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Updated: Sunday, 12:30pm- Football results
Updated: Saturday, 9:00pm – Northside
Scrimmage and a couple football winners
Web Page Will Be
Updated – Wanted to get the web page on for early Saturday; however many events are going on and the
web page will be updated Saturday night so check back. I will date this update item with more on the Northside scrimmage and more High School Football results
Saturday night.
Hall of Fame – Just
wanted to say thanks to all those of you that commented on our Association
Meeting last week and especially the Hall of Fame Portion. I received more emails and more phone calls
over this Association Meeting than any of the previous 25; I appreciate every one of them.
Finally Some Games
this Week – The Public School games start this
week. Finally, all the clinics and all the
scrimmages should pay dividends. I
look forward to seeing you on the floor.
Games Scare Enough
Already – We talked in every local meeting about how scarce the games
would be this year with the economy and the schools cutting back; in addition, many of the games the next
three weeks are likely to get postponed as the schools advance in the
Football playoffs. Some games will be
played as long as both the Home team and the Opponent are out of the
playoffs. And some schools might get
knocked out but still want to postpone for another week to get ready. Read the next item for our policy on
Football Postponements.
Policy If your Game
was Postponed due to the Football Playoffs - Our policy has always been that you will stay with the game on
the new make-up date if you were in the game and it was postponed for any
reason. That includes Football teams advancing, snow, weather related or any other
postponement. The only problem arises
when the new date of a postponed game falls on a date that you already have a
game. This office does not let you
pick which game you want. If your
make-up date falls on a day you already have a game; you stay with the game on the date
you already had. That and times when
the make-up is on a date you blocked are the only times you will lose the
game.
Thoughts on Northside New Officials Scrimmage – A total of 32
different officials made the journey to Northside High School on Saturday, Nov 14 to
showcase their refereeing abilities in front of the Booking Agent along with
help from Harry Edwards, Ron Fly and Shawn Williams. Most of these officials
had never been seen by their assignor and he had no idea what to expect.
There were some with weak mechanics and they were identified and helped right
on the spot; but there were many more pleasant surprises. As a first year official, you really do not expect much from
them and you are happy if they at
least know where to stand and are serious about learning. We found several
brand new officials with a pretty solid background who would blow the whistle
and listen to the critiques. We were
completely satisfied
with what we saw and are eager to help and assist them along
the way. Most will be real assets to our association in several years. They
had good work ethics and were willing to listen and put it to use. We want to thank them all for coming; we understand
that it was a major inconvenience to have to drive that distance for so
little work, but it gives me a huge
advantage to know how to book them this season. We are in very good shape at the entry
level in the Eastern Officials Association.
Common Mechanics
Items to Work On ( From Northside
Scrimmage) – I would like to list a few of the common items that we saw
at the Northside scrimmage that most of the
officials needed help on. This can serve as a self check for every one of us
to reflect and see if we ourselves are guilty of any of these faults:
Not in any particular order:
1 - Clock Chop should be sharp and crisp and should go
from top to bottom, do not cut off half way down
2 – On OB calls, point
straight down the floor, not 45 degrees up toward the ceiling.
3 – On all OB calls, you must call color in addition to pointing
direction
4 – The 3 point good signal is not two 3 point good
tries; the palms should face each
other (Touchdown)
5 – Trail should step in on shots, not bail out toward
other end line.
6 – On Out of Bounds Throw Ins, hand the ball to the
thrower, don’t back off and bounce.
7 – Don’t over use “Not Closely Guarded” Signal; basically
use only when coach is begging for 5 sec call.
8 – At table, stop
before you start reporting the foul.
9 – At table, no twenties, thirties, forties; it
should be two – four; three-five or
four-zero.
10 – At table, signals are too high, should be around
shoulder level just off to the side of the mouth.
11 – Don’t use extra verbage; do
not say “I Got” or
“The fouls on”; just give color, then number.
12 – At table, do not reverse the second number on your
hand.
13 – Before leaving spot of foul, get all the info so you do not have
to look back on the way to the table.
14 – At table, there should be a slight pause between the
first number and the second number.
15 – If there is a made basket on the foul; count the basket first at the table before
giving color and number
16 – We should switch on all non shooting fouls in front
court that are staying in the front court.
17 – Many have fingers spread when getting ready to chop
clock. That signal requires fingers to
be closed.
