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

[Texas Aggie]

I played more baseball than any other sport -- including a year at the juco level. The first time I got behind the plate to umpire, I hated it. I played HS varsity hoops but not varsity football (9th grade only). I work both sports and have done pretty well at them.

A kid for who basketball is not a priority but still plays on the JV team can make a capable official, just like a superstar hoops player may not be worth a darn in stripes or as a coach. The best coaches are often those players who had some talent but worked their butt off to achieve it and continued working hard at all levels.

There is a misconception that we miss calls because we don't understand the game. By "miss calls," they mean the call didn't go their way.

[Raymond]

The one aspect of playing basketball (organized and high-level pick-up) that has helped me personally is that I am keenly aware of flash points and potential bad behavior. It is something that has been intuitive since my first days of officiating, not something I had to learn.

Of course I am only speaking for myself and my experiences.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

It is something that has been intuitive since my first days of officiating, not something I had to learn.

The nuances of game management is where experience can help quite a bit...though I found my experience officiating other sports translated very well to basketball in this case.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Welpe

I found my experience officiating other sports translated very well to basketball.

I've heard from colleagues that the opposite can also be true, especially those who picked up volleyball (a real money making racket, according to them, especially those guys who are available in the late afternoon, toughest part is climbing the ladder), soccer, and lacrosse. We have a college lacrosse guy on our local basketball board, an outstanding basketball official, who has also achieved success working Division I college lacrosse, without ever having played lacrosse. Many of my basketball colleagues have started officiating high school volleyball, and have seen success, officiating state tournament games, without ever having played interscholastic volleyball, maybe just some volleyball in a middle school, or a high school, physical education class, many years, many pounds, and many hairs, ago.