Basketball Training and Educational Videos (vimeo)

DEAD BALL EFFICIENCY (pdf)

First lets talk about live ball play hustle:
---LEAD OFFICIALS: If there is no press going on, hustle your butt down to your end line and observe the players directly in front of you. DON'T watch the Trail official administer the throw-in and see if they do it right. We are pretty sure they can handle it. If the players in front of you are behaving, this is a great opportunity to check the clocks to see if they started properly.

--TRAIL OFFICIALS: Trail Trail Trail. There is no reason to rush onto the court and get ahead of the players. Be a sheep herder, aka shepherd, and make sure the sheep (players) don't escape and start heading backwards, thus getting away from you. You should be able to observe the dribbler and the all the players ahead of you so you are not surprised. Also, if the dribbler heads to the far sideline go with him/her and stay connected to the action around him/her.

OK, now lets talk about dead ball hustle: Any time you have to move a distance of more than five (5) steps you should be jogging to the next spot. Five steps or less - walk briskly.

Examples:
1) You are in the Lead position and call a foul. After you crack, hold and communicate, JOG out to the foul reporting spot, around the players, not through them, and report the foul.
2) You are the Trail official and the ball goes out of bounds on your sideline or endline on your side and now you are the Lead official, thus crossing the court and moving to the Lead position. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so JOG directly to your new position. Don't do a J hook.
3) You are the Trail official and the ball goes out of bounds on the Lead's sideline and you will be staying on that end of the court. As per NCOA mechanics, the Trail will ALWAYS administer sideline throw-ins, so that means you have to JOG across the court to get the ball and administer the throw-in.

These moments of JOGGING to your new spot during a dead ball will:

1) Give the perception that you want to be there
2) Show you are not lazy and just taking in the game fee
3) Shorten the overall length of the game any where between 5-minutes and 15-minutes. Last time I checked we are not paid by the hour.
4) Keep the game flowing. When the game flows, the players usually play better and there is a rhythm to the game.
5) Keep the heart rate up thus burning a few extra calories.

Evaluators, please make note of these items and make comments on the evaluations about the official's hustle or lack there of.

TAKE CARE OF THE GAME AND PLAYERS: Don't be afraid to call more fouls, if necessary, to keep the players safe and the game fun. Players start to become out-of-control when they realize officials are not calling stuff. Or coaches start yelling to get more physical. Retaliation will occur and next thing you know basketball is a second thought out there. Every level and every game is different. Make the adjustment to the level of the players and adjust as the game goes on. A foul doesn't prevent an injury but some injuries can be prevented by calling the game tighter, if necessary. If this means players are fouling out, oh well. They should have adjusted, played right and not fouled.

This doesn't mean that every little contact is a foul. If the contact causes an effect on the opponent, such as holding, pushing, displacement or non-basketball action, then is a foul. If the opponent is able to get through the contact without cause then a no call is probably a good call. If two players go down to the floor because of the contact then a foul should be called on either one of them, hopefully the right one, and then only 50-percent of the gym will be mad.