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.

Volleyball: "Oh my aching feet......."

It's late so this will be a brief post. I was back in action with three youth volleyball games tonight. I had three games: 4th grade, 3rd grade and 6th grade. The 3rd and 4th grade games went by uneventfully. However, the 6th grade game was interesting for a couple of reasons.

One, the game was extremely competitive. In a 3 set game that went over an hour, the home team prevailed 33-31, 17-24, 15-9. Though both teams were not highly skilled, they were very evenly matched.

I had a feeling the game was going to last a while during the first set. Neither team could pull away from the other as there were multiple ties and lead changes in the early going. When the home team made a brief run to take a 4 point lead, I thought that would decide the set. However, the visiting team rallied and the game remained close. Both team had chances to win but mistakes hurt both sides. The home team finally did enough to pull out the first set victory. Though the home team had the momentum entering the second set, the visiting team rallied to take the second set and set up the third set.

It was during the third set that the second interesting thing occurred. The home team dominated early and led 12-5. However, the visiting team rallied and got to 12-9. The home team managed to stop the bleeding and the score was 13-9 when both teams engaged in a rally.

The visiting team returned a ball that was high but it seemed like it wasn't hit hard enough to clear the net. As I watched the ball drop toward the net, players from both teams converged toward the net. The visiting player was trying to position herself in case her teammates bump was short. The home player was trying to position herself in case the ball cleared the net.

My lack of experience hurt me a bit here. I didn't know what I should focus on (each of the players, the ball or the net) so I ended up not focusing on anything at all. The next thing I knew, the ball had been hit into the home team's court. Since I was standing on the stand, it APPEARED to me that the ball had cleared the net BUT the visiting player had gone underneath the net to hit the ball. If that was the case, that was a violation and it should have been a point for the home team.

Fortunately, my common sense and quick thinking saved me. I realized I didn't get a good look at the play. Fortunately, for volleyball, there is an option to call for a replay. I blew the whistle, thought for a second and yelled: "I didn't see the play clearly, let's replay the point".

There were some murmurs in the crowd but overall no one complained too much. I asked a couple of the people who worked at the gym and the referee who was working the games after me about the play. All of them said calling for a replay was a good decision.

One of those days

One things many people don't realize is that sports officials have real lives. Something things happen at work that carry over into your officiating. Today may have been one of those days for me. I had a reasonable first six hours of work. However, the last couple was spent chasing down something for a customer. It took a while but my team got the situation resolved.

Alas, I had a couple of youth volleyball games to work afterward. The first game was a 3rd grade game. While the teams weren't super skilled, they were very evenly matched. That meant for a lot of focus in the game as the final scores were 25-23, 23-25, 15-11 for the home team. The home team's coach had a minor complaint of me missing a double hit. I'll admit that the player probably did accidentlally do a double hit but given that it was 3rd grade, it wasn't intentional so I let the play go.

The second game was a 5th grade game. Both teams were fairly solid but the home team was the slightly better team. As I went through the first set, there was something I probably missed. A visiting team's play ran into the net while trying to bump the ball. The home coach asked if it was a violation. For the first time this season, I felt like I locked up a bit. I told the coach that it was after the player bumped the ball so I passed on it. I will freely admit that I probably missed the call. I came home and looked up the volleyball rules and did some studying earlier.

The home team pulled away and won the first match. The tough day at work must have tired me out. As I worked the second match, I found myself hoping the game would end soon. The sports officials gods must have been watching as several balls landed in my area where no line judge could help me. I made the best decision that I could. Judging from the reaction of the coach, I may have missed a couple of calls. I also had to deal with the unusual situation of a small gymnasium that I wasn't familiar with as well.

All in all, I don't feel like I did the best job today. I was mentally a step slow and my inexperience in volleyball did catch up with me. However, my confidence isn't down. I realized that I have to brush up more on volleyball basics and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow will be a bit of a different challenge. The gym I will be working at is another smaller gym with a low ceiling. Fortunately, I have little kids so hopefully the balls won't be going as high in the air.