18 – Don’t lean when reporting a foul; stand up square to
the table.
19 – Keep the whistle in the center of your mouth and
don’t play with it; do not bob it up and down.
20 – We do not let the players wear jewelry, you should not
wear jewelry. No rings or necklaces on
referees.
21 – It only takes a split second to check the table for
subs after every dead ball. Get the
subs in the game.
22 – Don’t stoop or bend over to hunt a foul, stand up and
referee. If it happens, call it; don’t hunt it.
23 – Waist of Pants needs to be tighter so shirt does not
come up and blouse; use rubber belt or suspenders.
24 – Need stronger voice at table; you want them to at
least think the player committed the foul.
25 – Do not show “Good Block” Signal. Remember, you
control your whistle but you do not control partner’s whistle. You never want to show “good block” and
your partner is calling the foul.
26 -
Too long in one spot; as the ball and the players move, you
must seek new and better angles.
Editor’s Suggestion: New officials, why
not copy and paste this list to a Word file, print it out and put it in your
referee bag as a self check before each game.
NFHS Officials Test
Postponed – The required Federation test was rescheduled from last week
to the week of Nov 30 – Dec 4.
Officials,
you must take the test;
if you do not take it or if you fail,
you are ineligible to referee for the rest of this season. We do not want that to happen; we want everyone
eligible to referee after this week. I have asked my clinic leaders to take
the test Monday Nov 30 so they are in a position, not to supply you with
answers, but to help you be prepared for any surprises with the web
site. Officials, here is another of Tommy’s
Tips. Don’t wait til
Friday to take the test,
then something happens.
It would be over for you. Plan
on taking the test Tuesday, Dec 1. If
you have problems,
call your local clinic leader for advice. If your web site goes down, by taking the
test on Tuesday, you still have time
to get up with the State Office. By no
means should you wait until Thursday or Friday to take this test. Here is the web site:
www.exams.nfhs.org
At the site, your user name is your last name
plus the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number with no spaces. If you have not changed your password, it is your Social
Security Number. If you have changed
it, use your
new password. If you do not remember
your password, click
the FORGOT PASSWORD or RESET PASSWORD and the site will email you a new
password immediately to your email address.
You will know your test score the moment you finish the
exam, but you will not be able to
review the questions you missed until after Dec 4.
Our Schools in the
Football Playoffs – Due to all the rain in our area, many of the schools decided to
postpone their Friday night playoff game to Saturday. I will update the Football teams during the
week.
Our Area Schools in
Football Playoffs – Here is a list of the schools in our area that are
still in the Football playoffs. There
is a good chance if you have one of the schools in your game the first week,
home or away; the
game will probably be canceled. Keep
checking the ARBITER. If the game is
postponed, I
will immediately post it on the ARBITER.
Remember, what is on the
ARBITER at the moment you check it is the latest information I have.
Here are the schools: Many did not play Friday night due
to the rains
1A :
Wallace - Won
Jones Senior - Won
Rosewood - Lost
Princeton - Won
North
Duplin - Won
1AA:
SW Onslow - Won
James Kenan - Won
Ayden Grifton - Won
Dixon
- Lost
Pender - Won
Heide Trask
- Won
East Carteret - Lost
Goldsboro - Won
2A:
North Brunswick - Lost
Tarboro - Won
Croatan - Lost
Farmville - Lost
2AA:
East Duplin - Won
Kinston
- Won
South Lenoir – Lost
Richlands - Lost
Northside - Won
3A:
West Craven - Won
Havelock
South Brunswick - Lost
White Oak - Lost
3AA:
West Brunswick - Won
C B Aycock - Won
4A:
New Hanover
- Won
New Bern
- Lost
Rose - Lost
4AA:
Hoggard - Won
Tommy’s Tips – Last
year, I wrote
a tip each week for 20 weeks. Knowing
that every official in the Association still does not read this web page, I
would like to cover them again.
Last Week’s Tip # 10 – No one ever learns anything while
their mouth is in operation.
This Week Tip # 11 - You must
study at home, you can not learn the
rules just by going to clinics. A grade of 82 is not going to get you Varsity
games. A Booking Agent can tell
who is serious about calling and who just wants to get by. The serious people will study at home. When there is a play in a game they are
unsure about, they will go home and look it up. I use to say, the longer it takes you to find the
answer in the Ruler Book, the longer you will remember the correct call to
make. If you use the Rule Book just to
look up the answers strictly to get by the test, you are slighting yourself. You really need to commit the rules to
memory. You will not have the rule
book when the play comes up in a game.
