Try operating the game clock sometime...

[Tee]

We are having a tourney locally where the people putting on the tournament choose to use Div 1 and WNBA officials. For whatever reason, I ended up doing the clock. I have to question the wisdom of this move, as my experience is limited to explaining to the normal scorekeepers what I need from them and occasionally setting the clock when no one was handy.

It is quite an eye opening experience! I am sure many of you have done this job, but for those of you who have not- try it sometime. It will give you a fresh appreciation of those who do it regularly.

I found myself with little time to watch the ballgame or the high quality refs- I had to concentrate on doing my job- and I was not always perfect I must say.

I will be much nicer to my table crew in the future. And I think it will help me be a better official as well.

On a related note- the game awareness of the officials was superb- I know this because if I neglected to turn on/off the clock or change the team fouls in a timely manner, I got a look, or a whistle on a couple of occasions (in 2 games). They also consistintly knew the shot clock particulars and where it ought to be when my fellow table partner messed it up. They were perhaps a little more aware then normal, as they relised they were dealing with an inexperienced crew, but nevertheless, it was impressive.

[BktBallRef]

NBA and WNBA officials are acutely aware of the clock and the shot clock at all times. It's an important part of their training. Even during an NBA or WNBA, you'll see situations where they catch clock mistakes.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Tee
We are having a tourney locally where the people putting on the tournament choose to use Div 1 and WNBA officials. For whatever reason, I ended up doing the clock. I have to question the wisdom of this move, as my experience is limited to explaining to the normal scorekeepers what I need from them and occasionally setting the clock when no one was handy.

It is quite an eye opening experience! I am sure many of you have done this job, but for those of you who have not- try it sometime. It will give you a fresh appreciation of those who do it regularly.

I found myself with little time to watch the ballgame or the high quality refs- I had to concentrate on doing my job- and I was not always perfect I must say.

I will be much nicer to my table crew in the future. And I think it will help me be a better official as well.

On a related note- the game awareness of the officials was superb- I know this because if I neglected to turn on/off the clock or change the team fouls in a timely manner, I got a look, or a whistle on a couple of occasions (in 2 games). They also consistintly knew the shot clock particulars and where it ought to be when my fellow table partner messed it up. They were perhaps a little more aware then normal, as they relised they were dealing with an inexperienced crew, but nevertheless, it was impressive.

I worked the clock a couple times one year in summer league when I was between games. You are 100% correct that it is very difficult. I was awful! I kept looking up and thinking, "The clock's still running! why aren't they turning it off!" Humiliating experience...

[scottk_61]

Originally posted by Tee


It is quite an eye opening experience! I am sure many of you have done this job, but for those of you who have not- try it sometime. It will give you a fresh appreciation of those who do it regularly.

I found myself with little time to watch the ballgame or the high quality refs- I had to concentrate on doing my job- and I was not always perfect I must say.

With our local association, you are required to work the clock on a pretty regular basis, it is not something I enjoy.
One reason I am against it, is that the newer people work it more often and then get into the habit of ball hogging which trasfers to their game when they are on the floor.

[Nevadaref]

Tee, I must agree with you whole-heartedly. I worked the clock for a few of the state championship games this year and believe that it was a very helpful experience. It is harder than one would think because you must concentrate on your job and not watch the game or the officials. It was my first time working the clock, so I did mess up twice. Once I forgot to stop the clock on an out-of-bounds and in another game I hit the horn for a substitution after the free thrower already had the ball. I bought that crew a beer.
I certainly will be much nicer to those on the table from now on and more understanding of their mistakes. I believe that this should be part of all officials training. One or two games a year would be plenty.
PS A bit of info: in MD the alternate official keeps the scorebook for playoff games, but the school still provides the timekeeper.

[Edited by Nevadaref on Apr 17th, 2003 at 04:14 AM]

[DrakeM]

Tee,
Who were some of the refs from the WNBA?

[mick]

Originally posted by Nevadaref
... I worked the clock for a few of the state championship games this year and believe that it was a very helpful experience. It is harder than one would think because you must concentrate on your job and not watch the game or the officials. It was my first time working the clock, so I did mess up twice.....

The Shot Clock is tough enough.
The game clock is even tougher.
I've worked the clock for a JV game a coupla times, and the 32 minutes lasted 33-35, I'm sure.
I am very happy that my first time operating had nothing to do with a championship, no less a state championship.
mick

[RecRef]

Originally posted by scottk_61

One reason I am against it, is that the newer people work it more often and then get into the habit of ball hogging which trasfers to their game when they are on the floor.

