Continuous Motion (video)

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think officials worry too much about what someone else is doing as it relates to the "big time" comment. It is not the right thing to say and correcting that does not mean anything other then trying to confuse the masses.

Originally Posted by Freddy

A person in an elected or appointed role of supervisor or trainer might well choose to make this an association point of emphasis and be rightfully able to sway the masses. It is, after all, his responsibility to -- understand this correctly please -- "tell them how to officiate."

I know that every state, and local, officiating organization (association, board, etc.) does lots of things differently, thus the common phrase, "When in Rome ...", often appearing on the Forum. I get it.

But let me tell you a little about Connecticut, and my local board.

We're all IAABO here in Connecticut, and one of the most important goals of IAABO is "to educate, train, develop, and provide continuous instruction for basketball officials".

Here in my little corner of Connecticut, and I'm guessing all over Connecticut, we're always trying to improve officials, all officials, rookies, veterans, subvarsity, and varsity, based on the IAABO motto "One rule, one interpretation, one mechanic".

We are constantly trying to help each other to improve. A common phrase heard in locker rooms, stated between partners, or even between both subvarsity, and varsity officials, before, after, and during halftime, of our games is, "So, what did you see out there?", or "Any suggestions?". Yes, a few, especially the inexperienced officials, are timid, but most of us have no problem mentioning things that an official can use to improve their game, or to get in line with our local board's accepted, and expected, practices.

I would have absolutely no problem advising an official, inexperienced, experienced, varsity, or subvarsity, to rid his vocabulary of, "On the floor", and if I did, no one would ever accuse me of "big timing".

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

We're all IAABO here in Connecticut, and one of the most important goals of IAABO is "to educate, train, develop, and provide continuous instruction for basketball officials".

Here in my little corner of Connecticut, and I'm guessing all over Connecticut, we're always trying to improve officials, all officials, rookies, veterans, subvarsity, and varsity, based on the IAABO motto "One rule, one interpretation, one mechanic".

Coincidently, this past weekend I got an email from one of our local board's grand pubahs, asking me to come up with a list of comments that one official might say to another official to improve their officiating. It's, by far, not a complete list, just something that I quickly jotted down. I just emailed this back:

APPEARANCE AND CONDITIONING
“Wear all black shoes.”
“Street clothes should be business casual.”

MECHANICS
“As the trail, take a step toward the basket on field goals, and free throws. Don’t bail out early.”
“Inbound the ball at the spot closest to the foul, or the violation.”
“Use high school, not college, signals, and mechanics.”
“Switch on all fouls".
“Be sure to stand in the correct position during time outs, and intermissions.”
“Don’t wander around during time outs, and intermissions. If you don’t know where you belong,
then find a line and stand on it.”
“Move to the reporting area to report all fouls".
“Lead official does not echo a successful three point shot signal, only the trail.”
“Blow the whistle louder.”
“Slow down after a double whistle. Don’t be so quick to give a preliminary signal.”
“Sound your whistle, and put up your arm, for all out of bounds calls.”
“Take your time when reporting fouls to the table.”
“On a front court endline throwin, put the ball in play on the proper side of the lane, don’t worry
about making the trail move to the other side.”
“Hand the ball to the inbounder on all front court endline throwins.”
“Don’t bounce the ball across the lane on a front court endline throwin.”

TEAM WORK
“As the lead, don’t be afraid to come ball side if the situation dictates such.”

JUDGMENT
“Train wreaks usually need some type of whistle.”
“Do your job during the pregame warmups. Watch for jewelry, and equipment issues.”
“Be ready for fouls to stop the clock near the end of a close game. Be sure to consider the possibility
of intentional fouls, if the contact warrants such.”

GAME MANAGEMENT
“Try to keep the coach near his coaching box. Do not allow him to stand in front of the table.”

Here in my little corner of Connecticut, we (325 of us) watch each other's backs, we help each other out, we look out for each other, and that includes the unwashed "masses". We treat the guys who work the middle school games, the freshman games, and the subvarsity games, with as much respect as we treat our top varsity officials. The kids playing those games deserve good officiating, and some of those guys working those games will one day be working a high school varsity state tournament game. We all have to start somewhere. We don't leave any of our brother, or sister, officials behind. Everyone is deserving of a route to improvement. Everyone. Yes, occasionally we come across a rookie official that almost all of know is not going to make it, but that doesn't stop us from helping him to improve. Yes, you can lead a horse to water, but not make him drink, but that's not going to stop us from leading.