Season Finale (possibly)

Out here where I officiate, there's a Catholic high school league that is considered the most competitive in the area for both the boys and girls. Teams from several cities in the area play in the league. Unfortunately, there are only three boys schools and two girls schools which play in the city I officiate. That means the games are scarce and assignors are pretty picky about who gets to officiate a game in the league.

Fortunately for me, I was assigned my first ever game (girls) in the league back in September of 2009. The game was tonight and it was a great experience.

I can't say I was super nervous in the days leading up to the game. In fact, I was busy officiating youth, high school and adult league games throughout the week. I also studied my officiating manual to remind myself of the three-person mechanics. While I am not a great official and don't work three person games often, I am familiar enough with the mechanics. I just don't practice them that often.

As my work day ended today and game time approached, I made my way to the gym. I arrived about 45 minutes before game time with the JV girls game going on. The other two officials had already arrived and were observing the officials working the JV game.

As the JV game entered the fourth quarter, all three of us went to the change area to prep for our varsity game. I had worked with both of the other officials before and felt comfortable. We pre-gamed a little bit and went out to the court. My personal goal for the varsity game was to stay focused and keep to my primary areas of coverage.

After the pregame festivities (Senior Night, National Anthem, introductions), the game started and I was now in the line of fire. In the first couple of minutes, I held my whistle a lot. I passed on what might have been a foul and also a potential traveling call. In fact, I don't think I called a foul during the entire first quarter.

I finally did get involved in the game in the second quarter. The action seemed to go a lot toward my partners so I didn't have a lot of fouls or other things to call.

The third quarter started and I briefly lost focus. The visiting team had the ball and the home team defender was riding the offensive player. I passed on the initial foul as the offensive player made the way to the basket. The defensive player kept riding the offensive player before I finally whistled the defender for the foul. I should have called the foul earlier but waited a few seconds too late. My partners later said that it was good I did get the foul, but should have gotten it earlier.

I think this situation throw me off a bit. I got a little nervous a couple of plays later. The home team's center rebounded the ball and a player from visiting team smacked into the center. However, the center was unfazed and actually retained control of the ball. However, I was a little too quick on the whistle and called the foul. After the game, my partners understood why I called the foul because they saw the situation develop. However, they reminded me to hold my whistle longer.

Despite a tough way to start the third quarter, I managed to regain my focus. I held my whistle a bit and tried to let the game come to me. For the rest of the game, I felt like I was in control and did my part to keep the game in control.

The final score of the game was 45-44.

Overall, I felt like I did ok. I wasn't perfect and have things to work on. However, it is good to know what I can work some games at this level. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I definitely enjoyed tonight's experience.

Traditional Two Person Mechanics vs. Split Key Mechanics

Tonight, I worked a very competitive JV girls basketball game that came down to the final minute. However, a coaching blunder by the visiting coach cost her team a chance to tie the game. The score 42-39 with the home team leading and having possession of the ball. There were 40 seconds left in the game and 25 seconds remained on the shot clock. A timeout had been called and I talked to my partner telling her that the visiting team would likely try to play defense straight up and try to get possession for the last shot.

After the timeout, the visiting team played defense. For about 10 seconds that is. For some unexplainable reason, the visiting team coach directed her team to foul. Unfortunately, for the visiting team, they only had three team fouls at that point and that compounded the coaching mistake. By the time the home team got to the bonus, only 11 seconds remained. The home team made 1 free throw and the visiting team could not score and the final was 43-39.

Besides the game itself, the officiating was solid. I liked working with my partner and we communicated well. The only thing that I needed to work on was getting back to the "traditional" two person mechanic of covering the whole key as a lead official. My partner preferred that to the split-key mechanic, which a lot of officials who do three person prefer.

There was some adjustments to be made though I did still get some fouls as a trail with the action going into the key. All in all, the game was fun and officiating was decent. If only all games were like this!

Game of the Year Recap / Hoops for Haiti

Quick post tonight as it's been a long week at work and I haven't slept much. Last week, I proclaimed that a girls varsity game I was officiating would be a game of the year. Early on, it didn't quite look that way as the home team was down by double digits early. Slowly but surely the home team came back. With the game tied at 32-32, the visiting team had the ball with 31 seconds left. They wound the clock down and shot a jumper that missed badly. The home team got the rebound and threw a strong outlet pass to their streaking point guard. The guard laid the ball in at the buzzer to win 34-32.

Officiating wise, things went well. There were a few situations with the clock we had to handle early on. We eventually had to have an adult take over as the kid proved they were having trouble with running the clock. For the most part, I think my partner and I were on the same page, though he did make a couple of calls (foul / jump ball) at the show clock buzzer that got the coaches up in arms a bit. However, we had to be please that the game was decided by the players at the end.

I am officiating a couple of games this weekend. I will be officiating a JV boys game tomorrow and a JV girls game Saturday.