I'm at a loss to understand what one has to do with the other. How does operating the clock lead to ball hogging? One should be able to separate the two.

Operating the clock has reinforced in me the need to improve my mechanics. Stopping and starting the clock became lazy and reporting became close to unintelligible. A few games on the clock ended all of that.

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by RecRef
How does operating the clock lead to ball hogging?

Maybe the term was supposed to be "ball hawking", like always watching the ball instead of off-ball. Maybe working the clock makes you focus more on the ball all the time and that carries over to officiating? I'm just guessing. . .

[scottk_61]

Originally posted by ChuckElias

Maybe the term was supposed to be "ball hawking", like always watching the ball instead of off-ball. Maybe working the clock makes you focus more on the ball all the time and that carries over to officiating? I'm just guessing. . .

right you are, ball hogging, or ball hawking.....I use both terms interchangeably.
My point is that some people develop the habit of watching the ball all the time and then when they get on the floor to Ref, they forget to watch their area and instead watch the ball too much.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by scottk_61
right you are, ball hogging, or ball hawking.....I use both terms interchangeably.
My point is that some people develop the habit of watching the ball all the time and then when they get on the floor to Ref, they forget to watch their area and instead watch the ball too much.

Scott, I wonder if it would be helpful for the newer refs to work the table like this: The clock person should stop the clock on the whistle, rather than when the ball does this or that. SO they should practice not watching the ball, and concentrate on listening for the whistle. That would then add to their off-ball skills, and reduce the harmful focus on the ball.

[scottk_61]

Originally posted by rainmaker


Scott, I wonder if it would be helpful for the newer refs to work the table like this: The clock person should stop the clock on the whistle, rather than when the ball does this or that. SO they should practice not watching the ball, and concentrate on listening for the whistle. That would then add to their off-ball skills, and reduce the harmful focus on the ball.

You are right Julie, but the inverse seems to happen more often.
Of course this si just my opinion.........you haven't ever known an official to be opinionated have you????

[Nevadaref]

Originally posted by mick

The Shot Clock is tough enough.
The game clock is even tougher.
I've worked the clock for a JV game a coupla times, and the 32 minutes lasted 33-35, I'm sure.
I am very happy that my first time operating had nothing to do with a championship, no less a state championship.
mick

In Nevada we do not use a shot clock, so that is not a concern. I actually think that it was helpful that I had never worked the clock before because I was aware of that and tried much harder to focus on the job. If I had done it before I may have taken a more laid back approach and that wouldn't have been as good for the kids playing.

I also have a few comments on the ball-watching issue. I believe that it is better for the clock operator to watch the ball. This is because the vast majority of whistles that happen in a game are on plays either involving or very near the ball. Also, the time that I failed to stop the clock correctly was because I was looking off-ball. I was watching two post players pushing each other and became interested in how the official was going to handle the situation when the ball was tipped OOB on the far side. The official over there didn't give a very strong whistle since it was not a big call, but since I wasn't focused on that play I let the clock continue to run for a few extra seconds. After this I decided to focus on the play near the ball and am glad that I did because there were some other soft whistles combined with a noisy crowd that would have made it difficult to hear. Also you must watch the ball during throw-ins. This ball-watching does probably carry over to one's officiating though. Of course in our association there are probably only about 10 officials that look off-ball anyway.

[RecRef]

Jullie and Scott – From my experience the whistle is not always hearable. Sometimes the short sharp blow gets lost in the crowd noise. Adding to the noise of the crowd is the echo effect in some gyms. We have several schools in our area that have gyms with 3 or 4 full size courts. While they are not in use during a game the gym hast to be very large to hold them and the ceilings are generally very high. All of this plays havoc with the sound. The only way sometimes you can tell what is going on is to watch the ball.

Nevadaref made some good points about things happing on the court. And yes ball watching may carryover to when one is reffing but it is on of the things a new ref has to learn not to do.

[Mark Dexter]

Originally posted by mick

The Shot Clock is tough enough.
The game clock is even tougher.

Why do you think this? Having done both - I find the shot clock to be more difficult than the game clock. A quick finger on the game clock - no one notices. A quick finger on the "reset" button for shot clock - an entire arena is yelling at you.

I am very happy that my first time operating had nothing to do with a championship, no less a state championship.
mick

Trial by fire - the only way to learn the table!!