First Game

[Stat-Man]

I had my first game this evening (JV girls).

I think I did ok for my first time.

I wish I had told myself "No ball watching" a few more times. I was all set to call a held ball out of my primary ... only to have partner tell me it was 2 visiting players who fell down with the ball. Needless to say, I called the travel instead.

I had another situation where coach wanted a travel. While the play looked weird, it didn't look illegal, so I called nothing.

There was another play where my partner was lead and he had a collision right in front of him. This time, I trusted his judgement on the no-call but the home coach wanted a block or charge. In retrospect, I probably should have mentioned my partner was right there and had the better angle.

It wasn't all bad. In the second half, partner & I communicated more during timeouts, which was a plus. When the score was tied and he told me "no overtime," I could help but smile and tell him that was rule #1.

I was a bit disappointed my partner didn't show until 18 minutes before tip-off as I would have liked to have had a pre-game. (I didn't think an on-floor pre-game would look right.) And there were times when he wouldn't switch as I expected and times when he switched when I didn't think he would. In those cases, I just adjusted my position accordingly. I thought this was odd since he told me at the half how he has officiated for 9 years and has a varsity schedule this year aside from this game. He was quick to leave after the game, but I opted to watch the first half of the varsity game.

Barring any unscheduled changes, my next game is in three weeks. I definitely need to remind myself not to ball-watch, and to better judge contact and travels in my primary. Hopefully game #2 is better.

[Loudwhistle2]

Sounds like you did just fine! You'll find that each game seems a little easier then the last until you hit one of "those" games where everything goes to he11. I like the positive outlook and how you are already working towards improving yourself in future games!
I would try to tune out what coaches are saying to you, they will try to work you in any way they can.
If it can be arranged, it would be good to sit with a mentor and watch a varsity or jv game and quietly discuss the calls and other pertinent information. This forum has been great to see the comments on video clips and how different officials evaluate the same situation. Your mentor might be able to give you some great advice or insight similar to what you see on here. Good luck in your future games! I like basketball officiating because its like a never ending hunt! (hunting for fouls and violations)

[Sharpshooternes]

Originally Posted by Loudwhistle2

Sounds like you did just fine! You'll find that each game seems a little easier then the last until you hit one of "those" games where everything goes to he11. I like the positive outlook and how you are already working towards improving yourself in future games!
I would try to tune out what coaches are saying to you, they will try to work you in any way they can.
If it can be arranged, it would be good to sit with a mentor and watch a varsity or jv game and quietly discuss the calls and other pertinent information. This forum has been great to see the comments on video clips and how different officials evaluate the same situation. Your mentor might be able to give you some great advice or insight similar to what you see on here. Good luck in your future games! I like basketball officiating because its like a never ending hunt! (hunting for fouls and violations)

I had one of "those games" tonight. 1 double tech, 1 player tech,a decent timing error, and I am still kicking myself for not ringing up one of the assistant coaches with a t as well. he was very disrespectful and I missed tagging him. I won't let that happen EVER again. Partner is in his first season as a HS ref. Had a nasty cold so his voice was gone. This did not help matters. We were not consistent on block/charge calls which I think had a little to do with misunderstanding of the rule by my P. Don't get me wrong he did a fine job otherwise. Had a good post game chat and then chatted with a V official who was watching his son play. He actually said we did a pretty good job aside from the stuff I already mentioned.

[Loudwhistle2]

Originally Posted by Sharpshooternes

I had one of "those games" tonight. 1 double tech, 1 player tech,a decent timing error, and I am still kicking myself for not ringing up one of the assistant coaches with a t as well. he was very disrespectful and I missed tagging him. I won't let that happen EVER again. Partner is in his first season as a HS ref. Had a nasty cold so his voice was gone. This did not help matters. We were not consistent on block/charge calls which I think had a little to do with misunderstanding of the rule by my P. Don't get me wrong he did a fine job otherwise. Had a good post game chat and then chatted with a V official who was watching his son play. He actually said we did a pretty good job aside from the stuff I already mentioned.

Yep, that was one of "those games" glad you survived to ref another day! What was the decent timing error?

