New Officials: Game Day Procedures

Welcome to the world of basketball officiating.  By now, you have been sent an invitation to setup your Arbiter account and visited the How to Use Arbiter page to learn how to setup your profile, set your blocks, and accept/decline games.

You have been assigned and accepted games for Saturday with the first game slated to start at 8:00AM.  It's now Saturday, what are you supposed to do?

Here, you will find some administrative guidelines for game day to help you have a successful day.

Please click on one of the tabs below:

Game Day Administration

On game day, please observe the following guidelines:

• Arrive at the game site no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of the game
• On arriving to the site, locate your partner and your two teams
• Once the previous game is over, get the scorebook and get both teams to fill out the scorebook
• Run a Captain's Meeting (See the Captain's Meeting tab)
• Get a game ball (it'll either be supplied by the league or get one from the home team)
• Get the players checked in and aim to start the game as close to game time as possible

Inclement Weather

If there is inclement weather, please check your e-mails and/or Arbiter as the status of games may change.  If  you do not receive an e-mail regarding the status of the games and the status of the games remain unchanged in Arbiter, then the games are on as scheduled.  Depending on weather conditions, games may be cancelled or delayed.

Game Reports

If there are any unusual situations during the game (late partner, no partner, ejection, major injury, technical foul, etc), please e-mail/call your Commissioner so the Commissioner is aware of the situation. If a behavior technical foul is assessed for sportsmanship, then a report is required.  

You will get asked by the parent volunteers: "How do I do the scorebook?" or "How do I do the clock?" When these situations happen, we have to have an answer. Below are a couple videos from the Central Loudoun Basketball League about how to keep the book and work the clock. These videos don't take long to watch and it'll be beneficial to have an idea of what is required of our table volunteers.

Scorebook:

Simply put, this is what we need from the volunteer keeping the book:

• Running score across the top whenever a team scores
• Keeping track of personal fouls
• Keeping track of team fouls for each half
• Keeping track of timeouts
• Keeping track of players checking-in
• (Optional) Keeping track of player points so if a there is a discrepancy in the running score, it can be verified by the player points

Clock:

The most important job of the clock operator is to keep the time:

• The switch (or on/off button) starts/stops the clock.  Whenever the whistle blows, we stop the clock.  The clock starts when the ball is inbounded and touched by a player inbounds.
• To set the time: 
• Click on Clock Set
• Enter the time in minute format: 0600 for 6 minutes
• Click Enter
• Keeping track of the team score.  To set the score:
• Click on Home Team or Away Team
• Select +1, +2, or +3 for points scored
• If a mistake is made, click on Home Team or Away Team and then select -1
• To manually set the score:
• Click on Home Team or Away Team
• Enter the score on the keypad
• Click Enter

Per the NFHS Basketball Officials Manual (2015-17) Section 1.8:

Referee conducts pregame briefing to include discussing legal equipment and good sporting behavior with coaches and captain(s).  Also discuss: team color, proper basket, other appropriate items and answer any questions.

One of the things officials need to do prior to starting the game is the captain's meeting. This is a meeting between the officials and the captains (and sometimes coaches) of each team to go over expectations and noted points of emphasis for the game. For officials, this is the first official interaction in the game where we establish our credibility and authority.

There's no reason for the captain's meeting to be long; the players don't have that long of an attention span.  The captain's meeting ideally should be a couple minutes and go over the main point so emphasis for the game.  A guideline for the points to go over:

• Introductions
• Sportsmanship is an expectation from all participants of the game including coaches
• Jewelry is not permissible unless it is for religious reasons or is a medical alert bracelet/necklace (which must be taped down)
• Go over individual league house rules
• Ask if there are any additional items the coaches (if they are there) would like to go over
• Wish the participants luck

An example captain's meeting:

"Hey guys, introduce yourselves.  I'm [ ] and this is my partner [ ], we're excited to be here today.  For this game, we expect sportsmanship from all participants.  Please remember that jewelry is not allowed.  Here's a couple rules to remember: no double-teaming and the defense has to wait behind the top of the key until the ball crosses the division line.  Is there anything else you would like to go over?  Good luck!"