Hurry up and Wait!
 

Had an ahhhh haaa moment tonight in boys JV....

STOP RUSHING...When I am Rushing instead of throttiling back, something can get messed up.

With the intentsity of games and all the hoopla..easy to get too pumped;)

A couple of maxims from some of the veterans I worked with in my first few seasons:

Hustle, but don't hurry.

Once you blow the whistle, you've got all the time in the world. The game can't start again until you're ready for it to start.

True for any sport you officiate.
Year 5 starts for me next week, and I'd have to say it wasn't until last season that I honestly felt I wasn't rushing.
That said, it's still a part of my game that I try to work on all the time.
I live close to a D1 school in a mid-major conference. I have a mini season ticket plan that gets me to five games a year. Having the opportunity to see in live action how officials at that level take their time was a big help.

Piece of advice I received as a new official:

Slow Down!

When you think you are at about the right pace, slow down from there....

Unless your partner is a doofus who isn't making eye contact and puts the ball in play before you are ready.

same here. i'm kind of manic by nature, and EVERYONE in my pool was telling me to slow down. Fifth year now, and asked for some input from a long time guy in our pool...he said..."slow down." Interestingly, I make it one of the "three" things to work on every game. I cannot imagine what I must have looked like those first couple of years.

Me either! But, I'm thankful veteran officials took the time and gave me feedback to get better and I had the will to want to be better.

This is odd but the striped shirt for the scorer has helped me slow down my reporting. It has made it much easier to stop, find my striped shirt, make sure he/she is looking me and then slowly state the color and number so they can understand.

It has always been a little disconcerting to look at the table and see six people staring back at me and me not having any idea which one is the official book. I invariably ended up looking the timer in the eyes and reporting.

Agreed! While I still have much to learn, I am thankful to those who showed an interest in me and invested their time. I hope I can pay it back in spades!

For My Eyes Only ...
 

If there's a hot, single woman at the table, that's where I'm looking, even if she's only there to sharpen pencils in case one of the scorekeepers breaks a pencil point. I believe that that's Mark Padgett's "Sixth Rule Of Officiating". For some reason, he seldom get past the "First Rule", which is why we seldom hear about his other "Rules".

Come on now Billy

Yeah, sorry about that.

That's why you ask before the game. :)

Can't remember where it came from, but...
 

Pregame tidbit passed along by someone that has stuck with us:
"Let's us not get caught up in their rat race."
Bad grammar, but good point.

LOL ... I've been that doofus before, a time or two ... but that was many, many moons ago. Learned my lesson.