Officiating's Cool

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! After playoffs we have Tournament Season! And one of the bigger Tournaments in Germany (The OrgadataCup in Leer) has some place for referees that are willing to join. We always promote tournaments cause it’s a great way to get in touch with new referee-maniacs like yourself, and exchange shirts by example. Or apples. The tournament takes place of June 2^nd to June 4^th. Lees verder “Tournament Time!”

Big games and big finishes are what make the sport so gorgeous right? Imagine a 3th place game in one of the biggest tournaments Europe has. Tight game and then something like the closing seconds in the clip down below come up. As they say: It ain’t over till it’s over.  We’re curious what you would have decided. Stay with on court decision? Or would you have called something? Lees verder “It ain’t over ….”

We probably all have heard about protecting the shooter in previous seasons. We as referees need to make sure that shooters can land safely without a big risk of injury. Some shooters try to take advantage of that point of emphasis. They try to make us call stuff that is really their own responsabilty. In the clip down below we see a nice situation. What do you do here? Call a foul on the defender of the shooter or not?
Lees verder “Call or no call?”

We all know that not every contact should trigger a whistle right? But it sometimes is diffiult to decide where you want to go with no calls. Off course, some no calls are decided by the rules. Take for instance the no charge semi circle. Other situations are more difficult. That’s why we always bring in ‘no calls’ in our pregames, and we urge you to do the same.
That being said we have a nice clip for you guys. Do you think you should swallow your whistle on this play? (making it a no call?) or do you think we should call it?? As always: If you can’t explain it, don’t bother calling it. We are very much looking for an explanation behind your choise. Lees verder “No call? Or call?”

We have been saying for years now that it’s important to cover your violations. Covering those infractions of the rules will give you and your partner(s) control of the game. We’ve pointed out examples like traveling or illegal dribbles, but there’s more. French referee ace Nicolas Maestre has made a great series called Lun10 Clips (Lun-dix, like lundi, french for Monday) where he covers several interesting topics. Even if you don’t understand french it’s interesting. You’ll see clips and you get the option to say it’s legal or illegal. The clip will be replayed and then you’ll see the clip again with a red traffic light (it’s illegal) or a green traffic light (it’s legal). Explanation is offered in french, but we’re sure that you all have a copy of the offical basketball rules on your device. This time: 5 seconds violations Lees verder “Cliptime! 5 second violations”

For the second semi final in ELW Final Four we see our community member Carsten Straube from Germany nominated. Straube is one of the leading referees in European basketball with several Worldcups already on his palmares. He will be joining Michal Proc from Poland and crewchief Andris Aunkrogers from Latvia.

The game tips off at 18.00 Prague time, and will be visible through the link down here. Lees verder “Straube in semi-final ELW”