alternate official
 

anyone have any experiences/advice to share serving as the alternate official in the state tournament?

Bring a magazine. ;) My personal favorite is "Chicks and Ammo". :cool:

Cheek To Cheek ...
 

Bring a cushion. Sometimes being an alternate can be a pain in the a**.

I've never been an alternate for a HS tournament, but I've been an alternate several times in the NCAA tournaments at the D2 and D3 level.

Advice: Bring a legal pad and pen. Keep track of the arrow, time-outs remaining, team fouls, free throw shooters, players subbing out of the game (remember they have to sit a tick before they can come back in), shot clock resets (or not), time/score when any technical fouls or unusual plays occur. Pay attention to things like whether there was team control when the whistle sounded.

Experiences: I was alternate for a D2 tournament game with a crew that I had never met. Seemed like good guys, included me in the pre-game, etc. Late in the first half there's a drive to the basket. One of the players' momentum takes him out of bounds and the Lead steps back to avoid the player -- and trips over a cheerleader. He falls backwards and pops right back up, no problem. At halftime, he kidded with me, "I saw you had your jacket off before I hit the floor!"

Be ready to break up potential brawls

Whistles Ready, Standby Officials Stay Close and Wait for the Call

Realize that you have a snowball's chance in hell of getting on the floor.

While this is true, the alternate should take the responsibility seriously. I've been called on to make calls from the table twice in my "alternate" capacity. It doesn't happen a lot; but when your partners need an extra set of eyes, you better be ready.

Nice article. I'm really happy for Mike Stephens, he's a terrific official. I hope he goes far in the national tourney.

The alternate was used in the Class A final of the Boys State tournament here in Nebraska. He just finished the class C-2 game and the Referee took an elbow to the head on the tipoff and couldn't continue (cut requiring stitches).

I had one of my best friends get his big break in D1 ball that way. He had just finished a D2 game and had a pretty long drive home. He turned on the radio to listen to the nearby game from the D1 conference he just got picked up in and had the same supervisor as his D2.

The referee took an elbow to the head on opening tip also. He headed directly to the arena and called the supervisor on the way. At halftime both coaches approved for him to officiate the 2nd half.