Sunday, October 17, 2010

Double Dipping

This past Thursday, I got a rare chance to double dip.  I officiated an adult league basketball game at around 5:45 PM.  The game finished at around 6:45 PM and I proceeded to commute to play in my own adult league basketball game later that evening at 8:45 PM.

I usually wouldn't do this but the scheduling just happened to work out for me.  The officiating part was pretty laid back though I got a chance to work with a veteran (who also happens to assign the adult league we were working).  I got a chance to talk to the vet and get some insights from him.   In addition, I have to say this particular official is one of the friendliest and easy going guys you're going to ever meet.  He doesn't mind if you have to get out of games, just as long as you tell him why.   As a official, he's one of the best guys around in our group and great to watch as well.

On the flip side, I played in my adult league game.  We trailed the whole game, rallied to tie it at 60-60 but lost in overtime 67-62.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

There are stupid parents and then there are IDIOTS......

I've officiated youth basketball (8th grade and below in my mind) for 17+ years.  I've officiated CYO, AAU and Club basketball circuits.  Throughout all those years, you see a little bit of everything.   For the most part, you get nice and support parents.  Despite the bad raps, most youth coaches are ok too.

On the flip side, there are some parents who seem intent on reliving their lives through their kids OR the parents who think their kid is the superstar and whine about every call to the refs.

Today, I had one of the latter.  I'd seen this particular parent before in the previous years.  He's always yelling at his kid and then yelling at the referees.  Since he was in the stands, my partner and I just ignored him.  However, after the game ended (his son's team lost by about 15), came over to us and whined that his son was fouled the whole game.  I don't believe he was worried that his son's team had actually lost.

In any case, my partner and I just ignored the parent.  However, my partner and I did have to get our payment from the tournament director and the parent was still around.  I guess he couldn't stand us and he said to my face that "we should return our money".

I usually don't do this (and not recommended for newer officials) but I basically told the parent he needed to keep his opinion to himself.  I'm surprised the team that this parent supports doesn't keep a tighter rein on the guy.  After all, the parent is a terrible example for his son.  His son is a decent but not particularly great player.   Imagine if you're in the son's shoes.  Your team lost and your dad is complaining to the referees.  What happens when the kid gets to high school and he gets cut or doesn't play much?  

In any case, the crazy parent didn't overshadow a good day on the court.  There were two solid games and one so-so game.  I did alright though I was slowed by my bad left ankle.  By the last game, after getting warm, I was doing fine though the ankle is a little sore now.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Welcome to Officiating!

I got asked to help out with new referee training for my high school officiating association a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, I couldn't make it last week due to work but stopped by the gym tonight to see if I could help out.

There were a ton of experienced officials participating so I didn't talk to the new "recruits" much.  However, I got a chance to see some on court work by the new folks and it was interesting to look at the new people work. 

With every group of new officials, you'll always get a wide diversity of people.  There always seem to be one or two that look comfortable out there despite their lack of experience.  On the other end, you'll get people who can't quite blow the whistle and do the right mechanics at the same time yet. 

The rest of the people are usually somewhere in between.   Some look decent but need some more experience to smooth out their mechanics.  Others just need to get into better shape.   On the flip side, some are so eager to please that it seems like they are the energizer bunny out there. 

It was actually good for me to show up at the training session.  I may be a veteran in terms of the number of years that I've officiated but I don't have a lot of big game experience.  The reason I started this blog was because I realized I needed to continue to learn and improve.  Maybe I won't improve as drastically as some of these new folks will, but I feel I still have a lot of room to grow.  

If given a chance, I would say one thing to the new officials.  Your learning and training never stop, even after they complete their training over the next few weeks.  There are always new situations that will occur from game to game.   While the lack of experience may frustrate people, mistakes are the only way you will learn and grow.