Any Truth To This Notion?
 

I had far fewer technical fouls this season than I did last season.

How much of that has to do with how much I improved as an official? Is it better game management? Maybe better calls leading to fewer arguments?

Or is it just dumb luck?

Could be any combination of your choices.

Stop doing wreckball?:D

Fewer games? :p

Ha! I haven't done wreck ball since college intramurals. Not that I don't want to, but I haven't found the right people to get hooked up with for rec ball.

It is probably a combination of a lot of things.

• People are beginning to know you better.
• Experience you are gaining to avoid situations.
• Better games means better teams and better players and coaches.
• Better partners.
• Dumb luck.

Probably 10 other things that I could mention that could be a factor as well.

I know I had more Ts this year than I have had in a long time, so many things are not in your hands as much as we think they are.

Peace

I've observed that the very best in our association give few TFs. It appears to me the more you study the rules, the more confidence you have when speaking to a coach who wants to talk about your call. You can confidently explain the call, many times using Rules Book terminology. A coach may hear a key word or two in your explanation that solidifies you as rules knowledgeable, giving him added confidence in you. Rather than getting further agitated to the point of earning a TF, he may settle in to coaching his team and leaving the calls to a solid official.

In my opinion, technical fouls call themselves. I think that there is too much emphasis put on how many T's an official has called in a season. I have never kept track, and I never will. It's just another foul in the game, and we should treat it as so.

That being said, I have called more this year than I have in the past. I'm not sure on the numbers, but I know it's more than the past few years I've worked. Like JRut said, there are several factors that go into why or why not you are calling T's as your season progresses. I don't mind that I've called more this year because they've all called themselves for me.

I T'd up about the same amount of players as I have my previous couple of seasons but my coach technicals were way down with only one. I figure it's a combination of working in a different area, getting better at managing a game and not sucking as much. :)

I had a week or two this season where it felt like everyone was asking to get whacked. I obliged them or my partner(s) did.

I have no idea how many I called this season. More than 3 and fewer than 10.

Had my best schedule in years and of all V games around 35, didn't have one. Gave out a few in travel/feeder 7th,8th grade. JR mentioned better games, coaches and players which has a lot to do with it. I'm also very detached from coaches and focus on calling the game. There was an excellent official who passed away very suddenly last year in my area who I try to emulate.

While approachable, subltey, coaches felt they were interrupting him to raise questions or beef if that makes sense. He kept his words to a minimum and always kept the game moving. I loved watching him. He knew how to avoid situations, yet certainly didn't hide from them either.

I had a very high number of T's this season, easily my most ever, but only one on a coach. And it was the fewest amount of games I've worked since I got into officiating.

Just Another Ordinary Day In The Life Of An Official ...
 

Four. Two on coaches. No ejections. One on a player. One delay of game. All were the easy-peasy-lemon squeezy variety. Didn't have to think twice about any of them. Ordinary garden variety technical fouls. Didn't lose sleep over any of the four. If all four situations happened again today, I'd call all four technical fouls all over again, and still not lose a bit of sleep.

There are just too many factors involved to know. My example comes from softball. I ejected twice in 5 years, then moved to a new area - 2 ejections in the first two weeks, followed by a tourney in week 3 where I tossed 4 coaches AND had the stands cleared by the TD in a single game. Do I think I personally changed? No. Just as coaches eject themselves and we merely announce it, T's call themselves - like said above, it is just another foul. Call it and move on. Don't gauge your performance on it any more than you would your regular foul count.

That's a good list....And speaks volumes!
I had 3 T's this season....all in post-season in the last 2 weeks, and all against coaches for acting like idiots. You can't always avoid those :)