Long Day Of Officiating

When I first started officiated youth basketball around 1993, I dedicated myself to it.  I would leave my Friday evenings and Saturday's open just so I could officiate.  Whether the gym was near or far, I made the trek out there.

As time as moved on, I realized I didn't want to spend my whole day officiating.  It's tiring.  It can be stressful.  Simply put,  sometimes officiating is something that should be done in moderation.   So for much of the past five years or so, I've cut back and work a few games here and there.  I look at it as a chance to catch up with people around the league, get a little exercise and get paid for it.

Today was a major exception.  Due to a major shortage of officials, I signed up for SEVEN games spread over two gyms.  I'm too tired to write a ton but some highlights and lowlights on the day.

• The first two games of the day (4th grade / 5th grade) were barn burners.  The 4th grade game ended up with one team winning at the buzzer 11-10.  The 5th Grade game had a final score of 24-22.  It was a fun / intense way to begin a game.  
• At the first gym, I was officiating solo.   It was fine for the 4th grade game but the 5th grade / 6th grade games I had were challenges to work due to the teams pressing.  I made it through but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do. 
• During the fourth grade game, an interesting situation occurred.  The wining team actually had TWO players with the game uniform numbers.  I was not aware of this when the game started but heard the coach mention to someone.  As the third quarter started, I issued a technical the protest of the coach.  The coach said "The school issued the uniforms like this and the other teams they had played in the weeks prior were ok with the jersey situation".  I politely disagreed with the coach and strongly suggested he take up the issue with the school.   The coach actually disagreed with me on this. 
• After working my first three games, it was time to get some food.  The area I was in had good food but parking was difficult.   After thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided to try and park at a nearby gym where an adult basketball tournament was going on.  I was going to be working the tournament tomorrow but wanted to take a look at the games happening.  PLUS, I knew they had some food there for players, coaches and officials.  I was fortunate to find a parking space near the gym.  I managed to watch a game, talk to a few folks, have a "pre-game" with one of the officials tomorrow (he was working today as well), and of course get some food. 
• After getting my food, I went off to officiate my second set of games.  Parking around this gym was a pain.  I looked around for some 20 minutes before settling on a stop 2 blocks (including one hill) away. This second set of games had higher caliber of teams but there wasn't anything too eventful. 
• The one exception was from a 5th grade team.  The visiting team was losing.  In the fourth quarter, a home team player set a pretty bad screen.  Both my partner and I had the foul called.  However, the assistant coach of the visiting team was complaining about the foul being flagrant or intentional.  It was just a BAD SCREEN.  I had to tell the assistant to calm down as I understood they were losing and maybe frustrated.   After the game, the assistant coach told me he was offended that I had mentioned they were losing.  He told me he was going to report me to the league for my comments (sure, go on ahead).  
• On the flip side, a parent of the home team also talked to me and my partner after the game.  The parent mentioned that a coach of the visiting team had made some comment to his son.  The coach had said something about the son being a "dirty player" or something.  I was a little shocked but not entirely surprised given the assistant coach's attitude toward me earlier.    I informed the home team parent that I would mention the incident to the league. 

All in all, it was a long day but a good day.  The weirdness aside, the games were competitive for the most part and the coaches were generally ok.

Here, There, Everywhere

A bit of a busy day today.  Originally, it wasn't supposed to be this way but it was fine:

I officiated three light girls basketball scrimmages in the AM.  I was planning to volunteer to begin with when I was asked last week.  However, as I had to also clear a fine for missing a meeting for my officiating group, the scrimmages this morning served a dual purpose.   It was a little odd officiating the scrimmages.  The teams were playing 18 minute games (two 9 minute halves) with no free throws.  The usual rules like backcourt and shot clock were off.  Despite that, one of coaches we had was chirping a bit.  Beyond that, the kids played hard and all the officials working the various games got some good work out of it.

I went to grab some lunch afterward and then played some pick up ball with friends for a few hours.  I didn't really tired but my shot was WAY off most of the day.  Maybe it was the Turkey!  

After playing ball, I grabbed a quick snack and rest a bit before officiating a men's alumni basketball game at another high school.  The game was pretty competitive and went into over time with the varsity men's team prevailing.

