To the reader: I want to thank Chuck Eakes for his contributions to this blog and the tremendous impact he makes day to day in the lives of countless basketball officials. Besides his reputation and many honors in his career, Chuck spends more hours than can be counted mentoring and giving back to the avocation/profession that he has dedicated much of his life and time to. As the 2010-2011 season swiftly approaches, I hope that you get something from this interview that will help you improve your game this year. And, as always strive with me in the games you are working to "Get The Call Right!"
Blogger: Good afternoon Chuck, and thank you for taking your time and contributing the initial interview on "Get the Call Right!" This summer I attended some officiating camps with classroom instruction and floor side critiques. In several instances, the clinician was encouraging participants to "get the call right," as well as improve mechanics, positioning and so on. Listening to official's process the instructions, it occurred to me that this blog might help some people with a broader discourse from an experienced clinician. In your mind, where does getting the call right begin?
Chuck Eakes:
"Knowing and understanding the rules. You might, for example, be in perfect position on a block/charge play, but if you don't know the rules pertaining to the block/charge call, then you stand a very good chance of not getting the call right. Hustling, moving as necessary, and maintain focus to be in the best possible position to officiate whatever you are supposed to be officiating at the moment. Having a patient whistle so that you see the whole play before making a decision."
Blogger: What are some of the fundamentals both on and off the floor that give officials an opportunity to raise the quality of their calls?
Chuck Eakes:
"Be in good physical condition so that you can work your game with energy and focus. Study the rules before the season and review them during the season. Know and respect the guidelines pertaining to primary and secondary areas of floor coverage, and trust your partners. Be honest in self-evaluation and willing to accept constructive criticism, and take advantage of the opportunity to have your performances reviewed on game films. Within reason, work as many games as your availability allows, particularly during the early years of your career. For most officials, seeing plays over and over again improves play calling."
Blogger: Smooth, crisp, correct mechanics are absolutely fundamental in excellent officiating. When officials hear the word mechanics many immediately think of table reporting mechanics, as seen in the back of the rules manual. But, there are essential mechanics or "behaviors" that good officials should be doing before he/she reports to the table. Talk about what good officials are doing before they are making calls that enhances the quality of the job they are doing.
Chuck Eakes:
"The really good officials have excellent "reporting mechanics," but they are also excellent practitioners of what I call "floor coverage mechanics." The greatest reporting mechanics will get you only so far if your play calling is marginal. Knowing where you are supposed to be (and getting there) to cover plays both on and off the ball; and knowing what your primary and secondary responsibilities are at every moment in terms of court coverage are mechanics and behaviors that can greatly enhance the quality of officiating.
Seeing our partners during live ball action and effectively communicating with your partners are extemely important ingredients to quality officiating. Both are important aides in minimizing the chances of being caught by surprise, and maximizing the opportunities to know where you should be and the areas and/or competitive match up you should be observing."
Blogger: Chuck, you have often taught or said in your floor side critiques, "See the whole play, and not just the foul." Go further with that, and what are you really trying to say with that statement?
Chuck Eakes:
"What I'm really saying is: see or process the whole play before making a decision. Seeing the whole play will have a positive influence on the game because it will increase the quality of our play-calling. It's a given that not all contact is a foul; and by definition, a personal foul is "....illegal contact....which hinders an opponent from performing defensive and offensive movements." Given the definition of a personal foul, in order to correctly rule that a personal foul has occurred, we must (a) see that contact has occurred, (b) know that the contact was illegal and who was responsible for the contact, and (c) determine that the contact otherwise met the definition of what constitutes a personal foul. We have to discipline ourselves to process the entire play in order to apply the criteria. If we do, the quality of our play-calling will necessarilly improve, we will gain credibility with coaches, players, fellow officials, and we will maximize the opportunity for the players to play and establish a good flow to the game.
A further and equally important point: we sometimes see only the end result of a play rather than the whole play. Usually when that happens, either we have a no-call when there absolutely should have been a call, or we call the foul on the wrong player (e.g., the defender rather than the offensive player.) Seeing the play from beginning to end will make it less likely that we will be caught by surprise and will allow us to get the call right more often."
Blogger: Excellent words about seeing the whole play. I also can recall you giving advice over the years about "no-calls." Sounds somewhat counter intuitive, but what impact can good "no-calls" have on raising the quality of officiating?
Chuck Eakes:
"It might be helpful to explain what I mean when I use the term, "quality no-call." A quality no-call occurs when an official who is in good position, observes that there is not contact on a play and therefore does not call a foul, even though it might appear to most others that there "must have been" a foul on the play. Quality no-calls are one component of quality play-calling. What we want is to consistently call fouls and violations that are fouls and violations, and consistently not blow our whistle when there has not been a foul or violation.
Quality "no-calls" have a positive impact at any time of any game at any level. The quality of play calling has just as much to do with not blowing a whistle when there has been no foul or violation as it does with blowing your whistle when there is a foul or violation; and the better an official is at play calling the more credibility and respect that official will ahve among coaches, players and fellow officials.
Another way in which quality no-calls positively impact a game: quality no-calls provide the opportunity for a game to develop flow. Calling a foul or violation when there was none simply interrupts a game unnecessarily (of course, not calling fouls that need to be called will have a negative impact on the overall experience of a game.)
