An Unusual Day Of Officiating

Today was a bit of an odd day.  I was checking the news today and was shocked to read that a popular and well known local varsity basketball coach had suddenly passed away yesterday at the age of 50.  While I personally didn't know this particular coach that well, I had seen him around.  In fact, I had seen him as recently as a week ago during a basketball tournament.  The coach was there scouting a team that they were going to play during their league season.

Due to the sudden death of the coach, the first game for his boy's varsity basketball team was postponed until a later date.    However,  the rest of the league continued on.  In an interesting coincidence, I was scheduled to work the girl's varsity basketball team from the same school where the coach had just passed away.   Before the game, both coaches and teams had a moment of silence.

I think I was a little distracted due to the death of the coach.  Even though I didn't know him well, it's sad to think about all the friends, family and kids the coach left behind.  In fact, I think the school's girls varsity team was affected as well.  The girls seemed out of sorts as well as the girl's varsity coach (whom I know).

Focusing on the officiating aspect, it was not an easy game to officiate.  Both teams were pretty sloppy early and it was difficult to get a flow.  If you've never officiated in this particular gym, the configuration is not conducive to officiating.  The gym is long enough but the walls are basically out of bounds.  The team's benches are located at one end line.

Therefore, you are basically on the court the whole time and getting angles is difficult.  At the end line where the benches are located, you are in no man's land.  If you stay on the baseline, there's not enough depth to get angles on some plays.  If you go wide to the wall to get a wider angle, you lose vision on some post play.

Given the distraction of the moment of silence and the general sloppiness of play, I felt I was a little out of sorts throughout the game.  The game was competitive and overall my partner and I took care of our business.   However, this was one of more difficult games to work recently.