The JV Girls game will be interesting as it is part of a "Hoops for Haiti" jamboree organized by a girls varsity team here in the area. Besides the JV game I am working, there will be four other varsity games playing. All the gate receipts from the game will be donated to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti. I am volunteering my time in this worthwhile cause as will be other officials.

Game of the Year?

Between work, officiating and generally being busy, blogging about my officiating hasn't been a priority. However, it is worth noting that I may have my game of the year on Friday. As I wrote in earlier blog postings, I didn't receive a ton of high school assignments this year. I've gotten a few quality games during the preseason though the regular season games have been a mixed bag.

On Friday, I got a game between two games with great overall records (12-3 for both teams). However, each team is 1-2 in league play which dampens matters a bit. Despite the slow start for both teams, I think the game will be very competitive and there should be a large crowd as the game is in the evening.

I'm looking forward to game and will post on anything that happens.

Freshman Coaches

I just got home from a great freshman tournament championship game. As with most freshmen level games, it wasn't smooth and plenty of miscues on both sides. However, the game went into overtime (on a buzzer beating 3 pointer) and the final score was 40-38.

Despite the good game, there were things that I thought could have gone better (in my opinion):

1. Early on, there was a lot of hand checking which I let a few obvious ones slide. I should have gotten those earlier and things might have been a little cleaner during the game.
2. Coaches box: One of the coaches was on the court and out of the box very often during the game. I warned the coach to stay in the box but never followed through as the game really demanded our attention. Yet, I was aware of it and in retrospect I should have enforced it.
3. The same coach that was out of box was vocal throughout the game. The issue which the freshman coaches is they tend to harp on a lot of things and you have to pick and choose what you want to hear.
   

All in all, it was a good game but administrative stuff could have been taken care of better.

Balancing your job and officiating

Wow, it's been a month or so since I last posted. Since then, my basketball officiating has gone into "high gear" (or about as high as it can get for someone like me). I had a busy slate about three weeks ago when I officiated four out of the seven days in the week between youth and high school games. Since then, I've had a sporadic schedule since then.

My high school officiating schedule is a little sparse due to my job. I typically start work at 8:30 AM and leave around 5:30 PM (give or take). We have a little flexibility because my job is supporting a sales team and typically thing slow down by late afternoon.

When this high school season rolled around, I specifically requested that I be given games that started after 5 PM so I don't have to leave my job early. Having some limitations doesn't endure you to your assignors. However, at the end of the day, your full time job is more important than officiating more games.

So even though I've been able to work some games around my job, balancing the two is tough. Sometimes you might have a tough day at work and you wish you didn't have to officiate after work. However, I always give my best and in many ways, officiating is a good release after a long day at work.

In many ways, while my high school officiating is a little sparse, I like it that way. I'm not one of those guys who can officiate seven days a week without a break. I like to take some down time to refresh and energize myself.

Misc / Working with a newbie today

Been a while since I last posted! In the past month, I was actually assigned some youth volleyball playoff games! I was a little surprised since this was my first full year doing the sport. The games went fine though I got some input from a veteran official on certain things I could have done better. Also, in watching the veteran official work, I picked up a few things that I had been wondering about during the season. While I won't be able to put what I learned into practice until next season, I'll commit the knowledge to memory.

Also, I worked some adult league basketball games with a veteran official / assignor that I hadn't worked with in a LONG time. I don't think he's seen me in person in recent years, but I hope I made a good impression. To be honest, I wasn't intentionally trying to impress anyone. I feel I've gained a certain comfort level and confidence and all I wanted was that part of my officiating to be seen.

As the high school season approaches, I feel I'm pretty much ready. I will review the rules a little more as well as the officials manual for some refreshers. I feel fairly sharp on the floor and I'm in pretty good shape.

SIDENOTE: Today, I worked a youth basketball tournament today (6th grade boys). Today was the final day so teams were playing for placement (7th place, 5th place, 3rd place and championship).

The first game was a forfeit as one of the teams couldn't muster enough kids to play due to the holidays. Thanks to the forfeit, I did not notice that my partner had not shown up. I finally called the assignor and let him know what happened. The assignor must have called up the other official as she showed up for the second game.

The second official was a high school girl (a senior) working her first game. All in all, she has a lot to learn but seemed a nice enough girl that we can probably forgive her for forgetting about the first game.

Working with a newbie has it's challenges. You're trying to help them out while officiating at the same time. That doesn't work all that well in certain situations. Fortunately the girl was receptive and did her best. That's all I could have asked from her.

In watching the girl officiate today, I wonder how many of us officials ever got started. The early stages of your officiating career are usually the most brutal. Most new officials have no idea of what they're doing and you're literally in a trial by fire. I told the girl after the game that all I can do is tell her certain things. The rest of the learning would have to come from experience.