Anyone get worse after the first few years?

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by Rich

There are at least 2-3 I second guess every game I work. I remember it for about 10 seconds (if that) and move on. Anything longer and I could miss the next one, too -- and that's something you can avoid.

We all miss some. Basketball's a hard sport to work.

+1, this is something a lot of "veterans" will not admit.

To the OP:

1. Develop a process to make calls as consistently as possible from game to game. This will include obtaining and maintaining open looks.
2. Keep seeing plays and file them away.
3. Always pick up your defenders (recognize their numbers in your head) and let plays start, develop and finish before blowing your whistle.

Did your partner really say the coach may have a point about you being terrible?

[dsqrddgd909]

Tomegun, No he was talking about possibly missing the call, but to his credit he said he didn't have the best look, it was in my primary and I needed to call what I saw.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by dsqrddgd909

Tomegun, No he was talking about possibly missing the call, but to his credit he said he didn't have the best look, it was in my primary and I needed to call what I saw.

Then he had no business saying it that way, IMO. He had nothing constructive to add, from the sound of it. If he had a good look and had something different, that would be different.

[Rufus]

Originally Posted by afsst

Don't get discouraged. Lower level games are often more difficult to officiate and present tougher calls (because the kids are more out of control). Also, there are only 4 eyeballs on the court instead of 6, so we'll miss more.

I've thought about this a bunch and think it's true. I still yo-yo from varsity 3-man to JV/MS 2-man and always found the switch to be jarring. I knew I was missing stuff and felt compelled to press, reach, and basically screw myself into the ground trying to be perfect to make up for everything you're just not going to see when you're "down" an official.

Flash forward to this season and, for some reason, things are a lot more calm whether in 3- or 2-man games. There's a recognition there that stuff gets missed, and even that mistakes are made, but it's not bugging me like it used to (yes, I still evaluate marginal/missed calls, still have discussions, but not in a beat-myself-up way, but more analytical).

What changed? Well, this is year 6 into the officiating odyssey and that may have something to do with it. Maybe I've matured (Nah!) and stopped caring so much what folks (fans, coaches, players) say about me while still listening to what they're saying (yes, nuggets of wisdom can come from the strangest places). Maybe it's that I don't do anything but MS/HS (i.e., no wreck) and so am "fresh" for games. Maybe it's because I came off my second round of camps this summer. In any case, you're asking the right questions and seem to be doing the right things. Hang in there and, if it's what you want to do, I'm confident you'll get there eventually.

[maven]

Originally Posted by dsqrddgd909

Tomegun, No he was talking about possibly missing the call, but to his credit he said he didn't have the best look, it was in my primary and I needed to call what I saw.

So here's a veteran official encouraging a younger guy to second guess himself, with no constructive advice about how to officiate the play better.

Bleh. And the vets in your association are probably wondering why their newer officials lack confidence.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by dsqrddgd909

I'll try to keep this brief.

4th year, mostly assigned JV B/G doubleheaders, some freshmen and Middle school sprinkled in.

I have tried to improve. I'm in better shape, I'm in the rules and case books. I attend our association's training, I go to clinics, I've got a mentor. I go to watch more experienced officials.

I just don't feel I'm getting better. I think my judgement is getting worse.

...

My question is has anybody else experienced this? I hope I'm not one of those guys that has a rookie year over and over again.

What you may not realize is that you ARE getting better. You appear to be starting to understand things that probably went right over your head before. One of the steps to improving is being able to recognize your errors (or just possible errors) and being able to deconstruct them and decide if what you had was right or maybe not...and then decide what you want to change, if anything, to improve.

Sometimes, you can do the right thing the wrong way and the improvement that is needed is in how you do something as opposed to what to do.

Take, for example, your discussion with the coach. Maybe you said too much. Maybe you said it in a way that was confrontational and escalated the tension. Maybe the coach was just going to be a jerk no matter what you said and how you said it. See if you can think of a better way to communicate to that coach so that they trust what you said....or at least respect what you said. But, again, it may have also been the coach but that still doesn't mean you can't review how that exchange went.

