07/08 Season In Review

The season?

Very, very short.

Due to a delayed move, I didn't do my first games until late December. And due to an injury, my last game was in early February. I only worked about a month, and only 21 games:

2 varsity games (both girls).
4 JV games (4 girls, 1 boys).
11 freshman games (4 girls, 7 boys).
2 junior high games (both girls).
2 adult rec games (both men).

On the whole, I can't say the season was a success. There were good moments and bad ones, but I made a few uncharacteristic errors. Maybe I need those early meetings and a few jamborees to get my brain and body into gear. Maybe it was the lack of camp. Maybe it was an adjustment to lower-level games (which are actually harder to officiate). Maybe it was going back to almost exclusively two-man (ick, ick, ick). But I wasn't as good as I know I can be. It's not like I was out there screwing around, and it's not like I had any devastatingly bad games. But where I was happy with my work the last two seasons, I can't say I was this season.

First, however, let's look back at my goals from last year and see how/if I progressed in these areas.

Goal 1: SLOW THE HELL DOWN.

Didn't happen. Not a success. In weird situations, I managed to bungle rules in one of my varsity games. I need to take a damn breath after I blow the damn whistle.

Goal 2: FIND A DEFENDER. ALWAYS.

I was proud of this this season. I think doing some faster (boys) games this year made me notice that the faster the fast break, the more likely I am to look for a defender. I would do well to be more aware of defenders in routine situations, but that won't be a major goal.

Goal 3: MORE PARTNER AWARENESS.

I was okay with this. I worked a lot of two-man with less-experienced partners, so I wanted to make sure that we weren't both ball-watching. I'd like to translate this to three-man games in the future.

Goal 4: NO MORE ZONING OUT LATE.

Didn't notice this Think it went okay.

Now goals for next year. There are only three.

The first I mentioned earlier.

1. SLOW THE HELL DOWN.

My goal: There will always be discernible silence between the whistle and the call. A good way to do that might be to keep the whistle in my mouth. I'll put this in the foreground for camp.

The other two come from an interview with an NBA official that I read in Referee...but I can't find (and I wish I could...I'd love to credit him). He basically said that there's so much bizarreness that happens in games that officials can't control--but there are two things that officials can control. I will focus on these two things in the off-season to make the on-season better.

2. PHYSICAL CONDITIONING.

It's quite possible that my tendinitis comes in part from my miscalculation of more-or-less not working out for the first 37 years of my life. And my suspect running style probably didn't help my posterior tibialis tendon any. So, as soon as I get this damn boot off, I will get a personal trainer. I will actually run a little bit (not a lot...let's get real). I will develop some of those...whattayacallem...muscle groups. I will buy really good ref shoes. I'll put insoles in them to protect my ankles and knees. I will be in physical shape so that I, rather than a doctor, ends my season.

3. RULES KNOWLEDGE.

I always thought I was solid on the rules, but I guess I wasn't. I'll hit the books this summer. I'll have it cold...even the damn fashion rules. I want to become The Rules Guy in the association...the guy people go to to ask stuff.

So, strangely, much of my next-year goals are actually summer goals. I'll go to at least one camp (early June) and maybe another (early July, but it's a bit spendy, so I may delay that one a year). Wish me luck.

Thanks, as always, for reading.