Advice for a VERY young official

[brainbrian]

He also needs to keep track of the games he has worked somehow and his schedule and whether or not he has been paid. This could be a great time to teach him some of the off the court responsibilities as well.

[Stat-Man]

And to piggyback on brainbrian's post, I'd also recommend keeping a journal of his progress as an official. I'm in my second year as an official and keep a written diary. In addition to general information about the game, I try to include a couple of things I thought I did well during the game and a couple of things I feel I should improve or focus on improving in the next game.

[just another ref]

Hopefully your son's partner will be an adult with at least some experience. My son called a game or two with me when he was ten, and did just fine. That way, basically I could count on him to call out of bounds and administer throw-ins on his two lines, but I could expand and help him call everything else as needed.

[eyezen]

Heres what i would do. Since its 3rd and 4th grade, it should be no problem getting proper permission from whomever you need to get permission from and work a few games with him. Not as his partner, but right there next to him. Get him in position. Tell him where his focus needs to be. Help with difficult OOB and the like. Handle things that need to be handled. Be right there to remind him to get his arm up and what the signals are. He's 13, they're 8. No one's going to care, if they do having you there says back off, he's learning.

A couple three games like that then take the training wheels off.