Varsity Observations

[rainmaker]

Went to observe a very good boys tourney yesterday and saw one very, very good game and one rather mediocre. I sat behind the table which is where I always try to sit if I am there to observe the officiating, and saw and heard quite a bit of what was going on. The guy who was R, was just absolutely poetic in his officiating (although I don't care at all for him personally!). The game included many emotional and somewhat tense players, three very volatile coaches with a great deal on the line, a partner who was a little bit of a loose cannon. Mr. R kept complete and total control of it all. There was one shouting match between the partner and one assistant coach, one insult swapping between two players of opposite teams, and one intentional foul that almost turned into a brawl -- but didn't, because of the cool of Mr. R. His mechanics were perfect, and he was ALWAYS in the right position to see the action. I doubt he missed a single call, although his partner missed a couple. He calmed the hot heads, kept the table in line and spoke to his partner as necessary. The game was very close, and closely played.

I also saw this partner lose his cool, and it showed me what not to do. He did recover himself, though, and did a very good job over all, but I do think his temper caused him to miss a couple of fouls, and also I think make one bad call. Still he wouldn't have been there at all if he wasn't very, very good, but he just couldn't measure up to Mr. R.

I also realized, I don't ever want to work WITH someone as good as Mr. R, until I'm that good. The contrast would not make me look good! But I definitely want to watch and learn from him some more. Very instructive!

[Tim Roden]

I want to work with a guy like that. I am tired of being made to look bad by a bad partner. I want a good partner. When I work with a good partner, I strive to keep up with his standards. yes I miss calls but I don't miss much mechanically because he is in the right position and I don't have to worry about covering for his mistakes.

[BigJoe]

Juulie,
I have the opposite attitude on partners. I want the best possible partner because a good partner makes you look better just as a bad partner doesn't make you look good, it makes you look bad. You should want to work with the best partner in everygame. You will learn quicker and look alot better. Remember the old addage: "you're only as good as your partner"!

[rainmaker]

I'm not saying I'd rather work with a bad partner. But a pretty darn good partner is about the level I want to be compared to. I certainly don't want to carry someone, and I'm not yet good enough for that. But if I have to work with Mr. Perfect, I'm also not going to look so hot. I do have a lot to learn from him, but the angle is better from the stands than from the floor.

[BigJoe]

I don't think people compare two officials that work the game. Usually the whole body of work is evaluated by people (fans, coaches, and players) who don't know what proper mechanics, rules knowledge, etc. for officials are. That is what I mean by a great partner bringing you up to his or her level and a bad partner bringing you down to his or hers. I guess I want to work with the best person possible at the level I am officiating. Unfortunately, in my situation, except doing state tournament games I am locked into working with the few in my association. Where you work, in the larger metropolitan area you have many more opportunities and partner possibilities. Don't sell yourself short. Your rules knowledge and interpretation seem pretty solid from where I'm sitting. It is only a matter of confidence and experience that holds you back. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself. If you have done a varsity girls game and you graded yourself out at a C+ or better it was probably more like a B(you tend to be harder on yourself than others would be) go for that varsity boys game. I really enjoy reading your posts. Keep up the good work and I know you want to get better or you wouldn't be reading this forum.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by BigJoe
Don't sell yourself short. Your rules knowledge and interpretation seem pretty solid from where I'm sitting. It is only a matter of confidence and experience that holds you back. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself. If you have done a varsity girls game and you graded yourself out at a C+ or better it was probably more like a B(you tend to be harder on yourself than others would be) go for that varsity boys game.

I'm not selling myself short. I know my strengths and weaknesses pretty well, and I have plenty of chances to extend the one, and improve on the other. It is really largely a matter of *** (brace yourselves, here it comes...) PRESENCE *** for me at this point. This includes physical presence, such as conditioning which I need to work on, and mental presence, to see the various choices clearly and wisely choose the best one. This is what I'm working on right now.

And what was so interesting about the game I watched; the ref I referred to as Mr. R just had that je ne sais quois that we all can't help but admire. The partner was good, but lost his cool a little and the presence went way down at those points. It was very instructive to see. It really was a visual lesson in what Jeff Rutledge calls "Presence". I suspect that Jeff has a lot of it, like Mr. R, and gets many compliments for it. He therefore sees how important it is. I really saw that clearly at this game what Jeff talks about, or what I think he talks about. Mr R had the rules down pat, but so did the partner. There were no qestions about rules. It was the Presence that was the difference between the two.

I'm not in any hurry to do varsity boys. It's fun, but so are girls. And we have some very good varsity girls teams around here, so it's plenty to aspire to. And even though I've gotten a couple of very favorable comments from some boys coaches around here, I won't be doing many boys games as a rule -- too much competition. But it's nice to have so many good refs doing boys games that I can watch -- really helps me stretch.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by rainmaker
the ref I referred to as Mr. R just had that je ne sais quois

I hear you can take shots for that.

[Jay R]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by rainmaker "the ref I referred to as Mr. R just had that je ne sais quois"

It's "je ne sais quoi".
I know some of you are sticklers for spelling and grammar.
Since French is my first language, I thought I'd show off my French spelling.

Merci

[rainmaker]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jay R

Originally posted by rainmaker "the ref I referred to as Mr. R just had that je ne sais quois"

It's "je ne sais quoi".
I know some of you are sticklers for spelling and grammar.
Since French is my first language, I thought I'd show off my French spelling.

Merci

Thanks for the correction. I am one of the sticklers, and I apologize for getting it wrong. But I was darn close wasn't I?!?!?

[Mark Padgett]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rainmaker

Originally posted by Jay R

Thanks for the correction. I am one of the sticklers, and I apologize for getting it wrong. But I was darn close wasn't I?!?!?

Who cares? It's French.

[Jurassic Referee]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mark Padgett

Originally posted by rainmaker

Who cares? It's French.

Mark,you never know when you're gonna have to say:

"Pardon,garcon,mais il y a un berger allemand dans mon potage."

[Jay R]

JR, I have spoken French all my life and I have never said that.

Juulie, Would you say the ref in question had a certain savoir faire? joie de vivre?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Jay R
JR, I have spoken French all my life and I have never said that.

I've only had to use it once.

[dblref]

All right wiseguys, what does it mean? Growing up in Mississippi, we did not speak a lot of French. Actually, we did not speak a lot of English either.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Jay R
JR, I have spoken French all my life and I have never said that.

Juulie, Would you say the ref in question had a certain savoir faire? joie de vivre?

Savoir faire, oui. Joie de vivre, maybe, but the point was "presence".