[stir22]

Great thread, thank you for posting it. Lots of great feedback. I'm in my fifth year, and totally understand the OP's thoughts and emotions. I feel this way sometimes; when I do, i take a step back, and take fewer games in parochial leagues, jr. high, the leagues that aren't high school. This helps. As one poster said, the quality of ball in the much lower levels is so brutal sometimes that it can make anyone question their abilities as an official.

I talk to a lot of the guys/gals in my pool about it...not just my mentor. Their opinions are candid and honest.

One thing that helped me is this- I put together an informal "study club" of guys/gals...most have about my level of experience or less, but anyone is welcome. We get together once/twice a week, usually at a coffee place, drink coffee and talk. We talk rules, nuances, and water-bucket issues. This helps a lot. We have our regular study club, but our informal one is totally different.

The truth is, we are seldom as good as we think we are on our best nights...and not as horrid as we knew we were on our worst nights.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by stir22

... We get together once/twice a week, usually at a coffee place, drink coffee and talk. We talk rules, nuances, and water-bucket issues. This helps a lot. We have our regular study club, but our informal one is totally different.
....

I don't hang with officials who frequent "coffee places".

[Kelvin green]

If you are familiar with competency stages and the situational leadershio model developed by ken blanchard and Paul Hersey, part of their model is that theer is a learning stage where as you progress that you become insecure...

The stage you are going through is a natural stageof learning and development. The difficulty is that when we get to thisbtype of stage we need a leader that is highly encouraging and we as officials are normally on our own so it is harder to get through this stage... You will get through it just kep working at it

[BballRookie]

- I hope this isn't out of place in this thread:

I know that camps have been brought up previously, but as a newer official, I go out of my way to promote camps with my peers(I just attended one), because sometimes they can be presented in the wrong way. I have encouraged friends to find an instructional camp where they will get a lot of feedback and have the opportunity to sit in sessions covering important topics. For instance "If you totally blow a call how do you respond to an irate coach" or "at what point does an emotional coach shift to a disrespectful coach" etc etc. For a new official, this may be a completely demoralizing situation to think about and those situations can ruin your game. Not all clinicians are the best, but there going to be things that you'll learn in a very intense 3 day period that you won't during the season, primarily because you have paid to have a talented official watch and give you feedback.

My mentor told me that a camp is worth 3 seasons. I found that to be accurate in my experience. Even though I felt lost at camp, I felt very confident when I got back home. It was almost like a steroid for my confidence level.

The only camp I went to was instructional, although assigners were acting as clinicians. Many of the guys had attended other camps where the feedback was less frequent, and they didn't learn as much. We had very candid conversations, so there was no reason for them to sugar coat their opinions.

Bottom line: not all camps are created equally, but some are very helpful. Ask a number of people their opinion, since bias exists with the recommendations you'll receive.

[BillyMac]

I don't know if this applies to basketball officiating, or, anything else for that matter, but according to journalist Malcom Gladwell, mastery of anything, whether it's the Beatles in music, or Bill Gates in the computer world, takes 10,000 hours of practice.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I don't know if this applies to basketball officiating, or, anything else for that matter, but according to journalist Malcom Gladwell, mastery of anything, whether it's the Beatles in music, or Bill Gates in the computer world, takes 10,000 hours of practice.

I was once told it takes a minimum of 7 seasons before one is ready "to work any game" in local our jurisdiction. The top 2 games would be Game 3 of the BV city final and the regional BV final.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

I was once told it takes a minimum of 7 seasons before one is ready "to work any game" in local our jurisdiction. The top 2 games would be Game 3 of the BV city final and the regional BV final.

My local board, according to our bylaws, will not assign a single varsity game to anyone unless they have worked four years, including the cadet year, as a subvarsity official, no matter how good they are. Members can't work a "full" varsity schedule until they have worked three years as a "split" (both varsity and subvarsity games) official.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

My local board, according to our bylaws, will not assign a single varsity game to anyone unless they have worked four years, including the cadet year, as a subvarsity official, no matter how good they are. Members can't work a "full" varsity schedule until they have worked three years as a "split" (both varsity and subvarsity games) official.

Coincidence? 4 + 3 = 7!

[stir22]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

I don't hang with officials who frequent "coffee places".

heh. Our "coffee place" is a 24 hour restaurant/diner whose clientele is truckers, workin' joes, and the occasional stripper (not kidding) stopping in for dinner after a hard night on the pole.