I love social media, Twitter in particular. I’m there for the jokes, I’m there for news in real time and I enjoy that I can find news on a wide variety of topics on there. I probably spend more time than I should on Twitter. But for all the time I spend there, I don’t do a lot of tweeting. I was discussing this with a friend this week and I explained that I don’t tweet because I don’t think people are particularly interested in my opinions on many subjects, especially in 140 characters. I have a lot of interests; music, politics, current events, but any time I’ve tried to tweet, I’ve only seen a more interesting or better explained “take” from someone with significantly more followers.
Which brought me to this question: What made me decide to write for Referee Rant? Particularly a piece called “Weekend Wisdom?”
What I came to is this:
when it comes to officiating, I have something to say. I may not be the best or most experienced official out there, but I have a unique blend of experiences that I think people seeking out a site like Referee Rant will benefit from. Where do I think this comes from?
Age and Experience:
I’m 29 years old and have been officiating basketball for 10 years. There aren’t many people that have these two things. In fact when I talk about working with “younger partners” I’m often talking about people who are actually older than me. Because I’ve gotten into this so young, I’ve had to do a lot to earn credibility and respect from players, partners and coaches. When I started officiating High School basketball as a sophomore in college, I was only 3-4 years older than many of the players, and I looked it. I had to learn as much as I could and take every step I could to make sure I didn’t do anything to hurt my credibility. That meant learning the rules, hustling everywhere, speaking clearly and having strong mechanics.
I also had the experience of officiating Intramurals as a college student. Officiating your peers is a completely different experience. You don’t want to come off as someone who thinks you’re above the same guy who you sit across from in PoliSci. You already have some natural things in common with the players on the court, so it’s a lot easier to find those connection points and build the rapport you need to manage a game, and not always with technical fouls. To this day I think one of the stronger parts of my game is that if you get a technical foul from me, you’ve earned it. If it takes more than a few short sentences to explain why you gave a technical foul, it might be worth examining if it was warranted.
9-to-5
I have the good fortune to work with officiating as part of my day job. Teaching and training others are some of the best ways to learn the material. Preparing to train young officials allows me to dive into rules, mechanics, film, and case plays that others most certainly have to wait to get home from work to do. In addition, there are four other people in my office to take basketball with. Plays that happen in any game, whether it be an NBA game or a game of mine, I get the chance to get feedback from four different people while “on the clock.” I’m blessed to have the job I do for so many reasons, but how it has helped me in my officiating is certainly one of them. Because of this, I want to take this opportunity to share some of what I learn with anyone who reads this site.
HAPPY. EASTER. Until Tomorrow.
