Brand New Official

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

You do this in front of the mirror so that you can see what you look like. That is why you get video of yourself working a game and preferably do it with a video that you have someone tape you specifically as opposed to using a coach's or school tape where they focus only on the court and not your mechanics. What you are suggesting Billy might be good for making decisions, but not for "How you look" officiating or signaling as Chuck was I am sure trying to state.

I never suggested that new officials stop looking in the mirror ("In front of a mirror is a good technique"). I suggested that whistling at the television should be an additional "study aid". I spent several years on our local "mechanics clinic" committee. One of the biggest problems for new officials was to simply blow the whistle and give some type of signal when they saw something. A "train wreak" would occur and they wouldn't blow the whistle. When questioned why they would indicate that they weren't sure who the foul was on, or what type of foul it was, so they just passed on it. In other cases the ball would go out of bounds with no whistle. When questioned why no whistle, they would mumble something about not being sure how the ball ended up out of bounds. Others stated that they were reluctant to sound their whistle because they were unsure about which signals, and the order of the signals, to show after the whistle. We constantly had to tell these rookies to just blow the damn whistle to stop the clock, and then worry about making a call.

Blowing a whistle and giving signals while watching a game on television is a good way to quickly end this "whistle anxiety".