Preview, Sunday, April 16, 2006
Happy easter, everybody! Happy birthday to me ;-) Today was a great day, because it was my birthday. But I am not going to tell you about my little birthday party because nobody comes here to read this ;-)
Tomorrow I will be on the road again, for my 4th 1st division men's game. I am really excited, and I want to try three things:
- Don't watch my partners too much, and call the game as I see it. I had my last game on this level with two fellow officials who were approximately on the same level as the two guys I'll work with tomorrow. My mentor who is an experienced referee in div. 1 told me that there are big differences between some of the referees in that league, and that in games like the last, or the one tomorrow, I shouldn't care too much about the things my partners do. This might sound selfish, but it isn't. What he meant was, that I was looking for my partners to show me what to do because they were more experienced than me. Unfortunatley they couldn't provide orientation for me because they needed some guidance themselves. So, tomorrow I'll be open for suggestions and recommendations from my partner, yet follow my own heart for what I'll call in my area of responsibility.
- Voice my oppinion, when I feel the need to do so. I felt uncomfortable during my last div. 1 game. I tried to communicate this to my partners, but couldn't get the message across ... they didn't mean to overrule me, but it ended with me adjusting to them even though I didn't think it was the right thing to do. Don't get me wrong! I am not going to start a discussion on the court, I just want to make sure that my partners know how I feel about the things going on on the court, all the time. I have to talk openly ...
- Do, what I do best! Be calm and relaxed, communicate, be approachable but firm! Getting to this level it sometimes seems that referees here wouldn't allow any questions and comments from coaches and players, and I took this to the point where I would call technical fouls without even knowing what really happened. I have to relax, take a deep breath before doing something stupid. It was my strength, that I was always able to communicate effectively, that I was still approachable when the game was on the line, and yet firm and consequent regarding my calls. I don't have to prove that I can be very strict, it is about proving that I can manage a game like this and keep my cool!
Come back to read the recap of the game. I'll try to post it until Monday night.
Cheers!
Recap, weekend, April 8 and 9, 2006
Saturday: 2nd division men ... 3rd place vs. 5th. Two good teams, great coaches, even though sometimes really pushing, and two referees who had never worked a game together before this day.
In the end the home team won, because the visiting team broke down in the last quarter (23-8). I think we had an ok game. My partner and I could have had better communication between the two of us, but fortunately it didn't lead to any weired situations.
Nonetheless I had the feeling, that there was a small gap in philosophy between us. I arrived, as always, in a dark suite, white shirt, with a tie. He met me wearing jeans, t-shirt, and a jacket. Now add to this that he is 42, and works as a quality assurance manager, while I am 27 (at least for one more week) and a graduate student at university. He's been in the league for a while, I have refereed there for a bit more than a year. Let's say he is old school and refereeing is just his favorite pastime, while I see refereeing more as a profession and this is probably what got me to 1st divison in such a short time. Where does this show on the court? Often more experienced referees are able to handle conflict better than less experienced colleagues, but at the point where we are now, the tradition of talking and explaining has led to endless discussions during games. Referees hesitate to tell players or coaches when they have heard enough. Some of them try to avoid conflict by balancing the number of foul calls, expalining everything they call, thinking too much about what a coach or the players might say. The reason for this probably is, that for a couple of years, evaluations by the teams, or team officials decided who got promoted and who didn't get any games at all. Fortunately, these days are over. Nowadays we have a lot of evaluations from former referees and our assignors that determine the ranking of all referees. If you compare games in 2nd division and 1st division, players on the highest level don't try to talk to the referees that much. They focus on playing the game ... and referees do not invite them to discuss their latest call. Besides the oldschool vs. newschool thing, the regional factor also weighs in on philosophy. Depending on where one grew up as a referee, you may turn out either as "the law enforcer - cop type", "talkative guy - negotiator type", "let's see what they want - laisser faire style", and so on :-))
To wrap Saturday up, the game was ok, my partner and I didn't have much trouble. I think there was a small difference between his and my call selection on reaching, grabbing - advantage, disadvantage. If anybody outside the referee scene noticed the difference he probably would have had problems explaining where they came from as they were only minor differences!
Sunday: 2nd division women - play-off game, 2nd round, first game. I don't have many women's games during the regular season, I referee mostly men. This is not because I don't like to work women's games, but because my assignors for men's and women's games (who happen to be the same person) want it that way ...
Home team wins, and the visiting coach feels the need to express his feelings, how unhappy he is with our performance. Line of the day: "We worked all year for this." As if I wasn't ... I worked 10 years to get where I am now. I know, most people think, referees don't work to get better between games. This might be true for some of us, but not for everybody. I know a lot of people who referee games, who think about it every single day, who work out in the gym to be in the best shape possible, who practice mental skills to improve concentration and decision making, and who study more tape than most coaches do to get a better understanding of the game and its intricacies. What did he actually want? His major complaint was that he about our application of the 3-second-rule ... ok, I'll review the tape, but I already paid attention to it during the game, even more than usually, because he kept reminding me to call it ;-) They lost the game 82-49, and he was complaining about the referees, and how we destroyed everything they 'v been working for.
