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5 Reasons to go to a Referee Camp

5/25/2015

After the season finishes, I usually have a small break both mentally and physically. I try to stay away for a while to recharge my batteries after the long series of games.

But then, I think the best thing I can do is to go to a summer camp! Why do I think it’s good to go to a camp? Here are my 5 best reasons.

LEARN ABOUT NEW TRENDS IN OFFICIATING Officiating, like any sports, is a highly competitive and changing area, where new perspectives and new trends arise from time to time. If you want to keep on improving to become a top referee, you want to know these new trends on time, so you can be an early adopter. Also, you can help others by telling them about these new directions.

MEET A LOT OF GREAT PEOPLE Usually, there are a lot of like-minded people who gather in a camp. Maybe you will become referees together, or you will just meet some day. Either way, you will benefit from having good memories together already. You can also learn how to socialize in these events, so you can develop yourself in this area that is crucial if you want to become a top referee some day, or just want to stay on the top.

YOU CAN NETWORK If you go to a camp, where prominent leaders of the officiating world can see you, you can harvest the greatest benefits one can get from a summer camp. Important people can meet you and see how you officiate. You have the chance to introduce yourself. It will count when it’s the most important.

VISIT A NICE PLACE You can go to a nice place, visit nice gyms, drink coffee in the morning sun with smiling faces. It is a vacation with a great benefit: you will be a better referee at the same time.

GET EXTREMELY VALUABLE FEEDBACK Sometimes it’s not easy to see ourselves as we really are, and if you are an open person, you always look for valuable feedback from people you can trust. You can build upon these words later, and you can make a giant step towards being a top referee in each summer camp.

Big names from the referee world will give you feedback about every minute of your officiating by studying the tape together, which is invaluable for every referee who wants to improve.

You can only win if you go, and you definitely lose a lot of opportunities if you miss out!

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Report Card

5/24/2015

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Mickey Crowley, who has had a distinguished career as an official and assignor for over 40 years, was gracious enough to provide his list called, "Steps In Moving To The Next Level". These items can be used to measure yourself, identify your weaknesses, and make improvements in your game and approach to it, because nobody is great at all of them.

1. Work with great officials.
2. Listen and learn from everyone.
3. Think all the time.
4. Get a great look at plays. (Sequence/Catalog/Repeat)
5. Be in great condition.
6. Be excellent mechanically.
7. Know the rules.
8. Understand the perception is everything in order to gain credibility.
9. Exude confidence.
10. Sell plays equally.
11. See the same game at both ends with partners.
12. Work hard; sweat as much as possible.
13. Be consistent game to game.
14. Use your common sense.
15. Treat everyone with total and uncompromising respect.
16. Choose your words carefully; eliminate excess talk.
17. Be a great partner.
18. Be global with your vision; local with your calls.
19. Be firm, fair, and polite with everyone.
20. Make the big call right.
21. Never be surprised.
22. Be persistent, set reachable goals, and pick them off one at a time.
23. Work games in segments.
24. Work today’s game.
25. Admit it when you are wrong.
26. Know what to say and what you say in situations.
27. Keep a game-by-game journal of what you have learned.
28. Manage the game and all aspects of it.
29. Forget the politics, jealousies, and negatives.
30. Don’t worry about who has what particular game.
31. Remember that every single game is huge to someone.
32. Work twice as hard the night after the biggest game of your life.
33. Pay attention to the business at hand. “Don’t talk to the minister just before the sermon.”
34. Perfect Preparation Prevents Pee-Poor Performance
35. Smile
36. Give yourself time to develop.
37. Teach officiating to someone; it makes you better.
38. Make an excellent table presentation every single time.
39. Never walk when you can run.
40. Rebound from a bad call; make the next one right.
41. Never challenge the supervisor in public.
42. Don’t rely on anyone else to get things done for you.
43. Have a quality support system.
44. Take the best qualities of other officials and make them yours.
45. Watch yourself on isolated video tape.
46. Chart every whistle 3-5 games per year.
47. Get a constant pre-game routine.
48. Use the law of readiness to guide you to the next level.
49. Accept teaching and criticism openly and objectively.
50. Look/See/Wait/Blow
51. Be a good no-call official.
52. Ask for help when you don’t know; never make one up.
53. Never lose control.
54. Break up fights when they start.
55. Know what you can say and to whom you can say it.
56. Objectively evaluate your weaknesses.
57. Be humble.
58. Be a human being.
59. Get an unbreakable bond with someone.
60. Call you own technical fouls.
61. Be beyond reproach in all that you do.
62. Make each fellow official better.
63. Be “athletic”; look ready to work; “Prowl”.
64. Be aware of body language, how you stand, and facial expressions.
65. Recognize the game has been played for a long time and will continue long after you are gone. Respect your part in the game.

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Court Positioning

5/20/2015

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One thing I have really noticed the past couple of years is the lapses in being in position. Your court positioning is absolutely critical to being able to get angles on plays and maximize your chances of getting calls right. If you watch games on TV, there really is very little differentiation between those officials in terms of where they position themselves as the L, C, or T during a game. However, the lower the level you watch, the more variation you will see. There has to be something to that, and we all need to try and be more aware of our court positioning.

