Филозофија на кошаркарското судење

Принципи на кошаркарското судење

Золт Хартјани
Член на техничката комисија на ФИБА Европа

Some principles that I think are very important in officiating:

1. Game control

Controlling the game is the most important job. How a referee controls a game, depends on the referees personal and mental qualities, on his appearance, communication, how he handles conflicts and how his behaviour is, in tough situations.

Appearance:
The first impression you make is your appearance. Think about your dress, hair, etc.

Communication:
Always be polite to all participants. Sometimes a smile is better than a strong voice.

At the start of the game do not talk with the coaches. Nobody knows what you are talking about and it can look very bad.

You do not have to always explain always your decision, it is not always necessary. Only give an explanation when asked.

Avoid touching the players.

Handling conflicts:
There are no rules on how to do it, but a good referee has his own style always knows how to handle different type of conflict. Avoid intiating conflict yourself.

Courage in tough situations

A good referee does not hesitate to make a good but tough call in difficult situations, maybe even in the last seconds when thousands of spectators will beagainst it.

2. Quality of calls and selling the calls

There is always the discussion - which is more important? The good call? Or the selling the call?
I think quality of call is the most important. However, to sell a bad call is also a quality of a good referee.

3. Balance - treating both teams equally

There is no officiating without mistakes. The two teams know and accept it. The only thing they cannot accept if the mistakes are only or mostly against one team. A good referee always thinks about the balance.

If you make a mistake against a team never make another mistake against the other team just to correct your mistake. Correction must be always with good calls.

In certain cases if you make a mistake you can change your decision immediately and correct it. For example: in case of out-of-bounds you show the wrong direction - you may change it. It shows that you are human being and your acceptance by the participants will increase.

4. Consistency

Consistency is one of the most important qualities of a good referee. Officials should find an acceptable limit of contact wich they do not penalise. This level of contact must be kept throughout the whole game, so that the players can always anticipate what calls will be made for their actions.

5. Team work

Each referee has his own area of responsibility.Generally it is good to avoid to making a call your partners area of responsibility, which may be far away from you.

However, neither the teams nor the spectators are interested in which referee is responsible for the good call. If something obvious and important happens that everyone watching the game can see, it must be called.

If the official not primarily responsible for the action knows (not guesses!) what has occurred, he may, or even should, call it!

6. Judging playing situations – General principles

Do not guess – Call what you see

Try to have the best position and angle to see the whole action. If you are out of position do not guess.

Do not penalize the innocent

We analysed videos and looked at what decisions happen in general: wrong calls or missed calls. The result was interesting.

There were 2-3 times more wrong or unnecessary calls (when the referee should have remained silent) than missed calls. This means that we more often penalise the innocent players, not the guilty ones.

7. Judging playing situations – Practical advice

Travelling:

Call the obvious.

Goaltending and basket interference:

If the player who deflects the ball is closer to the basket than to the shooter it is more likely to be goaltending.

Charge & Block

The most difficult to judge. The referee who is good at calling charge-block has a good step towards being a good referee.
In such cases the wrong call is BIG mistake. The innocent is penalised and the guilty player is not.

Watch hundreds of such situations on video in slow motion and try to decide. The more situations you see, the better you call it.