Referee Camp

This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday was the big summer referee camp I've been looking forward to this off season.

It's the same one I went to last year, sponsored by the SWAC (Scenic West Athletic Conference), and held in conjuncition with Dave Rose's camp for high school teams at BYU. Referees from whatever level pay and register to go work the games over the 2-3 days and the SWAC brings in some of its top officials (one had just been hired by the MWC last year, another is a Pac-10 and FIBA international referee, and one is even in the NBA D-League) to watch, mentor, and critique us. Most of the referees there are already at least at the varsity high school level, some have broken into JC or lower college divisions, so I was definitely among the youngest.

I picked up a lot of things over the course of a few days that immediately made a huge difference in my game and will help me improve a lot during this coming season. The camp wears you out though. We started off Thursday afternoon and I did three games, not getting home until 10:30 or so. I had to be back at the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 a.m. Friday for a classroom session and did six games that day, again not getting home till after 10:30. At 7:00 Saturday morning it was back in the classroom and three more games before finishing up that afternoon.

The highlight for me was the second-to-last game I worked early Saturday afternoon. The last day of the camp they organize the teams into tournaments and I was working a varsity quarterfinal game with Mountain View and Alta. I was a bit apprehensive because I've had some unpleasant experiences with one of the coaches, but I went in trying to focus, work hard and apply the lessons I'd learned from the camp, and my previous times dealing with the coach.

Don't tell the kids this is just summer league, they wanted to win and the game was very intense. I was working with two great partners, though. We had a good crew chemistry and we all worked hard and did a good job managing things. I felt very comfortable and really started to get into a good flow after my first one or two whistles. The coach was in my ear from start to finish, but he was in everybody else's ear too and it made it easier to deal with knowing he was giving all of us the same dress down.

I reserve the right to brag a little bit here. I made what I think is one of the most beautiful calls I've ever made. An offensive foul on an MV kid driving toward the basket from my 'C' position. If you're ever interested in learning about three-man mechanics I can give you more detail, but to put it simply making a call like that from the C is one of my weaknesses right now. But, man it was beautiful! I had worked hard to get into the perfect position, I stepped down to follow the ball in, and when my whistle went off I sold it like a brand new Mercedes. It felt GREAT.

It wasn't a perfect game. One of my partners and I made somewhat of a hash of selling an intentional foul (right call, bad communication and mechanics), and I was a little sloppy in rotation at times, still being pretty new at working a three-man crew. But I was really in stride and made some other solid calls and managed the players and coaches well when I needed to.

As it was, the close, intense game came down to the last shot. MV had the ball, trailing by one point with less than 10 seconds left and the length of the floor to go. I had once again rotated over to the C at this point which meant I was responsible for watching the clock on the last second shot and determining of any made basket was good or no good. During the preceeding timeout I thought to myself that there was a very good chance the ball would come right down my side of the floor and I had to be ready to get in position, see the play and make the call. I could not afford to make a mistake here.

Just as I expected the ball came right down in front of me. I followed it down as the player went up for a running eight-foot layup. The shot missed but another MV kid jumped up and tipped the ball off the rim and in. I saw the tip, I saw the clock, I heard the buzzer and immediately made the call - the basket was good. I turned to the scorers table, made the big prerequisite gyration and threw my arm down indicating the shot counted, capping off all the drama.

It may sound a little silly, but after shaking hands with my crew, congratulating each other on a great game and spending a few minutes with the evaluator, I grabbed my bag and walked off the court with the most amazing adrenaline high. Going through all the twists and turns of a good, close game like that, being at the top of my game and getting it right at the end was an incredible buzz. It's what any referee lives for.

I've still got a lot to work on and many more hard learning experiences in front of me, but it feels good to see my effort and experience paying off in becoming a better referee. Unfortunately that's the end of the camp season and I have to wait till November or December to start doing games again.

Referee camp... and to think some people just spend their summer afternoons at boring barbecues.