Game tonight sucked

[seohio]

We dont have assigners in this league

[seohio]

I am taking the advice from some on this board and have written down what bothered me most tonight....what mistakes I made and am going to study on them and not make those mistakes next game....life goes on.

[grunewar]

Seohio - it's part of the process. I've had a very up and down season so far, with several games I wish I could do over....and then, other games like tonight which were just great. Tonight, I had two great P's and a good game.

Hopefully, the more games you do, the more good games you'll have and the bad ones will be fewer and further between. Learn and move on!

Good luck.

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by seohio

I am taking the advice from some on this board and have written down what bothered me most tonight....what mistakes I made and am going to study on them and not make those mistakes next game....life goes on.

Also, try to think of at least one positive thing you got out of the game... surely, there is one.

In the journal I'm keeping, I try to record things I thought I did well in addition to the things I feel I should work on or be mindful of for the next game.

I'm sure at some point I'll have the game from h-e-double toothpicks and wonder what I got myself into. But just remember the next game is always a chance to start fresh.

[Multiple Sports]

Just a thought.......

Not sure you should be doing games with your son.....

I assign another sport and have two sets of father / sons....

Kept them apart their first two years, to your son you aren't his partner, you
are his father. Trust me, that is not fair to him. Likewise you are out there
trying to protect your son not your partner....Just one man's opinion.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

Just a thought.......

Not sure you should be doing games with your son.....

Agreed, not with them both breaking in at the same time. I have called some games with my son, (jr. high and below) but I was officiating before he was born.

[Altor]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

Just a thought.......

Not sure you should be doing games with your son.....

I assign another sport and have two sets of father / sons....

Kept them apart their first two years, to your son you aren't his partner, you
are his father. Trust me, that is not fair to him. Likewise you are out there
trying to protect your son not your partner....Just one man's opinion.

I officiate a lot of contests with my father each year. I think the experiences have brought us closer together and I consider him one of my best partners. We are simply on the same page for so many things. Of course, we weren't trying to learn the trade together. He already had 30+ years of officiating under his belt.

That said, I agree with the sentiment above. Develop your skills separately for a couple years. I don't think it would hurt to attend each other's games and offer praise/criticism afterwards. But, there's a certain amount of distance you should keep for the first couple years, especially DURING the contests. Let each of you learn from your own mistakes on the court, then post-game (preferably after a post-game with your partners) what went right and what went wrong.

[icallfouls]

I think I would say that the other way around. Father and son thought it would be fun to officiate. As both get more experience they tend to work together less as both officials start to develop their own way of doing things.

Its no different than the father / son relationship. They participate together, develop, then find others (typically in their age range) to learn from, but in the end they still talk and offer support to each other.

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

Just a thought.......

Not sure you should be doing games with your son.....

I assign another sport and have two sets of father / sons....

Kept them apart their first two years, to your son you aren't his partner, you
are his father. Trust me, that is not fair to him. Likewise you are out there
trying to protect your son not your partner....Just one man's opinion.

[ballgame99]

Been there man!! The worst thing is kicking yourself after because you feel like you let it get out of control. In reality, if you would have blown your whistle more it may have cleaned up a bit, but it still would have remained ugly. But don't let that stop you from calling fouls. It is much easier to live with yourself if you can say, hey, at least I tried. Just keep improving, as we all know this is not an easy job. Oh, and its been said at this point, but don't let that coach get over on you. How can you expect the kids to respect you if you allow their coach to disrespect you like that?

[SE Minnestoa Re]

I have been officiating for over 30 years. I have worked many games with my son but we weren't starting out together. It is always fun. He has moved away but we always get together a couple of times a year to work a varsity game somewhere.

Concerning rough play, you need to take control of the game. Last Friday the teams played extremely well and we called only 12 fouls until the last two minutes when one team fouled often while behind late in the game.

Monday night, same officials, called 50 fouls. The difference was that Monday the teams wanted to reach, not move their feet on defense and push a lot. We call what we see.

No complaints either night. The coaches all knew what was going on.

Keep your chin up--it will get better. Promise.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by seohio

We dont have assigners in this league

Okay, help us out. How did the two of you end up on this game if there's no assignors? Are there veteran officials you can work with? How do you get games?

Realizing that both of you are inexperienced, you really need to work separately, each with a veteran official. Two rookies working a game together is pretty much asking for trouble. It's not fair to the players, coaches or to you.

[JRutledge]

We all have rough games even years later. I would not worry about it. You will have more that will make you roll your eyes for what just took place. Like others that have stated, it is sometimes better to have a crew member that has some experience to get you in the right mind set or get the train from going off the tracks. Two young guys (officials of course) makes a game very difficult if you do not have the experience to know what to do to get yourself out of a bad situation. Or the experience to know what you are going through sometimes just happens. None of us are perfect and I am sure it was not as bad as you thought. I think you are your son probably need to be evaluated more and work with others from time to time. It would help you get the right perspective.

Peace

[Adam]

You've had some good feedback so far, I want to add that no matter how you feel about your game, you can't let the coach get away with that behavior. That's often a bigger part of keeping control than calling fouls.

The biggest thing, don't be afraid to over blow the whistle. Most officials go through a progression that starts with being afraid to blow the whistle. You think you're too late, but you're not. Don't be afraid of a late whistle.

[Thumper68]

Originally Posted by Adam

You've had some good feedback so far, I want to add that no matter how you feel about your game, you can't let the coach get away with that behavior. That's often a bigger part of keeping control than calling fouls.

The biggest thing, don't be afraid to over blow the whistle. Most officials go through a progression that starts with being afraid to blow the whistle. You think you're too late, but you're not. Don't be afraid of a late whistle.

Adam brings up a very good point about blowing the whistle. Don't let things go because you think that you are too late. I still have to work on this and I am in my third year. You are not really late with a whistle ( except in your mind). I certainly remember that in my first year the game seemed very fast. It does get better with experience so hang in there.

[JetMetFan]

Same. However you were assigned the game it'll help both you and your son more if you work with a veteran. It doesn't guarantee a smooth night but at least you have someone with you who should know how to either get out of trouble or stop it before it starts.

As was said earlier, don't worry about putting air in the whistle especially if the teams are playing rough. Either they figure it out or you're there for 2½ hours and everyone fouls out. One of my mentors once said, "They're going to get mad if you blow the whistle and they're going to get mad if you don't, so you might as well blow the whistle."

Regarding the coach: you may feel as though you didn't do a good job but that doesn't give him the right to call a TO and rip you about it. His job is to coach his team. If he wants to rip into you let him do it on some coaches' internet forum