Coach Chris Woodside
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Stop Blaming the Refs

3/7/2020

22 Comments

 
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“Are you blind?” “You’re missing a good game out there, ref.” “Come on, that was a foul!” “Are you kidding me?” “3 seconds!!!!” “That’s a travel”

These are just a few of the things you’ll hear if you come to any high school basketball game. For the men and women that commit their time to officiate these sports for a measly $65 a game or less this is their norm. No matter the outcome of the game 50% or more of the crowd leaves upset and angry at them. Blaming the refs for their team’s inability to secure victory. It's no wonder leagues are struggling to find people to do the job.

One thing I’ve always found fascinating though is no one thanks the refs when they win. If we are going to say they are the deciding factor in a game, then they deserve as much praise when you win. You can’t just blame them for the bad and not give them credit for the good.

Reading that statement probably made you feel a certain way. You might be saying, “Coach that’s stupid, of course the refs weren’t the reason we won.” And I would agree, they absolutely aren’t, just like they aren’t the reason you lost.  It’s time we stop wasting energy on berating officials and put that energy into supporting the athletes. Officials will absolutely miss calls or make a bad call, just like players miss shots and turn the ball over or coaches substitute the wrong person, call the wrong play, and wait too long to call time out. That’s part of being human.  But the team that focuses on the controllable is usually the one that sees the best results in the long run.

In our program we constantly remind our athletes of the fact we are in sole control of our destiny. We determine what outcomes we get, no one else. This is an important life mindset. When you take ownership of your success and failures you have control over your life.

I believe this mindset paid off for our team and will continue to pay dividends for the players long into the future.

So how do you adopt this approach? Try these simple things.

Players:
  1. Thank the officials when you receive the ball.
  2. Hand the official the ball after every foul call or dead ball.
  3. When you foul, just raise your hand acknowledging it was you (even if you don’t think you fouled, you know they called it on you and arguing never got you anywhere)
  4. When the crowd begins to lose control, BE THE LIGHTHOUSE. Get together as a group and remind each other, you control your destiny no one else.
  5. When someone starts to bring up the officials with you, either before or after the game, politely say, “I only focus my energy on what I can control. We win and lose as a team, no one else determines our fate.”
Coaches
  1. Agree with the officials when they are right. (Your players are looking to you when they have doubts if they see you agree they will refocus sooner)
  2. Make the game about YOUR TEAM not the officials. If the officials are calling a tight or loose game, it’s your job to remind the players to adjust.
  3. Speak to refs, don’t yell at them. Take advantage of dead ball opportunities to get clarification you seek.
  4. Don’t berate the officials. Players will follow in your footsteps.
  5. Remind your players that the outcome will be determined by you and the team no one else.
Parents
  1. Stop yelling at officials. I know you may feel like this is your only control during the game, but you aren’t helping anyone.
  2. Don’t talk about officials with your athlete before or after game.
  3. If your player begins to play the blame game, refocus their energy onto the things they control.
  4. Focus your energy on supporting athletes on the floor.
22 Comments
Johnny Watkins
3/8/2020 06:52:33 am

From experience, I did much better job coaching when I learned not to focus on the Refs.

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Real Refs
3/8/2020 07:07:56 am

Work Hard on Keeping The Main Thing ,The Main Thing.The players in the game.

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Terry Stevens
3/8/2020 12:53:13 pm

The sooner the parents and coaches move on, the sooner the players start focusing on the NEXT play rather than the previous play.

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David Klem link
3/8/2020 03:33:50 pm

When I was coaching . I made my players understand finger pointing would never ever be tolerated. Taking blame or responsibility would absolutely be part of my program. I also made them understand their mistakes were my mistakes and we'd figure it out together

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Jim
3/9/2020 05:29:18 am

Well put coach..

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lee
3/8/2020 08:20:11 pm

Every coach should be a referee early on in their career, and every referee should coach early on in their career. I've done both, and believe me, it is extremely valuable to see both sides of the game. You learn to listen and be more empathetic to each other.

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Chris
3/9/2020 10:04:24 am

This would truly open the eyes of both coaches and referees!

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David Markzon
3/8/2020 09:15:42 pm

I always told my players that I've coached over a thousand games and I've never had an umpire cost me a game because there's always something that we can do during the course of the game to take a percieved bad call out of the umpire's hands so it doesn't affect the outcome.

