Quote:
Originally Posted by tomegun
Thanks to Uncle Sam, I have experienced high school and college basketball in Arizona, Nevada, the DC area, Mississippi and Nevada again - basically every region of the country except the midwest where I'm from. I can say for certain: a shiny turd is still a turd. I personally care a great deal about my signals - I practice in the mirror on a regular basis - but signals will not make the official better.
I wonder how many people who are strict about using one hand signals use a strong voice at the table. I wonder how many verbalize 44 as "four four". In my experience, a strong voice and verbalizing the actual number is more important than how many hands I use. The next time someone asks you how old you are or how much money you have tell them something like "I am three eight" or "I have a two zero on me" and see what kind of look you get.
I also believe in stages in an officiating career and the vast majority of the officials in our associating are at the stage where their calls are inconsistent and they have trouble with some unnatural movements we have to make (how many of us ran with a whistle in our mouths, blew it and raised our arms before officiating). Our primary goal (locally) is to put a better officiating product on the floor for the players, coaches and parents. To do that, we have to become more accurate play callers and communicate better - they don't care about reporting so in the relatively small amount of time we are allotted for training we must use it wisely.
I think there is something to gain from situations like this, minus the picture of the bird. Can someone tell me what other situation exists with multiple levels and the people at the lower levels expected to not mimic the higher level? I'm not saying one doesn't exist, just asking. Aspirations aside, I think the higher levels are often copied.
|
Personally, I think play-calling is an underrated skill. I went to two camps last summer and the most prized feedback I got from some of the clinicians was that "you are just a good play-caller" and "you just get plays right." Too much emphasis these days, especially at the high school level is placed on having the "right look" and on other superficial things that don't really make officials better. (I'm not talking about fitness or about professional appearance. I used to be very unfit and I've taken great pains to become fit over the past few years (and this includes a year-round cardio plan and other fitness efforts) and it's made me a much better official, although it's certainly hurt the sales of ibuprofen.
But the time we spend worrying about things like raising a hand before pointing or birddogging or one-hand versus two handed reporting is just silly. I'd rather see a group of officials consistently judge advantage/disadvantage and simply get plays right. Put those officials in the best possible place to see plays and then teach them (through the use of video, coaching, and the like) to get the calls right.
One comment above that I really wanted to address. I see officials raise a hand and call out a color and not point -- if you are one of these officials, please, please figure out a way to stop doing this. Most officials that do this don't do it once a game, it's multiple times a game. Quite frankly, I think it looks awful and leaves everyone from the benches (in a loud gym) to all the spectators wondering who is getting the basketball. My personal method is to remember that we're going opposite the benches in the first half and if it takes a quick peripheral glance to the benches to remind myself of the way to point, then I grab that look and point. I can honestly say I've pointed on every OOB violation that I can remember in the last 10 years. You can too.
Fri Jul 15, 2011, 11:23am
Similar Threads
Hybrid Mode
