1st evaluation
 

I had my first evaluation last night. It was a freshman's girl's game and I didn't know the area supervisor was there until he showed up at halftime with his evaluation form. I am happy to say on the checkmark part I had not areas that were marked with needs improvment.

Under the things to work on column were a few items.

#1 Signal a preliminary foul signal at the spot of the foul
#2 When trail during freethrows could, signal and chop clock with hand nearest table
#3 Close down more on shot attempts from the trail
#4 Come to a stop when reporting

All in all I am happy with my first evaluation.

Good job. Get those changed and keep asking for more. Video yourself to see more things to work on. It really opens up your eyes.

Good work... all of the feedback is something you can fix by practicing mechanics in the mirror and reading the official's handbook/mechanics manual. Try to work on 1 or 2 each game and you will have them down by the end of the season.

Agreed....great feedback. Improving upon those 4 things will add some "polish".

Looks very similar to evaluations a lot of us got our first year or two around here.

#1 and #4 are just a matter of slowing yourself down.

I think #1 is just a mechanism for slowing you down, personally. I'd be curious how many veteran officials in your area use preliminary signals on all fouls -- it would surprise me if they did.

From my experience, not only do most of the "elite" officials in my area not only coach less experienced officials to give a preliminary, they also do so themselves.

I've watched numerous varsity games before becoming a varsity official and noted that the guys I wanted to emulate were all giving a solid preliminary at the scene of the crime. The best part of that for a newer official is that it forces the official to slow down, see the play through and not "lose" the number of the perpetrator.

Getting in a rush to get to the table can cause all sorts of issues for an official, not to mention leaving your partners in a bit of a quandry about what you have and where to go.

Alot of them do on alot of fouls but for sure none of them do on all fouls.

I'm not saying that officials run to the table here, but it would be very rare indeed for an official to signal, for example, a hold at the spot of the foul.

I'd still expect a partner to signal the foul, communicate the team/spot of the throw-in (or that we're shooting free throws), etc. before heading to the table.

You would be surprised around here. It is harped on during every evaluation, even with veterans. We are told to give a preliminary on EVERY foul at all times, and most guys that I work with do it.

Ditto here.

I can't see myself giving a preliminary on any foul committed on a shooter other than maybe a block mechanic on a 50/50 type play.

I'll give a hand-check or push preliminary if the foul caused the offensive player to violate or step OOB.

Other than that (and PC/Block crashes) I'm only going with a fist on the spot.

Must be an area thing because they really expect it here. Not that I agree with it all that much, but it's what they want.

Any video or still photo of your games is going to be a learning tool and a great experience once you become open to the fact that there are things to work on.

I had pictures taken of my game the other night and in reviewing them after game I saw a few things such as positioning on a throw in and a few other things.

I also noticed that during an inbound to start a quarter when I was down as lead that I was standing there with my hands on my hips. I don't know where that came from as I try not to do that, or how often I've done that in the past but that is something that I've worked on the last few games to make sure I eliminate.

Same...block/charge plays and fouls that cause violations. I couldn't imagine myself doing preliminaries for anything else and certainly not all the time.

I do think as a practice, it's not a bad one to teach new officials in that it'll more than likely slow them down and make sure they have the fouler and possible shooter. But for an experienced official? Overkill.