All in all, I would never recommend people run around like I do.  But doing it occasionally if ok.  I'm a little tired but some dinner will help and I have one more day of rest before going back to work on Monday.  :)

Alumni Night

A few days ago, I got an email from a fellow official asking if I would work my old high school's BOYS BASKETBALL alumni game.  It was a bit of a surprise as this particular official had worked the boys basketball alumni game with a retired official for the past several years.  Apparently, the retired official was unavailable tonight.  Since I was an alumni of the high school and had worked the girls basketball alumni game in previous years, I was the next logical candidate.   I accepted the invite very quickly.

Interestingly enough,  while I had not officiated the girls basketball alumni game last year, I was surprised the girls basketball coach had not reached out.  I need not have worried.  The coach reached out to me a day or two afterward to work the girls basketball alumni game and I ended up working a double header tonight.

The girls game was pretty low key.  The girls varsity team had only six players due to some player turnover while the alumni had about nine players.  The alumni won the game but the varsity girls worked hard and kept it competitive for much of the game.

On the other hand, the boys game was expected to be a blowout.  The boys varsity team had struggled last season and this season's team was very small of stature.  I didn't remember too many kids who were above 6 feet tall (if any).  On the other hand, the alumni had several big players.

However, the boys varsity team made a good effort and hung tough despite a distinct size advantage.  To be fair, the alumni did take it easy on the boys varsity team.  They didn't exploit the size advantage they had as they wanted to give the boys varsity team a chance to practice their sets.   The alumni did ultimately win but the boys varsity team showed they can play a little bit.

From a learning perspective, the girls alumni game was just a "get back on the court" and get a feel of officiating.  It's been a while since I worked a regulation high school game.

For the boys alumni game, I worked in a three person crew.  While I won't be working three person crews too often during the high school season, it was good to work with the other two guys.  It was pointed out that I was doing some things ("working a little too high as the C") that I hadn't realized.  Just like anything you do in life, you never know you're doing something until it gets pointed out.

Overall, it was a fun night to get back on the court, talk to a lot of folks and hang out a bit afterward.  A great way to begin the Thanksgiving holiday!

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

After a year off from high school basketball officiating, the time is coming around for me to get back into the swing of things.    To be honest, I haven't been too interested in officiating basketball.  I noticed a decided lack of interest in officiating my adult league in recent weeks.

A part of it is the "sameness" of the league.  The league has only a few teams and teams play each other twice during the season.  Plus the court is small so the action is more half court oriented than fast breaks.

Tomorrow night, I open my season by working two alumni basketball games (girls / boys) for my old high school.  My officiating schedule will definitely be light this year.  I just do not have enough time in the work day to try to balance officiating with my job.  I intentionally limited my schedule this season and that is fine for me.

I'll provide more updates on the blog as I go through this new season.

Odd Night At The Gym

Something I typically do before officiating my youth basketball and volleyball games is check the standings.   I check the standings to get an idea of the possible competitiveness of a game.

For my slate of four youth volleyball games tonight, I did not do this.  However, the gym director did and here's what I found out:

There were four games (5 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM).  The first game was a 4th grade game and followed by a 7th grade game and two 8th grade games.

Out of the eight teams playing, SEVEN of the teams were WINLESS.  The eighth team had only one win.  Keep in mind, this is the around the 4th week of the season so all the teams were definitely struggling a bit.

But with a slate of struggling teams playing each other, odd things were bound to happen.

In the first game, one of the winless teams (Red) swept Blue 25-12, 25-11.   Both teams may have been winless entering the game but the Red teams looked a lot better than Blue.

The last three games also have a strange vibe to them:  The team that won the first set proceeded to LOSE the final two sets.  However, while the three older teams didn't have great records, all of them played hard and the fans were quite engaged.

At the end of the night, three of the seven winless teams got their first victory.  The one win team had to sweep the last two sets to gain their second win of the season.

Despite the weirdness, it was an entertaining night of officiating volleyball.

Transitions & Setting Priorities

I've been officiating youth basketball since 1993 and high school basketball since 2002.  When I first started officiating youth basketball, it wasn't because I loved it.  Like my high school or college aged kids these days, I was strictly officiating for the money.

