Advice for a VERY young official

[easticles]

Originally Posted by Nikki

I guess I'm struggling with the same thing you are asking. I don't know where to start. He's a pretty confident kid and has seen me officiate hundreds, maybe thousands of games from grade school to college. I don't think he is actually struggling with anything in particular. I will try to work most of his games with him, so that should help. I just want to prepare him without overwhelming him. I remember the first time I went to a NCAAW camp - i had never worked 3 man- it was overwhelming, but I had great clinicians who helped me work on 1 thing at a time. Since he's never stepped foot on the floor before I'm struggling with where to start.

Here at my local association in Australia we have the new officials work with an experienced one as a "shadow" for a number of games. Following this they then begin to work Aussie Hoops which is a program from 5-8 yr old and slowly progress from there. This is great as it allows the younger official to learn mechanics and AOR from the other ref. they do not have to deal with players and coaches, and they are then able to watch and learn aspects of the game from the experienced official. I do a lot of work with young officials every week and love helping them and giving back to the game.

The most common things I am telling the young officials I work with are:

1. Put some air in the whistle and stop the game. Too many times the young ones will make a great call and no one stops because they didn't hear the whistle.
2. Confident signals to the table. If they look like they know what they are doing and are confident they take away some of the yelling and other rubbish that you experience.
3. Block out the rubbish from the sidelines. You probably know more about the rules than they do. I will be there to take care of that.
4. Enjoy it! You have the best seat in the house.

Hope this helps!
East