Recap, Saturday, February 25, 2006
I'm back from tonight's game, which was fun. I'm glad I can take off my suit, tie, and shirt now and finally wear something more comfortable :-)But back to the game ... it was a close game right from the start and in the end the home team pulled out a win (86-81). I wouldn't say it was a nice game, because both teams put up a good fight and tried very hard, but sometimes they just forgot to play the game the way it is supposed to be played. And besides, we had a totally different game in the second half than in the first ...
In the first half the game was very intense, with lots of handchecking, pushing, all those little things you don't like to see as a ref. We didn't want to interrupt the flow of the game more often than absolutely necessary, though. So we let them get away with most of it. The advantage / disadvantage rule was on full display, but from my point of view it could have been a better game if we've had a couple more calls. Anyway, even though I thought something was wrong, we didn't get much criticism from coaches and players. And when they needed to talk, we sorted it out quickly. At least we communicated pretty well, with each other, and and with everybody else. The first quarter ended with 10 fouls called against the home team and 4 against the visitors. In the second quarter it was the other way around, 4 home - 8 guests. Actually a lot of fouls, but I think at this point nobody really knew what would be called tonight. There was no consistency, from my point of view.
During the break my partner and I talked about it. I told him what my feeling was. That we should make clear where our line was, that we needed to concentrate more, and get in better position to be able to react to all that handchecking, reaching, grabbing. He agreed and off we were to the second half.
But now, something strange happened. We had not blown our whistles yet, when it was clear that something had changed. Both teams started to PLAY basketball. It didn't look like hard work anymore. They shared the ball more and executed on the offensive end. It was still a good fight, but with more finesse and slightly less fouls. Still, neither team was able to build a comfortable lead. So we had to stay focused, and we did. Now, everything went smoothly. We had good weak-side coverage with off-the-ball fouls (moving screens, grabbing), and everybody seemed to understand what we were doing. Even tough calls like a moving screen as a fifth personal didn't produce the reactions you would usually get under such circumstances. Communication and mechanics were nearly perfect, we just clicked. It was very close to that perfect game you are always looking for. When the buzzer sounded everybody shook our hands, said "thank you" and wished us a safe trip home (while that doesn't seem to be so special, sometimes the losing team forgets about politeness, right?).
After a long hot shower we got in the car and back on the road. On the freeway we stopped at McDonalds, where we didn't only get something to eat (burgers, chicken mcnuggets, french fries, large milk shakes and coffee), but also exchanged feedback. I think I impressed my partner, because I had told him earlier about my goals for the game (which I set for myself for every single game) and now I was taking notes while he gave me his feedback. He is a veteran in that league and told me that he didn't know anybody in our league with a more professional attitude. That was a great compliment. I mean, he has been there for so many years, while I started reffing there only a bit more than a year ago.
But back to the game itself. Of course we talked about the "two different games" we had just witnessed, and we found out that we didn't approach the first half with the same intention. While I wanted to draw the line from the beginning, so everybody could adjust to it, he wanted to let them play, until the offensive players would react to the contacts from the defense (i.e. show that they are not happy with it). At certain points in the first half I had the impression that he was maybe not really concentrated and focused and missed a call here or there, while he thought that I was very hard on some of the players without any actual reason to do so. Interesting, isn't it? But I need to say we are talking about nuances here, I don't even think anybody noticed what was going on ... Then, after our little halftime chat we were on exactly the same page for the rest of the game. Now, that's communication. He described it as him taking 2 small steps in my direction while I took 1 in his :-)
I then asked him to tell me if he noticed something I could improve on, in his opinion. And here is what he said:
"You could sell some of your calls better. Use more dynamic signals. Call it and sell it with authority, especially if it is a very close call. If the situation is emotional (e.g. very hard foul) look the player straight in the eyes for a second, or two, while holding your fist up." That was a really good observation, especially because he was not the first one to tell me ... I have to work on that!
Then he told me that he really enjoyed working with me, which is always nice to hear. What he liked most was that the TEAM was alway first. No I and YOU, only WE! And he said he was impressed how calm and concentrated I was, no matter what (I told you the home fans are not exactly fine sportsmen. Now, add beer to this and you know what we got to hear during the game ;-))
Now, remember my list of goals?
- Stay concentrated and calm regardless of the circumstances (distractions from fans). - Yepp, I think I did that.
- Feeling for the game (adjust to their skill level, advantage/disadvantage) - Take a split second to watch a play unfold before calling a foul or letting it go. - That didn't work all that well in the first half, but almost perfect in the second.
- Good communication with partner and scorers table. - We had very good communication with each other.
- Even better communication with players and coaches - Be nice, but firm. No bull****. - It worked. Lots of little Q&As, a couple of jokes, almost no discussions. Much preventive officiating using my voice (number 11, seconds / watch your hands / don't grab / keep your elbows down / whatever). Used the "stop it now or you get that big ugly T" signal twice (once for a player, once for a coach). After that only needed to look the player in the eyes to shut him up.
- Remember three stages in managing conflict - Try to get them back on the same page. Give the stop signal. T - We didn't get to stage 3 :-)
I hope you enjoyed reading. Feel free to comment everything or discuss certain situations. I'll be glad to answer any question you might have :-)
Next games: Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5. Both games are mens in the same league as tonight's game. I will rent a car for that weekend and drive about 800 miles to get to the games and back home. I'll spend Saturday night away from home, away from my family ... :-(
I hate these weekends, but I love these games!
posted by BBallRef @ 2/26/2006 12:39:00 AM
2 Comments:
I always try to have that pre-game with my partners. I am NOT a "let 'em play" ref...I want to call a few things early so they know things aren't going to get out of control tonight. In my experience, calling a tight first quarter leads to a nice second quarter and beyond.
How do you handle it when you go to talk about this in pre-game, but your partner disagrees with your philosophies?
First of all, I would agree that setting the tone early can lead to a nice game in the following quarters, at least it's easier to call a game this way. Because if you call a tight game, the "grey zone" (where a call could go both ways) is on a level where you can miss an occasional call, and still nobody gets hurt. But I think it's clear that you should serve the game, and not the other way around. Therefore, if everybody wants to play and is happy with a "laissez faire" approach, then let'em play. Nobody comes to watch the referees blow the whistle :-)
Regarding my pregame, I try to get to know my partner and his philosophy, and then I adjust to him as much as possible without feeling uncomfortable. To build a perfect team it is necessary for both partners to make adjustments. I do never try to persuade my partner to become a second me for the game, though. If he has a different approach towards the game and understands his role differently, I try to respect that. Especially when he is older than I am (I'm 27) he might have problems trying things he's not used to do. Then I'm happy to be flexible, and to be able to do it his way in order to get a good team performance! If I notice during the game, that it doesn't work that way, we can still try to talk it out ...
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