I was living at home and going to college nearby.  I wasn't working at the time though I spent a great deal of time as a volunteer basketball coach for my grammar school.  Since I was coaching, doing officiating made a lot of sense.  I could earn a bit of money during the time I was not coaching.  

I kept officiating youth basketball for many years but I found myself getting bored.  The games felt repetitive and I had stagnated a bit.  In was in the Fall of 2002 that I joined my local high school officiating group.  

Jumping into high school games was a change.  Though I thought I was a good official, I found that I had a lot to learn.  While it has taken me a lot of years to feel comfortable, I found that the learning experience renewed my enthusiasm as the youth level as well.  

Unfortunately, I ran into a lot of roadblocks with my high school officiating.  For one, my work schedule never really allowed me to officiate as many high school games as I wanted to.  Yet despite the roadblocks, I had some good years where I managed to work some playoff games.   While there are many who aspire higher, I am happy to have gotten a chance to work in the playoffs. In an ideal world, I would like to get a chance to work any games I wanted to and not worry about work.  But the world is not always ideal.  

Last year was a bit of a transition.  I had some things I wanted to take care of so I took the year off from high school officiating.   I made a decision this past May to return to high school officiating.  Though I decided to return,  I made a quiet decision to reduce my schedule. 

There were many reasons for this.  One was that I was quite settled in my job.  Leaving work early to officiated 4 PM games were just difficult in my position.  In years past, I would MAKE every effort to cut out of work to go officiate.  I wouldn't accept every early game but i would take a few and decline others just so I could go work. 

However, I no longer could leave early consistently.  I have a sales team I need to support.  While they don't need me every day, lots of things come up at the last moment.   I had to set the priority that my job comes first and my hobbies come second. 

But beyond the work situation, I also had been scaling back officiating overall the past few years.  Many times, officiating would get in the way of meeting up with friends or even just playing basketball.  I told myself that my personal life was more important than being an official.  

Thus as I enter the 2012-2012 high school season, my priority is to enjoy the games (even if they are only a limited number) I do get.  I'm not concerned about the quality or the level of the game.  In the past,  I was concerned about the quality of the games I was getting because I hoped I could work my way up.  These days, I'm going to enjoy being at the gym, working with my partner, and a chance to get some exercise.  

NFL Replacement Officials ARE Real Officials

There's been a lot of complaints by coaches and other interested parties about the quality of the replacement officials in the NFL.   The thing that irks me is that many people are calling for the "REAL" NFL referees to return as soon as possible.

Guess what?  The replacement ARE real referees.  According to the news reports I've read, most of the replacement officials work junior college,  Division II and Division III college football.  The quality of football at that level is not comparable to the NFL (or even Division I).  However, these officials ARE BETTER than your usual couch potato who's watching an NFL game from home.

It's unfortunate these replacement officials are being thrust into this position.   As a basketball official, I fully understand what these replacement officials are going through.  As a sports official, most people work their way up from the youth leagues, high school, college and then possibly the pros.

As you go up the chain, the quality of the games increase and there's only so many people that have the ability to work at the college and pro levels.   There is the physical ability to keep up with elite athletes. The other part is the knowledge and judgement to make quick decisions during a game.

For me personally, I'm perfectly fine officiating youth, high school and adult league basketball.  But even then, I don't officiate top flight varsity high school basketball.    I've done my share of games and I'm reasonably competent in what I do.

However, I've worked summer camps and leagues with higher level of high school teams.  Early on, it was a TOUGH adjustment to officiate higher quality games.  Over time, as my experience has grown, things have gotten easier.

The replacement officials are likely facing the same thing.  Most people usually don't go from officiating lower level football to working NFL games.  There is a process to ensure the integrity of the games.  The NFL's lockout of the regular officials have forced more inexperienced officials to work.  Yes, it is not looking pretty but in time they will get better.

But don't say that these "replacement officials" are not REAL officials.  They willingly accepted these assignments and without them, there would be no NFL games for us to watch.  While some of the officials may be struggling a bit, I am sure that some of them are ENJOYING the experience.  After all, there are only a select few that get the chance to officiate in a professional sports league.