Rndballref
20 Years Experience
Chicago, IL
Male, 60
For twenty years I officiated high school, AAU and park district basketball games, retiring recently. For a few officiating is the focus of their occupation, while for most working as an umpire or basketball referee is an avocation. I started ref'ing to earn beer money during college, but it became a great way to stay connected to the best sports game in the universe. As a spinoff, I wrote a sports-thriller novel loosely based on my referee experiences titled, Advantage Disadvantage
Like most things in life it is not difficult to be a referee. However, it is very hard to be a good referee. Here are some of the reasons: 1) You need to study the rule book - it takes a long time to really understand and internalize them, 2) once the rules are understood it takes a long time to decide which rules should not be enforced at which levels/situations, 3) since there is a learning curve, you have to make a big commitment to it before you can be well compensated, 4) even if you develop into a good referee, you have to be lucky enough to be "discovered" and/or mentored by people in a position to help and promote you, and finally you have to have a different occupation that allows you spend your time investing in ref'ing. Oh yeah, you also need thick skin.
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I have officiated some house leagues, summer high school leagues and travelling basketball tourneys where a shooting foul is awarded 1 point and the ball, and a common foul after 7 team fouls also gets 1 point + ball. At one point in time there was a proposal in college ball that a team would have the option of shooting free throws OR the ball. Doesn't seem like anyone talks about that anymore. I think the pros like close games and slowing the game down with fouls compresses the score, but those last 2 minutes sometimes takes 20 minutes.
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You are allowed to screen or block out if you get to a space before your opponent leaves his feet to get to that spot. It is no different than blocking out on a rebound.
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There is no provision in the NFHS book which grants disputes between referees except that the official designated as the "referee" (as opposed to official 1 and 2) has the responsibility to resolve uncovered issues.
When two referees disagree, the way it should work is as follows: Official 1 makes a call. Official 2 sees it a different way and the two officials privately discuss it. Official 1 needs to be convinced. If official 1 decides official 2's call is the correct one, then official 1 should signal the correct call, and be prepared to defend it with the coaches.
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Physical Therapist
What's the most dramatic "before-and-after" improvement you've ever seen with a patient?
CPR Trainer
Why does the 'official' CPR method change from time to time?
Basketball Referee
Ever get into a physical altercation with a crazed parent?
If A is standing out of bounds, and a ball that was in bounds touches him before hitting the floor out of bounds, A is considered to have caused the ball to go out of bounds.
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Rule 7 in the NFHS rule book is the chapter on Out of Bounds and The Throw In. Section 1, Article 2b states, "The ball is out of bounds when it passes over a rectangular backboard. By excluding fan shaped backboards it means a ball passing over fan shaped is NOT out of bounds.
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Simple answer: no. So again (Advantage Disadvantage), if the post player is setting up down low and swatting the defender's hands and they are in a minor way pushing or leaning on each other, then I am ignoring it or telling them hands off. But as soon as the ball is delivered to the post, and he received it because he swatted the defender's hands away from a legal guarding position, then I am calling an offensive foul.
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