Finally, let's keep in mind that the 5th foul called in the last minute of a tight ball game, while more obviously impactful, might not have any more of an impact or even as much of one as the 2nd foul called on the same player in the first quarter of the game. To frame this to the question at hand, a quality no-call on a key player early in the game might have just as positive an impact on the game as a quality no-call involving that same player late in the game."
Blogger: Chuck, the concept and behavior associated with "off-ball" coverage/calls is talked about many times in good clinics, camps, pre-games, and floor side critiques. Yet, it seems to me that this skill appears to be one officials often struggle with, or develop later in our experience. What are some concrete steps good officials take to improve the quality of their off-ball coverage/calls?
Chuck Eakes:
"Most of us come up through the system working allot of games in 2-person crews. It is said that working 2-person crews encourages a number of bad habits, not the least of which is 'ball-watching.' My advice: really learn the philosophy and mentality of the 3-person crew concept as quickly as possible, then, when you are working a game in a 2-person crew, work the game as if you were in a 3-person crew as much as you possibly can, particularly from the standpoint of working hard off the ball and not following the ball all over the court.
Learn to trust your partner to officiate on-ball when the ball is not in your primary.
Understand that officiating off-ball does not necessarily mean calling fouls. Rather, it means we are observing action and competitive macthups off the ball. Players will notice when officials are working off the ball, and when they notice we are looking off the ball they are more likely not to foul off-ball (isn't that what we all want....fewer fouls to call?) If we appreciate the fact that good off-ball coverage leads to cleaner games and gives the official the reputation for being good at "managing" his/her games, it should provide more incentive to do a better job of off-ball coverage.
Perhaps the most concrete step for improving in this area: have fellow officials who you can trust and are really good at evaluating, observe some of your games (either from the stands or better yet, on film) and; observe yourself on film to determine how consistent you are with off-ball coverage."
Blogger: Chuck that is excellent advice. I would like to switch gears now as we wind down this interview. By now I can imagine there are some readers that would like us to tackle a play calling question. Recently, the block/charge call was a point of emphasis from the NFHS at the high school level, and it is an important call in college games as well. We have all been there, late in a competitive game-a drive to the basket-then the crash. What practical suggestions could you give our readers that would help them get the call right, and raise their confidance doing so?
Chuck Eakes:
"The block/charge call certainly seems to be one of the 'sexy' ones-a call everyone wants to talk about. To get the call consistently correct:
You absolutely must know the pertinent rules. You must know that the defender is required to establish an initial legal guarding position, and you must know what that is. You must know what the defender can and cannot do after the initial legal guarding position has been established. You must know the rules pertaining to verticality.
You must have the proper position/angle to have an accurate picture of the play.
You must see the whole play. If the play does not start in your primary, but it comes to you and the contact is between the offensive player and a secondary defender who is in your primary area of coverage, you must anticipate the play involving the secondary defender and be prepared to accept responsibility for the call.
The official who has mastered all three of the above should have no problem appearing confident when making the block/charge call. Reminder: even the very best official sometimes will blow his/her whistle on a block/charge play realizing that his/her positioning on the play was not as good as they would have liked or that they only saw the end of the play. If that happens (assuming it was the only whistle on the play) and all that the calling official really knows for sure is that the contact was in the torso of the defender and the offensive player had not left the floor prior to the contact (in other words the play does not involve an airborne offensive player), make the call against the offensive player and have confidence that the call will prove to be correct at least 95% of the time and it will appear at the time to be correct 99% of the time.
While not exactly on the subject, I'll offer one other suggestion: be careful how you explain a block/charge call to a coach or a player. Don't say that you called a blocking foul because 'the defender was moving.' By rule, the fact that a defender is moving can never be the sole determining factor on a block/charge foul. By the same token, explaining that you called a player control foul because the player 'lowered his shoulder' will not be particularly helpful to a knowlegdeable coach or player or fellow official. There is no rule in basketball that prohibits a player from lowering his/her shoulder; so lowering a shoulder cannot in and of itself, compel the calling of a foul against the offensive player. If you able to explain concisely and accurately exactly why it was a blocking foul or a foul by the offensive player, you should have no problem having confidence in your call."
Blogger: Chuck, I want to thank you for giving your time and energy to this project. As you well know, recently the NorthWest Basketball Officials Association and the Triad Basketball Officials Association lost one of its "rules gurus", and in part this blog is dedicated to the memory and impact that Lonnie Oakley had in the associations with his fellow officials. Lonnie was not only a fellow official to you, but a very close friend. His knowledge and the impact he made with it will be sorely missed. As someone who really knew him best, what words would you think he would want us to remember as we move into the 2010-2011 season, particularly as it pertains to getting the call right?
Chuck Eakes:
"I can hear Lonnie now. He would be saying: 'Know the rule; if you don't know the rule, don't try to enforce it; see the whole play, not just the end result of a play; most importantly-remember calls and situations during the game and be prepared to discuss them frankly and honestly after the game. Take full advantage of post-game opportunities to discuss your plays/game situations and those of others and do not be afraid of or offended by constructive criticism and evaluation."
