"And," she went on, "do you remember how you used to hug me and kiss me and nibble on my ear?"

With that, her husband got up and started to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Well," answered the husband, "I have to get my teeth."

[QUOTE]

Quote:

Originally posted by Larks // Silence Can't Be Quoted \\

Ah, but it can be copyrighted.

http://www.uclick.com/client/rfl/nw/.../27/index.html

<i>Updates to Recent "News of the Weird" Stories
And British composer Mike Batt (who issued, as a song, a minute's worth of absolute silence) caved in, paying off the estate of John Cage (composer of "4'33"" -- 4 minutes, 33 seconds of silence) in a copyright settlement (September). [CNN, 9-23-02]</i>

African swallows return to Capetown every year.