[grunewar]

My P last night (also a college official) "whacked" both coaches in the first half.
For some reason, the second half was much calmer and quieter.....

[Sharpshooternes]

Originally Posted by Loudwhistle2

Yep, that was one of "those games" glad you survived to ref another day! What was the decent timing error?

Team in backcourt inbounded the ball after a TO. I had a ten second call. One of the coaches was complaining that the clock didn't start. After conversing with the timekeeper. It was determined that he did start the clock albeit late, thus I did not have definate knowledge of what the time should have been. I usually am pretty good at keeping track of that stuff but this time I didn't look to see what the time was or if the clock started on the throw in. Lessons learned: Always look at the clock right after inbounding the ball to see the time and ensure that it properly starts. We didn't change the time but had he not started the clock at all and I had a ten count, we could have set the clock to 10 seconds less by rule, correct?

It was 3:34 left in the 4th quarter BTW. I pay much closer attention to the clock starts and stops when there is under 2 minutes left and especially in the fourth quarter.

[DRJ1960]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

I had my first game this evening (JV girls).

I think I did ok for my first time.

It wasn't all bad. .

Hopefully game #2 is better.

Don't be like me I get in the habit of focusing way too much on what I messed up and forget the things I did well. Sounds like you had a great first game.

[Loudwhistle2]

Originally Posted by Sharpshooternes

Team in backcourt inbounded the ball after a TO. I had a ten second call. One of the coaches was complaining that the clock didn't start. After conversing with the timekeeper. It was determined that he did start the clock albeit late, thus I did not have definate knowledge of what the time should have been. I usually am pretty good at keeping track of that stuff but this time I didn't look to see what the time was or if the clock started on the throw in. Lessons learned: Always look at the clock right after inbounding the ball to see the time and ensure that it properly starts. We didn't change the time but had he not started the clock at all and I had a ten count, we could have set the clock to 10 seconds less by rule, correct?

It was 3:34 left in the 4th quarter BTW. I pay much closer attention to the clock starts and stops when there is under 2 minutes left and especially in the fourth quarter.

I would have done as you did. Great habit to look at the clock right after a throwin. Just officiate about 50 5th-6th grade games with parent volunteers running the clock and you'll always check the clock!

[JetMetFan]

Originally Posted by Sharpshooternes

we could have set the clock to 10 seconds less by rule, correct?

Correct, thanks to 5-10-2

If the referee determines that the clock malfunctioned or was not started/stopped properly, or if the clock did not run, an official's count or other official information may be used to make a correction.

[APG]

Welcome to the fraternity

[stripes2255]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

I had my first game this evening (JV girls).



I was a bit disappointed my partner didn't show until 18 minutes before tip-off as I would have liked to have had a pre-game. (I didn't think an on-floor pre-game would look right.) And there were times when he wouldn't switch as I expected and times when he switched when I didn't think he would. In those cases, I just adjusted my position accordingly. I thought this was odd since he told me at the half how he has officiated for 9 years and has a varsity schedule this year aside from this game. He was quick to leave after the game, but I opted to watch the first half of the varsity game.

We talked about this situation at our meeting last night. There are those unfortunate times when you or your partner can't make it to a game until close to the 15 minute on court time(work, traffic, etc). We agreed that having a 4 minute pre-game at mid-court is probably better than no pre-game at all. This may have alleviated some issues you dealt with and just made calling the game more comfortable for you.

It's not perfect, but maybe covering some main issues while stretching and watching the warmups can be beneficial.

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by stripes2255

We talked about this situation at our meeting last night. There are those unfortunate times when you or your partner can't make it to a game until close to the 15 minute on court time(work, traffic, etc). We agreed that having a 4 minute pre-game at mid-court is probably better than no pre-game at all. This may have alleviated some issues you dealt with and just made calling the game more comfortable for you.

It's not perfect, but maybe covering some main issues while stretching and watching the warmups can be beneficial.

This is a good suggestion. Seeing how I also have a few 4 PM freshman games this winter, I'll keep it in mind when I have a partner who can't make it until closer to game time.

Thanks.