The biggest variation I see amongst us common folk is the misconception of where the 28-foot mark really is. This is important, because as a T, you are supposed to set up at this depth. How many times do you see the T being within a couple steps of half-court when the ball is below the top of the key? Two things to remember. First, you should never let the ball get behind you as the T in the half-court--it's OK to be at half court when the ball is out front, but as the ball moves north-south towards the basket, and eventually goes below the top of the key, you need to slide down with it. Second, the 28-foot mark is no more than 1-2 steps higher than the top of the key. Think about it, top of the key to the basket is 20, and there is probably 5 feet between the basket and endline. Dial that in!

C's also have a tendency to work very high. I see a lot of C's working in the T position, at the 28- foot mark. You need to start at the foul line, and perhaps work a step or two in either direction, when you need to get an angle. You should never be any higher than the top of the key, and never lower than a step below the foul line.

As the C, when the ball swings to your side, you may have to come up higher to get the angle on your match-up. And that's OK! Why? Because if you have a match-up in your primary as C, over 90% of the time the L should be rotating over. If you go higher, or "top-side" to take the ball match-up, you will wind up at the depth to be the new T anyway. However, remember that if the L does not rotate, and the ball match-up goes away, return to the foul line base position, otherwise you have created 2 T's, which is a no-no.

L is an interesting place. Guys on TV seem to work almost exclusively in Window 1 (edge of key) and Window 2 (halfway between edge of key and 3-point line). You also should be a step or two off the line. The T is there to support you on travels in the post, so you can be closer to the floor. The rule of thumb is, you should be able to see the front of the rim as the L.

Last positioning issue--taking your on-ball match-up. When the ball is in your primary, that is your focus. You have the ball and the defender. The other 2 guys can take the other 8 players. Aggressively take that match-up. Move closer to the match-up, move to keep the angle you need to see the play, and square your body to it so your partners know you have it. Lots of people take the match-up, but don't move a lot physically. Send the message to the partners and everyone else in the gym that when the match-up in your primary starts that you own it, and your focus and attention is nowhere else. It will help you do better, help your crew focus more on the off-ball players like they should be anyway, and the perception of what is going on with the crew.

So how does this help?

1. It will give you better angles on plays, especially if you move and stay physically active on match-ups in your primary.
2. It will reduce the number of long-distance calls you make, which helps with perceptions. Even when you're close, you don't want to be doing that very often.
3. It will force you to stay engaged on rebounds, not "cheat" back on shots. This is a very common "ding" when evaluators observe and rate/comment.

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Before and After the Game

5/6/2015

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Officials can wind up in trouble in any number of places during a game. Many problems happen during the course of play, but others can be prevented by applying common sense and principles of preventive officiating. The following preventive techniques might anticipate possible infractions and head them off before you have to take official action.

The first is something to be taken care of before you leave home: your uniform. Look like a referee when you arrive at the game site and you are more likely to be treated like one during the game. This means a clean and neat (not faded) uniform, a current association patch, and shoes shined. Carry a shoe brush in your bag to touch up the shine before the game or at halftime. First impressions are important; make sure yours is a good one.

The second area is your arrival at the game site. Do you screech into the parking lot, run into the gym and start the game? Or, do you arrive 20-30 minutes ahead if time, inspect the equipment, playing surface and players, brief your partner(s) and generally allow yourself to take your time and do things right? If you are hurried and hassled before the game, you cannot be in the proper frame of mind to do a good job officiating.

Another area is your visit to the coaches to introduce yourself. Keep it short and sweet without a lot of joking and camaraderie, regardless of how well you know the coach.

Remember, the other team is watching for evidence of prejudice - they are more than ready to convict you on the slightest pretext. If you approach everyone at the game site from a professional point of view, you can avoid a lot of grief.

With the captains together the meeting, some referees deliver a lecture on rules or what they will and will not allow. You are wasting your breath. Players are concentrating on getting psyched up for the game and may even resent the intrusion. At worst, you can paint yourself into a corner by prescribing certain penalties for particular offenses. In a given situation, you may not want to apply that penalty. If you pronounce your intentions ahead of time, someone will undoubtedly remind you of your earlier statement and ask why you changed your mind. Prevent the problem by giving the lecture to yourself while you are getting ready for the game and leave the players alone.

Try to do your equipment inspection while walking through the players during their warmup. Officials can keep a low profile rather than inject themselves into the game. If you had problems with a particular player in the past, ignore it. You’ll only open yourself to charges of bias if you refer to the problem in pregame meetings.

Once the game is over, leave. Don't hang around and lecture a player or talk to a coach. If you want to watch the game following yours, don’t go into the stands in uniform. Change your clothes and don't criticize the officials. Remember the golden rule as well as the code of ethics.

Those are a few topics for thought. The ideas are not infallible, but applied on a regular basis they should take some of the hassle out of your games. Remember the game is for the players, not for you. Officials have tremendous power that, used inappropriately, can destroy the game. lf you can remain in the background and prevent problems rather than react to happenings on the field, you will have not only done your job but done that job splendidly.

You will make mistakes. You must learn from your mistakes so you can prevent that particular problem in future games.

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5 Reasons to go to a Referee Camp

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Court Positioning

Before and After the Game

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