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Dan Weikle
3/9/2020 06:00:08 am

The most successful baseball coach in our top HS league has said, “If we put ourselves in a position where the umpires cost us a game we haven’t done our jobs as coaches.”

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Steve Thorpe
3/9/2020 07:59:47 am

Great stuff, coach! I will add that if you are an official yourself, in ANY sport, lead by example when you are a spectator, even on social media.

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Paul Fishman
3/9/2020 11:45:38 am

Great take and agree on all points! As a counterpoint, refs are also the only people on the court getting paid, even if only $40 to $65 There seems to be a big trend of refs not being engaged in these games they are refereeing especially in the AAU circuit where sometimes they ref more than 4 + games a day.

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Andrew Beyer
3/9/2020 11:58:32 am

I never saw a referee get better after being yelled at. I have seen teams perform better when they don't let referee's decisions affect them. It's a no-brainer.

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Steve
3/9/2020 01:09:24 pm

Extremely well done, Coach. One of the best pieces on this topic out there. In addition to concisely describing the issue, it offers concrete, actionable suggestions to everyone.

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Keith
3/9/2020 05:16:15 pm

Two points from a ref.
1. It is crazy how the farther a team gets behind the louder the loose fans yell about the calls made in the game. If it’s a tight game, no one seems to yell about the calls. Them get ready for the next play.

2. And maybe the most important to remover is that refs have bad games too. Some game we are simple off our game. I have had they. It’s not that I didn’t care about the game or the teams playing it was simple I had a bad game calling.

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Teddy Saunders
3/10/2020 10:38:59 am

As a ref and a coach (I’ve did both)....when I was busy coaching, ...teaching,....I had no time thinking about the referees! I preached to my kids that the refs never decide a game. They would have to have made every free throw and made every shot they took for that to happen. And that never occurs! So if that’s what I preached,....then I cannot yell at the referees. A coach is the example. Lead....by example!
I believe more coaches would be that way......if they had ever been a referee!!

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Terry Neal
3/10/2020 02:13:27 pm

I have been a registered official in 4 sports football, basketball, baseball, and softball since 1980. The lack of respect by the players and coaches towards officials is through the roof. When I started 40 years ago, being disrespectfull was a rareity. I can count on one hand how many times a fan ,player or coach was out of control, in my first 20 years. In the the last 20 years it's become common place, for fans, players and coaches to act disrespectfull. It's a sad situation this day and age.

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Don Prusz
3/10/2020 05:09:45 pm

I coached as a new teacher for 10 years. I have reffed for the past 10 years and still teach. My teaching career spans 39 years. The same lack of respect we see in athletics is akin to the lack of respect and lack of taking ownership of short-comings I see in the classroom. I think it is a reflection of our society in general. I'm not condoning nor pardoning this behavior. But unfortunately I feel it is who we have become.

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Mark A Stewart
3/10/2020 06:53:42 pm

I wish every single person involved in competitive sports would read this article and apply its lessons to their pursuit no matter what role you play - player, coach, parent, fan.

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FRNACISCO ALBESA, JR.
3/11/2020 06:19:02 am

winning or losing a game is in the hands of the players and coaches, it is not in the good or bad calls of the referees.

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Stephen Kirkland
3/11/2020 07:59:53 pm

I have been that fan in the stand, that coach on the bench, that player on the court, and now I'm a ref going on three yrs now. believe me I have alot of respect for them, because really didn't know the rules at a refs standpoint, and of course a fan a coach a player we know everything. it's not a easy job at all, we as a ref we have alot to focus on. our number one goal is safety for all, and for ourselves.

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John DELUCCI
3/11/2020 08:23:24 pm

This post is exactly 1000% correct and thank you for posting it I’ve been a sports official referee baseball basketball football for 35 years we have heard it all.

Basketball for instance on a team loses by five maybe six points just go back into the book and see how many foul shots were messed there you go

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Stephen link
3/12/2020 04:05:43 am

During my life as a player, parent, coach and referee, I have noticed that there are 2 great truths about sports,
1. The players want to have fun.
2. The fans want to have fun.

If there are select individuals who are not having fun, this bleeds onto the other players or fans. There is something that an official can do to help them, turn their attention away from the immediate issue and award the sanctions. We are all human first. Be the best human you can be.

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    Coach Woodside

    State championship winning basketball coach, Chris Woodside, shares his journey of going from varsity boys coach, to becoming a men's college coach, to currently coaching girls varsity basketball as well as life lessons learned on + off the court.

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