2 vs. 3 Man

[Brian Watson]

Now that the season is over, what is everyone’s opinion on 2 man vs. 3 man? I personally like working three man, I feel that the extra set of eyes helps control the game. Of course, if you have someone always out of his or her primary it can be a long night, but lets be realistic; if it were only 2 man do you think he would have stayed in his primary?

If we have any administrators looking in, why not go to three man? I wish they would move three man down to the JV level here so the younger guys can get the mechanics down. For me, I think that was the most intimidating part was learning mechanics at the varsity level. On the bright side, only another official would know if you were out-of-position, or missed a rotation/switch.

[bsilliman]

We only use 3-person at the AAAA level and 2-person at the AAA, AA, and A. It makes it difficult to switch from one to the other but we make it happen.
Personally I find that the AAA with 2 people brings out the greatest amount of concentration and work, though these AAA schools play such a high level of ball that soon 2-person will not be enough.
I also feel that people learn the best by officiating 2-person for 3-5 years until you learn the rules and positioning, then move up to 3-person.
Of course the cream of the officials will rise to the top and not take that long. But in the long run, nothing beats experience.

[Jeremy Hohn]

I would agree that the 3 man crew is definitely the way to go to help on rebounding action. We can alleviate some of this big discrepancy in quailty by being more aggressive from the trail in 2 man. Many times we see the push in the back, or the backside hack, but we are too intimidated to call it because we feel that the call was "not in our area" or we were "too far away" to sell the call. IF WE SEE THE FOUL LET'S CALL THE DAMN THING! The same is crucial in the 3 man game. Instead of wondering whose call it is, let's have 2 or even 3 whistles in certain situations. Summer shootouts and tournaments are good times to work on mechanics of the 3 man crew. We have summer tournaments and have experienced 3 man officials offer their positive feedback on how younger officials can get more comfortable with the mechanics, so that when the games come, they don't have to worry about it. They can just call the game and the game will be better because of it. On a totally different note, I am attempting to get picked up by the big sky conference this weekend at a camp. Wish me luck!! :^)

[Kelly Kinghorn]

Jeremy--

What camp is Marla going to be at this weekend? I am going to her camp this June in Phoenix. Just curious and good luck.

[Jeremy Hohn]

Kelly,

She stopped in to check on some officials at the panhandle officials camp in amarillo tx. Did well- hope to hear from her soon.

[Mark Padgett]

It's easy to say, "let's just go to three man", and there is no doubt that, in general, you get a better officiated game.

The drawback is in the number of additional officials we would have to have to accomplish this at all levels. In our association, we are short as it is. Recruitment is down and there is no way we could do all games with three officials.

In fact, when we do some rec leagues, at lower grades we routinely do one-man mechanics.

I should mention that I live in a major metropolitan area.

[slow_whistle]

Three-man mechanics are almost common place now for every level of High School Varsity in Arkansas, even at the A level. Since most A thru AAA games are preceeded by a junior high game, it is also officiated with a 3-man crew. AAAA and AAAAA will only have a 2 game night (Girls/Boys SV). Saves on the legs if nothing else. Coaches like it and will demand it in most cases now when assigning games. The extra pair of eyes are great for "off ball" fouls. Working district tounaments even on the junior high level are also done with a 3 man crew. This is also a good way to work in a inexperienced offical. The only real problem we are facing here is by using 3 man crews it is tough sometime to find enough officals to cover all the games. We use a 3 man 'flex' in our rotation, with the lead ref on the baseline dictating the rotation. The foul reporting offical will always rotate opposite courtside of bench and offical scorer table.