Off to my first camp

[fletch_irwin_m]

How to win friends and influence evaluators:

1. Interrupt your evaluator as soon as he/she disagrees with something you did.
2. Start every sentence with "I know but...."
3. Keep your shirt untucked, it is cooler that way.
4. Wear white shoes
5. Never rotate in a 3 - person crew, because you may screw up the other two people
6. Hang out with the "guys" everynight until the wee hours of the morning and consume lots of alcohol.
7. Find an evaluator you like and whenever you are not on a game find them and follow them around. This gives you a great opportunity to critique other officials and demonstrate your superior knowledge.
8. Start every pre game with "I hope you two are better then the last group they stuck me with"
9. Pace yourself. If you go all out early you may not have a lot left for the rest of your games.
10. This is a great opportunity for you to work on those clever NBA mechanics.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally posted by stripes

In Utah, definitely the Italian. See you there. Be sure to introduce yourself, I might be late getting there.

I looked for you today, but didn't see you. I'm in Daren Jackson's group (group 4, I believe). Was at Bell in the a.m., and Laker Gym in the p.m. You working Anchor Gym or the Riverdale Rec? Hopefully I'll run into you tomorrow.

Is there any good Italian in Ogden?

[Back In The Saddle]

Just one word...Wow!

What a great experience. Thank you, everyone, for your great advice. It all helped, a lot. I nodded a lot, and listened a lot...and learned a lot!

Thanks, Jeff, for the reminder to hustle. Good hustle definitely got me noticed. And I overheard the evaluators commenting on others who did not hustle.

Wizard, I don't know if your camp will be the same, but here's what happened. On the first day, we met together and listened to a few speakers. They focused mostly on the stuff you need to know to be a good official. Very worthwhile stuff, especially with me being a newbie and all.

Then they broke us into groups that worked together for the rest of the camp. The camp was spread over several sites, and so we travelled from site to site to be seen by each evaluator. At half time and after each game, an evaluator would take us aside and discuss what they saw that was good, and things to work on. We got a written copy of the eval. It was all handled very well, and very positively. I came away from each one feeling good and excited to try what they suggested.

One big benefit of the groups is that we got to know each other, and I was able to talk to the veterans (which was everybody in the group except me ) when I wasn't working. They had a lot of good stuff for me as well.

One thing that helped is that when we all introduced ourselves, I clearly stated that I was brand new to officiating. I have worked six months, actually, but close enough. I found that everybody was very helpful, and I was generally perceived as being more proficient than they expected.

One thing I wish I had paid a more attention to was hydration. It's summer and most of the gyms I worked were very hot. I fatigued my first day because I didn't have enough water and gatorade. I fixed that the second day, and the results were much better.

One thing that was hard for me was being aware of being evaluated. The first day especially, I was constantly reminding myself to "work my game" and ignore the evaluators. One of the veterans suggested that I let the stress drive me to do my best, but not to focus on it. Good advice.

I got to meet our friend, stripes. When I originally met him online, I met him under his real name. So I spent the whole time looking for two different people, before he helped me figure it out.

I'm pleased to report that I evaluated very well. Almost universally the evaluators were shocked when they found out I was a rookie. Considering all of the banter here, I had to try not to smile when several of them told me I had good "presence." Many of the things I learned here were noticed.

I was able to incorporate some changes recommended by my first evaluator, before I was seen by my last evaluator. I think I've made a good first impression. And I've got a list of things to work on before the next camp in June.

Thank you again, everyone!

[mick]

Originally posted by Back In The Saddle
Just one word...Wow!

Ya pays yer money.
Ya takes yer chances.
... An "Attaboy" to you.

[ChuckElias]

Big thumbs-up, BITS! Good for you. Build on it in June. Good luck.

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by Back In The Saddle


Thanks, Jeff, for the reminder to hustle. Good hustle definitely got me noticed. And I overheard the evaluators commenting on others who did not hustle.

Glad to see my advice helped.

Originally posted by Back In The Saddle


I'm pleased to report that I evaluated very well. Almost universally the evaluators were shocked when they found out I was a rookie. Considering all of the banter here, I had to try not to smile when several of them told me I had good "presence." Many of the things I learned here were noticed.

You actually mean that officials in a different part of the country, actually believe in "presence" besides me on this board. How could that have happen?

Other than that, glad to see you had fun. If you do not mind me asking, what was the name of this camp and where is it located? Also what kind of camp was it? Was it just a camp for learning or did it have an evaluation aspect to it?

Peace

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally posted by JRutledge
If you do not mind me asking, what was the name of this camp and where is it located? Also what kind of camp was it? Was it just a camp for learning or did it have an evaluation aspect to it?

It was a high school camp, run by the Northern Utah Basketball Officials Association in Ogden, Utah. I think it's mostly geared toward allowing the state assigners to evaluate officials hoping to move up to do Varsity. There was an evaluation aspect to it, but only for high school assignments, I think. Although there were a few college officials who were doing the evaluating.