Being Decisive

Today, I was working a couple of games with high school aged kids. The original plan was to run a three-person crew but the third had to cancel at the last second so we worked a two person crew instead.

The first game was a bit unusual. The White team took an early lead but let the Black team back into the game in the second half. The White took seemingly took control of the game again but fell apart in the last couple of minutes giving the Black team an opportunity to come back. The Black team had a final shot but missed it and lost. Overall, while there was some jabbering from the players (plus one technical), this game went alright.

The second game proved to be a more difficult affair. The White team had the better disciplined team while the Black team was more one-on-one. However, the difficulty arose from various situations that came up. One of the Black team's players (big 6'4" kid) was frustrated and did a few unnecessary things. The Black team coach was a young kid who probably shouldn't have been coaching. His constant whining about our calls (or lack thereof) and other stuff led his entire team to whine along with him.

Remember I mentioned a few posts ago that I need to learn to take care of situations better? I had a couple of situations that I had the opportunity to take care of potential problems. One was involving two players and the other was with a coach. I took a more laid back approach but it didn't work out. Fortunately, my partner was a very forceful and decisive person. She was there to take care of the issues. She ended up handing out a few technical fouls along the way as well.

I will to have my partner if this is how she generally handles situations in a regular games. Tonight was a reminder lots of people can blow a whistle and officiate a game. But the exceptional ones are the ones who have learned to handle unusual situations. That is something I am still working on.