First Few Games

So I’ve got my first three high school assignments done and another one tonight.  What’s great about it, is at this time last year, I was still about a week away from my first game.

I work for a couple of different assignors, and I’m really happy to be working in one of the particular conferences I’m in.  Not only are the games much, much closer to where I live, but it’s supposed to be one of the premier conferences for officials to work in.  Maybe that reputation just pertains to varsity ball, but I think it’s awesome that the assignor trusts me enough to assign me a good amount of under level games.  If I do well enough, when the time comes for me to move up the ranks, hopefully I’ll be a step ahead of guys who haven’t worked in this conference.

A couple of questions have come out of my first few games.

I had a situation in one game where there was a double lane violation on the first free throw.  I know there’s a procedure that goes along with a double lane violation, I just have to look it up.

There are a couple of areas in two man officiating where it’s tough to see and call out of bounds correctly.  I had a situation where I’m in lead, the ball is on my side, but it’s up near the division line.  The ball went out of bounds on my sideline, but I had no idea who it went off of.  Two schools of thought here:

1. I could keep an eye on the ball when it’s up there so I can call my line.  That would force me to take my eyes off my primary coverage area, and off any players in that area.  I could miss something there.

2. I could just keep my eyes on my primary, and even though it’s my sideline, rely on my partner, who should be watching the matchup on the ball, to know who the ball belongs to.

I’ll have to ask officials wiser than me how they would handle it.

I had a situation where two players from opposite teams each had a hand on the ball, and Player A went down to the ground after wrestling the ball out of Player B’s grip.  Since we didn’t call the held ball, I had no choice but to whistle for traveling.  The coach for team A asked me if it was traveling even if the other player had her hand on the ball.  I said yes, assuming he saw what I saw.  After thinking about it, though, what if he meant his player went down while Player B still had a hand on the ball?  I’d think the correct ruling would be a held ball since there isn’t player control (that makes sense in my head at least, since I can’t look at my books right now).  Add that one to the look up list.

Goals For The Season

The high school portion of my season starts tomorrow night with Freshman Girl’s doubleheader.  I’ve got a few goals for this upcoming season, my second season calling high school games.

1.  Rules knowledge

I’m far from knowing all the rules of basketball, and if I’m going to be a varsity official, I need to know the rules as well as I possibly can.  I’ve got my rules and case books, so I just need to spend time reading each, and making sure I understand each rule.

2.  Improved communication with coaches.

Speaking with coaches seems to be an art form.  Being able to answer their questions quickly and concisely is imperative, and I’ve got to get better at that.  The kind of verbal volleying that is necessary is a skill.  As an official, it’s also necessary to not get into an argument with a coach.  Answer his/her question in one or two sentences and move on.

3.  Call more off the ball fouls.

This isn’t so much about calling off the ball fouls all the time as it is keeping my eyes where they need to be kept, especially in lead.  The off ball contact is more prevalent in boy’s basketball than girl’s, but I need to get better at calling fouls off the ball.  Wanting to call more fouls off the ball, my eyes will be forced to be on my primary.

 

First Two Dates

I should have updated this right after it happened, but the first two dates on my referee schedule were polar opposites.

Both dates were a 7th and 8th grade girls’ doubleheader.  Two different sites, but both dates had one team in common.

The first date, I arrived at the school about 20 minutes before the scheduled tipoff.  With these games, the scheduled tipoff time is always a little bit negotiable because the times are set pretty much right after school, and not every school gets out at the same time.

As we’re getting closer to game time, I realize that I have no partner yet.  Sure enough, the guy never shows.  The home team coach got him on the phone, but either he forgot about the game, or had a conflict.  Either way, I was going to be on my own for two games.

I’d never done a game by myself, but from what I’d heard it’s no picnic.  What I’d heard was right.  Frankly, I was lucky that it was Jr. High girls, because I was able to keep up relatively easily.  If it was a freshman boy’s game, forget about it.

