You call yourself a Referee, but You never played varsity hoop?

[JetMetFan]

Originally Posted by blindzebra

Some of the WORST officials I have seen are former star players.

I worked with a guy this summer at camp who was a former D1 player. He said the biggest surprise when he started officiating about 5-6 years ago was how little he really knew about the rules.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by blindzebra

Some of the WORST officials I have seen are former star players.

Originally Posted by JetMetFan

I worked with a guy this summer at camp who was a former D1 player. He said the biggest surprise when he started officiating about 5-6 years ago was how little he really knew about the rules.

Yup.

Former players often are very poor on the side of rules...at least for a while, and sometimes, forever. They may understand the plays and what the players experience, but that doesn't really matter if they're calling over-the-back and reaches as they wanted their entire playing career or calling a block because a defender stepped backwards before being charged into.

I know many officials who, being former players, get by more on charisma and presence than they do by getting actually calls correct. Some just make stuff up but get away with it due to their ability to sell it.