You need to know from study and from memory what to do. You can only do that by getting in the book
and often. Just reading the rules is
not all you need to do. Study that
case book. Knowing the rules will help
your confidence when you have to explain to a coach why you called or
enforced a particular play the way you did.
Man, you
are in no man’s land when the coach asks you to explain a call and you do not
know the rule. He can tell. Study mechanics manuals, read articles by
other established referees. Do your
homework if you want to be the best.
More Mis-Understood
Rules: Continued from Last Week: We had a segment on mis-understood
rules for the last several weeks; this week’s items conclude that
series.
Timeouts
The head coach may request and be granted a timeout if
his/her player is holding or dribbling the ball.
A player saving the ball from going out-of-bounds, while in
possession of the ball and in the air can request
and be granted a timeout.
Free Throws
There are a maximum of two offensive players and four defensive
players in the six marked free throw lane spaces. The defense must be
in both bottom spaces on all free throws. The shooter and all the players in
the designated lane spaces must wait until the ball hits the ring before
entering the free throw lane.
During a free throw, no opponent, including bench personnel, may
disconcert the free thrower.
Kicking The Ball
Kicking the
ball is intentionally striking it with any part of the leg or foot and is a
violation. If the ball
is unintentionally kicked, play shall continue regardless
how far the ball travels and who recovers it.
Uniforms And
Accessories
Players may
not participate while wearing jewelry.
Headbands are
legal but must be a single color. Headbands and wristbands must be the
predominant color of the jersey or white. When wearing headbands and/or
wristbands, all players must wear the same color and wear the items as intended.
Only a single item may be worn on the head and/or on each wrist. Sweatbands
must be worn below the elbow and be a maximum of four inches. A single
headband, if worn, must be no wider than two inches.
Undershirts must
be similar in color to the jersey and shall not have frayed or ragged edges
Scrimmages – The
scrimmages that we know about are listed on the SCRIMMAGES Link at the top of
this page. Scroll down past the Local Clinics Blocks.
To Face Book or
Not, I Need Your Help – This year,
from July to October, I suspect I
received at least 25 to 30 offers from officials wanting me to join their
Face Book, Circle of Friends, or what
ever they call it. I am pretty un-hep to those type of things and
have no clue what they do. So I just
decline. I do know that I am never
going to go on a space where I have to write “
I went to lunch today at 11: 56, ate
one pork chop, collards, butter beans and corn, left at 12:26” or “ I
went to Penny’s today, was
going to buy a shirt but they did not have my size “ I am really not up on this stuff so I do
not know the benefits of joining such a group. I do know that I do not want to be a member of a
few people and leave the rest of our officials out of the loop.
I have a web page where I share most of my thoughts and I
have news of up coming events, etc.
That page is open to everyone and we do not have to be members or have passwords.
Again, I
am not making light of any of these groups;
I admit I am ignorant and do not know what they do or their
benefits. If I did, maybe I would join some or take you up on your invitations.
With what I have just said in mind, I would love to hear from some of
you. I will even copy/ paste what you
say right here on the next web page just like we do when we have an Opinion
Poll. I am sure that I am not the only
one out here that does not know what a My Space or My Circle or Friends or FaceBook
is or does.
Please, if you know, sit down and send us an email:
# 1 Name the program, web site or email (what ever it is
you are talking about)
# 2 Explain a little about what it is and what it does
# 3 Tell me about the benefits of how it can help me or
what we can do with it
# 4 Or even tell me that no, it would not be an improvement to anything
we already do
I seriously want to know and maybe others do too. If you do not want your name attached to
your email explanation,
let me know and I can
leave that off. Write me.
Up Coming Events :
# 1 – National Federation
Basketball Test – Every registered High School Official in North Carolina is required to take and pass the
National Federation Test to be eligible to referee in North Carolina. The test is this week; Nov 30 thru Dec
4. Being on vacation or out of State
is not an excuse anymore. There are no
emergency exams. The test can be taken on a computer in California,
New York, Colorado
or any other place in the United
States.
If you do not take the test and pass, you will have to sit out the
season. The minimum score of 65 is
required to continue to referee.
# 2 – The Games – Yes,
the games are finally here.
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