I stayed on one side of the court for almost the entire game, moving from free throw line extended to free throw line extended.  I occasionally ventured below that if there was a play on the baseline or if I needed a better angle.  There were probably several fouls I missed, solely because I don’t have X-ray vision.  There were probably a few out of bounds calls I missed as well, for the same reason.  In the end, the double paycheck is not worth the headache of officiating by yourself.

The second date, however, was completely opposite.  I actually had a partner for the games, and both games went off without a hitch.  We even had a really close, exciting, high scoring game in the 8th grade game.  Close games are so much easier to officiate than blowouts.

I even was able to pick up another officiating date when my partner asked if I could fill in for him.

My next games are next Tuesday I believe.  I definitely need to step it up on the conditioning.  I’m not in the best of shape, and even though these girl’s games are a good start, I need to do more.  My schedule this winter is much more full, sometimes officiating five or six days in a row.  I’ll definitely need to be way more in shape than I am now, and that starts now.

Christmas Morning

In September?

My 2010-2011 basketball referee schedule begins tonight!  Well, this afternoon…but who’s counting?

Jr High girls basketball will be a great way to start getting back into it.  The game will be slow-paced, coaches probably won’t be an issue, and I should be able to focus on getting used to being in the right position.

It’s the beginning of their season, so it’s the perfect time for me to get back into it.  I’ve only done one set of junior high games before, and the partner I had wasn’t exactly young and spry.  We’ll see who I get tonight.  I can’t wait, it’s been too long.

Rec Ball…

Had two playoff games last night, 7th grade boys.  We started almost an hour late because both games ahead of us went into double overtime.

Had no problems with the first game.  Yellow beat blue in what I thought was an upset, if there is such a thing at that level.

The second game was a bit more hotly contested.  It was close throughout.  I can’t remember what quarter it was, but I T’d up the green coach.  He was upset about a foul not being called, then his player got called for a foul.  He slammed his clipboard down on the ground, thus the technical foul.  He later apologized for it, but then started complaining about his son getting hammered out there.  I wasn’t going to get into it with him, so I just walked away.

Had my first player technical last night as well.  My dad called a foul on a blue player.  He was frustrated, slammed the ball down and yelled “Come on”.  He was complaining all game anyway.  It’s the same kid I almost had to T last week.

My favorite line of the day came from the blue coach in the second game.  I called his player for a five second closely guarded violation.  The kid was dribbling at the top of the key, and slowly moving the ball towards the basket.  He never came even close to getting his head/shoulders past the defender.  When I whistled for the violation, the coaches go “But he was advancing the ball!”

When I go over and try to explain the rule to the coach, he cuts me off and says “You’re the ref I’m not going to argue with you.”  I said “I know, I’m just trying to help you understand the rule”.  It was a weird exchange.

I find myself increasingly calm in late, close game situations.  That’s a good thing.  I think it’s because I know what’s going to happen, or at least can anticipate what might happen.  The team that’s losing will try and foul, so I have to be ready to call the foul.  I asked my dad if he was nervous at all in that situation, and he said no as well.

NBA Tonight, Rec Ball Tomorrow

No, I’m not working an NBA game.

I’m going to the Bulls game tonight, which means NBA rules.  I won’t necessarily be paying that close of attention to the game, but I’ve always had a disdain for certain NBA rules.  I hate the modified traveling rule, that until this season, was seemingly ignored.  I hate the NBA “star system”, where certain players get all the calls, then whine like babies when they don’t get a call *coughLeBroncough*

That all being said, it will be fun to see the Bulls play.  Derrick Rose is a special player, and I hope the Bulls can find someone to compliment him during the 2010 free agent frenzy.

Tomorrow I have a couple of rec league games.  It’s the playoffs, and at least the second weekend of the playoffs, so someone’s season will probably end tomorrow.  I’m really hoping that I don’t have any problems with coaches.

I’m reffing the games with my dad.  It’s a lot of fun to ref with him.  It’s his first year in basketball.  He also does baseball, and I was frankly kind of surprised I was able to convince him to do basketball with me.  He hasn’t done nearly the amount of games as I have, because he’s busy with his dissertation.  He’s said he enjoys doing basketball, and at the very least it’s more exercise for him.  Hopefully he can finish up his dissertation this spring and take a heavier basketball schedule next season.

