To: JEFFCO & Frontier Sub-Varsity / Varsity Officials in December
Officials: If you are receiving this message, you have worked or will work in December in the JEFFCO Conference of Frontier Conference (Varsity / Sub-Varsity). This message is a weekly memo from the coordinators office to review important conference wide information to help the teaching / training / development / and promotion of officials across all levels in our leagues & conferences as well as affiliate leagues / conferences. Items included in this memo are important to review so we continue to make our leagues and conferences the best they can be for our membership institutions.
Recap: Week 2 of games were tough across all leagues and conferences. Overall, everyone did a great job. We had technical fouls / ejections / and Flagrant fouls to review this week. I can say that all our officials stepped up to this moment this week and we were ready to be challenged. This week’s theme is: Core Fundamentals
When we focus on the basics, we make refereeing very simple. We all need to focus on getting our plays right. If we all focus on owning our plays, the games go much smoother. Don’t try and do too much. Don’t be the guy on the crew that nobody wants to work with because you over officiate. In every pre-game that I run, we focus on the following:
Trust your partners
Trust the System
Call the Obvious
Referee the defense
Don’t call anything you can’t explain
Own your primary
These 6 core fundamentals are all things that we can control as individuals. In times of stress, we need to revert to the basics to reset ourselves. Then when we need to get together as a crew, we can discuss rules and adjudication items. Go into week 3 by owning the 6 core fundamentals we want all our referees to be solid on. When you do these things, you don’t need to do any extra on the crew. You just own your 3rd of the pie. That is when the crew has a great night and we begin creating good habits.
Sub-Varsity Crews: I heard a rumor this week that nobody watches the sub-varsity games. I can say to that rumor that your wrong. Ask several officials… They will tell you. We watch all games at all levels. Additionally, know who you are working with on your game. Your partner might be on that game for a reason. I always ask my Crew Chiefs how their partner did and if they can work. Just know that the culture is changing and you cant just show up and think that these games have no merit. Every play at every level matters. That is why we took away the self-assign feature because I want to know who we have in our games. If you can work, I will find you and get you into varsity games.
*REMINDERS*
Game Reports: Be sure to complete these for all JEFFCO and Frontier games on Arbiter by 8AM the following morning. Our leadership team reviews these daily and use these to work directly with coaches / administrators / conference officials on any issues that come up. All we are looking for is a quick 2-3 sentence summary of anything worth noting in your game. Please list all technical fouls / ejections in the game report as well.
Text: If you are the Referee (Crew Chief) be sure to reply back to your game day text after the conclusion of your game with a quick recap. This is not as formal as the game report but is another item that we need our Crew Chiefs to do. This allows us to get information quickly if we have any technical fouls / ejections.
Arrival Times: Please make sure you arrive 60 minutes prior to your varsity game. You will need this time to do a full pre-game with your crew and also get dressed.
Communication: Be sure you are effectively communicating to all coaches. If a coach asks a question or makes a statement, they need to get a reply. Work on effective communication. You don’t need to explain everything to a coach but a simple “I got you coach” or even “What did you see coach?” will go along way.
Things from this week:
Turn Backs: If you need to turn back a game; nothing drives me more nuts than getting a group email with somebody trying to sub their game and find a replacement. I just had a conversation with Dave Hall on this – If you have an issue, you need to contact the correct Coordinator. All Coordinators talk across all levels all the time. Anytime you need to turn back one of our games, you need to text me if you are 2+ days out. Email is fine 3+ days out and a phone call is mandatory within 48 hours of game day. Please review this policy.
Observation Program: Every game in the JEFFCO and FRONTIER Conference is watched in our video center. You will always have somebody at your game or watching your game from our leadership team. Most of the time you will get clips sent to you with audio breakdown of the plays for crew discussion. Remember, you never know who is watching and who is in your gym. Every whistle is being reviewed and watched. Every play matters.
CHSAA Office: I speak with the Director of officials on a weekly basis. Sometimes daily. Just know that we talk about all our referees in our conferences and leagues.
Dribble Hand Off Screen: This is creeping into our game. Anytime a dribbler goes towards a teammate and hands of the ball and rolls into the defender this is a foul 100% of the time. This will be in this week You Make The Call. Have a wide angle look at these plays and REMEMBER: screens are two person officiating plays.
Technical Foul Reporting: When you call a technical foul in our leagues, I want you to take that information to the table and tell the table. DO NOT just report the technical from the floor. GO TO THE TABLE. Instruct the score table personnel that this is also a team foul. We cannot assume that they understand this.
Free Throw Administration: Anytime you have a crew member who is talking to a coach or at the table, you CAN NOT begin administering the free throws. I want all crew members ready and alert. When we do this, we increase the probability for a correctable error situation.
Hustle / Position Adjust: Every play requires max effort. If you cannot give max efforts, we will see that. You cannot take a game and not hustle. This week I personally watched a game in one of our leagues that did not have a trail official cross half court when the ball was in the front court. I instantly turned the game off and was done watching that crew. This is unacceptable. When the ball moves, we move to get a better position. The days of not getting to the spot are over. We need to get in position because today’s athletes are too good for us to not be in position. Please make sure that you are not one of these situations as these are items we can control. Effort is an item we can control.
Learning Videos for this week: You Make The Call
I am responsible for selecting the clips for review in this. No attempt has been made to embarrass any player, official, team, or coach. These clips are designed to review to make basketball officials better in our leagues. The content that is selected was watched in real time by our leadership team and are examples of great discussion plays for our conference / league.
Here is the link to view this week: You Make The Call:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMDaA-2hr314q7A66ZwFeBNbg0vfRQe1TYcWunTP2dBhr1CA/viewform
Thank you for your dedication to High School and college basketball!
David J. Duggan & Judge Fuson
The Referee Suite | Consortium Coordinator
Jeferson County Athletic Conference 5/6A (JEFCO)
Frontier Athletic Conference 4/5A (FAC)
Aurora Sports Officials to include all Denver Metro Middle School Basketball (ASO)
Uprise Athletics Group (UAG)
Just Play Sports (JPS)
Regional Coordinator for: Game Time Events (GTE)
303 Pro AM (303)
Juco Advocate (JAJ)
Metro State University (MSU)
Fort Lewis University (FLU)
Under Armor Made Hoops (UMH)
National Coordinator for: Nike Recruit Look (NRL)
National Coordinator for: ADIDAS Prep Hoops (PHB)
Regional Coordinator for: Bigfoot Hoops (BFH)
United States Junior Nationals (USJN)
Mile High Muslim League (MHML)
Mobile: 303.597.8610 (David) or 970.412.9954 (Judge)
Email: info@refereesuite.com
Click HERE, to book a one-on-one meeting with a member of our leadership team!