Most interesting situation during the game. The visiting team's point guard, a Russian or Ukrainian girl, who is supposed to be the team leader but had an off night, gets her third foul early in the 4th. I call it and she yells something like "F***" in Russian across the court. My dad is Russian, too, so I understood what she said and T'd her. She is like: "What did I say?", her coach rises from the bench "What did she do?". I tell him to ask her, because I am not going to repeat it. He refuses to understand ... After the game I explained it to him, and he says something like: "Come on, everybody curses during games. It's not that she said "F*** you, so it wasn't personal!". Thanks coach, I mean, what else do I need to know!?
It was a great weekend, I met interesting people, not only during the games, but also on my trip to and from Saturday's game. The games were ok. So, everything is fine.
Next: job interview tomorrow with a consulting company, time for the suit again :-)
And I got the game on easter Sunday in 1st division. I know it is meaningless, because one team can't make it to the play-offs anymore, while the other is in last place and will play in 2nd division next year, yet it's still 1st division and I am really excited about this unforeseen opportunity.
Preview, Saturday, April 8, 2006
I'm late with this preview and I don't have much time to write it. I have three hours left to dry my referee clothes, iron them and get something to eat before I pick up some people who will travel with me.
I don't really know what to say about the upcoming game, but that is a 2nd division men's game between two of the better teams in the league. I don't know my partner (we have never worked a game together), I had both teams once before, but they were not consistent throughout the season, so I can't say much about what to expect. For me it is more important to go out and have fun, I don't put as much pressure on me as I did the last couple of weeks, at least I'll try.
Yesterday the assignor of 1st division men's called and said that it was possible for me to get one more game (last day of the regular season) next weekend, depending on the results of this weekend's games. I think if there will be a matchup between two teams who have already secured their spot in the play-offs, or will definitely stay in 1st division, in other words if the game is relatively meaningless, I will get one more game. I am really excited about this opportunity, because I thought my season on this level was already over. I'll let you know what happened.
Check back, soon. I'll post a recap for tonight's game and may be even a short preview of tomorrow's women's play-off game.
Run, Forrest, run!
I wrote here about how some of my games went wrong because I was in a bad mood, felt too much pressure, or just couldn't enjoy myself on the court as I usually would.
I think a large part of the reason that I felt this way was that I didn't run enough! No, not during games, but at home, in the park, by the river ... I used to run a lot. 3, 4 times per week between 6 and 15 miles. Running for me has always been like meditation. It calms me down, gives me a chance to be alone for an hour or two, think through everything that's on my mind. I love running, no matter what kind of wheather we got, I would go run. Once, I lived in Vancouver, Canada for 4 months. I think during this period it was raining three out of four days, but I ran, every single day.
During the last three months I did not run at all. All I did was go to the games, referee, and get back home. I didn't run because I couldn't find the time to do it. I had too much to do at work, and of course I wanted to spend time with my family. Now, that the situation has eased up, I am running again :-) And I feel so much better now. After just two weeks I have already started to loose weight (added 10 pounds since christmas) and feel way more comfortable ... So, everybody out there, get off the couch and run!!!
Cheers!
Recap, April 1, 2006 - I got my mojo back :-)
I haven't got new keys yet, but who needs new keys if you can have a good game?
With almost no pressure, a lopsided women's game (50 point blowout, last quarter 23-0 !!!!), and a less experienced partner I had a very nice game on Saturday. The most important thing for me was that we had fun together. My partner, one of a few female referees we have on that level in women's basketball, and I were a very good team yesterday. It was fun, it was smooth, just a great game overall. It was a play-off game but the outcome was clear from the start ... we still managed to keep our concentration up until the end, and it paid off. In the end we had to make a couple of calls on unnecessarily rough fouls, committed by a frustrated visiting team.
Much more difficult was the night after the game. It was the first night alone with my son (9 months old), because my wife worked a night shift for the first time since our son's birthday. Even though I was really nervous, except for one hour between midnight and 1 a.m., where he woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, it was a peaceful night. From one o'clock he slept until his mom came back from work :-)
In addition to yesterday's game and last night, today was a good day. Sunny, dry ... a lot of time with my family and no game to ref or travel to do. We went to see a boulder competition held in a community center around the corner from our house, made a trip to the park and had coffee and cake in a small café in one of the most interesting neighborhoods of our beautiful city.
Have a great week, everybody. Read more on Thursday or Friday about the upcoming game on Saturday. I will make the trip back to the town where I lost my keys a week ago ... may be somebody has found them in the meantime.