7th Grade Boys Rec

Had a couple of games yesterday in the rec league I’ve been doing.

There were no problems with any coaches at all.  The guys I T’d before either learned their lesson or just hold their tongue when I work their game.

I came close to my first player technical of the season.  When I say close, I don’t mean toeing the line either, because I’ve had no problems whatsoever with players this season.  It’s a nice change from the intramurals I used to do at Indiana.  I called Blue 11 for a foul during the second half yesterday.  He lets out a disgusted sigh.  All I had to do was say “Hey 11″, and he said “Sorry I’m just frustrated.”  No big deal, we played on.

Did have one situation come up that I called right, but had to think through for a second.  A1 has the ball in his backcourt in the lane.  I don’t recall how he got the ball, but he had it.  I can’t recall if he used his dribble or not.  He thought he was shooting at that basket, put up a shot, airballed, ran a few steps and caught his miss on the fly.  I whistle for a travel.

Here’s why it’s a travel.  Normally when a player shoots an airball and catches it, it’s up to the official to determine whether or not it was a legitimate try for goal.  Most of the time it is, and it’s legal for the player to retrieve it.  He can then do what he pleases with the ball.  This is because on a try, team control ends.  However, when a player shoots at the wrong basket, it’s not really a try, so team control doesn’t end.

Case play 4.43.3 D (b) is essentially the same play.  It says that a player cannot toss the ball over the head of an opponent, take several steps and catch it.  I think that’s the closest thing that applies here, since team control still existed when the player shot at the wrong basket.

Next up is three games Saturday in the same league, and I’m trying to pick up more as well.  My high school season is over.  I’ll be looking for a Spring league and summer leagues, as well as trying to get in a camp.

A Disappointing End

I thought I had one more high school game.  I guess not.

I had gotten an email from someone asking if I was free to do a game tomorrow night.  It was a boy’s sophomore game out West.  Despite the drive, I was really looking forward to it.

Well I got an email from the assignor today, telling me he took me off the game.  He said that since it’s late in the season, he had more veteran officials who wanted to do the game.

Not much I can do besides bite my tongue and say OK.

I’ve got some rec games left, and it’s not to say I’m not excited about the games, but it would have been nice to finish up with a high school game.

Frosh DH Recap

This is a bit late, but updating kind of slipped my mind.

On Tuesday night, I had a freshman doubleheader at a local school, one that I’d been at recently.  This time they played the A game first.

It didn’t start out great.  Not that we blew calls, but it was just sort of an awkward start.  Hard to explain.

There was one call I made that looked bad to the coach, but I’m 100% sure I got it right.  I’m trail, weak side.  The ball is in the opposite corner, so I’m watching the lane.  I see A1 push off B1 to get open, and I whistle for the foul.  I was sort of straightlined on the play, but I saw what I saw, and like I said I was 100% sure of what I saw.  Obviously, the offending coach didn’t agree with me, but I explained it quickly and we moved on.

There was a blocking foul that I made which was a close one.  I had B1 set up in the lane with LGP.  As A1 approached him, he turned his body and made contact with A1.  A defender is allowed to absorb contact, but I’ll have to look up exactly how he’s allowed to do that.

The rest of the game went on without problem.

The B game was more of a track meet, and much lower scoring.  There were no problems, and the coach who I had problems with last time was much more well-behaved.  Maybe it was the fact that he was winning, or his team was getting fouled a lot.  I don’t know, but he didn’t talk nearly as much.

I think I have my last high school game tomorrow night.  I say I think because I’m waiting for the assignor’s approval on a sub.  I’m going to call the school later to see what they know.

I Love Picking Up Games

I got an email from an assignor this afternoon who had a freshman doubleheader available for tonight.  In these situations, you have to act quickly if you want the games.  They’re usually gone within five minutes, if not sooner.

Luckily, I responded quickly enough to get the games.

They’re at a local school, the same one I was at last Tuesday.  It’s always interesting having the same coaches so closely together.  We’ll see how they go.