JUNE 2020 | THE NEWSLETTER FOR BASKETBALL OFFICIALS
EPISODE 92
In this episode, we bring you 22-year NBA veteran Marc Davis. Marc has officiated 132 playoff games including 12 Finals games in his exceptional career. We speak about instruction through tension and identifying your emotions under pressure.

We also learn about Marc’s journey through officiating and the importance of establishing a solid foundation of mentors to guide you along the way. He mentions a couple of items from red flag list and some play-calling guidelines to implement when we return from this basketball blackout.

 This episode is available in video or audio.


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Be sure to check out Marc Davis, Instruction through Tension.
We think you will find a TON of value in this episode.
#servethegame

GAME NOTES
THE SHOW FOR BASKETBALL OFFICIALS
Episode 93
In this edition of Game Notes, special guest Marc Davis gives us some insights while breaking down some plays from an NCAA game between Kansas vs Arizona State. We talked about a couple red flags for illegal screens and how slot side drives are the achilles heel of the 3 person system.

He also touched on being in control of your angles and listed some criteria for block/charge plays in the lane. This episode is also available in video or audio.
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CONTROL
IT ALWAYS STARTS WITH YOU
Control what you can control right❓
We’ve all heard that saying at some point in our careers and sometimes the simplest advice is the best.

So it makes perfect sense that if we’re not in absolute full control of our own mental and emotional state we’re not going to be capable of establishing full command of the game and its participants.

Being a basketball referee is already hard enough as it is and many of us make it more difficult on ourselves by allowing the distractions and disruptions that the game brings to seep into our mind.

The quicker we can clear our head and move on from the mistakes and difficult moments the sharper and more effective we can be.

It's important to have a next play mentality and not let the negative feelings linger into future possessions. ”There is a difference between you having a fear and a fear having you.”
MENTOR SOMEONE OR TWO
GIVE BACK TO THE GAME BY TEACHING OTHERS

Marc Davis journey through officiating has been synonymous with the officials who have impacted him along the way. He's been blessed to surround himself with impactful mentors from the beginning who helped him carve out a strong foundation of knowledge and experience which allowed him to learn the game the right way.

A few months after becoming an official he began working alongside partners Keith McCullum, Lionel Yates, and Terry Murphy who were all established officials in the CBA at the time.Very quickly into his referee development, he got inspired by the fast chargers and hard movers on the cutting edge of officiating.

He credits his success to all of the mentors who told him the right way from the beginning. ”I am just a product of all the officials who helped me along the way.”  
ILLEGAL SCREENS
JUST SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
📌📌4 tips for ILLEGAL SCREENS📌📌

1️⃣ When the screener arrives late and never comes to a complete stop before setting the screen.
2️⃣ After the screener has stopped to set the screen, they leave and release too early and prematurely.
3️⃣ When a player follows his pass to set a screen we should have a high awareness.
4️⃣ Dribble hand-offs, staggered screens and hammer screens should all raise our antennas. 
ANGLES
ARE YOU WORKING THEM TO THE
BEST OF YOUR ABILITY?
📐Being in control of your angles means we are not only in a dependable position on the current matchup but we're being set up solid for the upcoming one as well.
👂Listen as Marc explains more...
REFQUEST
DOING BIG THINGS THE RIGHT WAY
RefQuest Plus recently hosted a series of Virtual Flash Camps with a philanthropic benefactor featuring some of the greatest referee minds in the world. All leaders of the camps donated a portion or all of their fees to COVID-19 relief efforts.

Leaders of the camp included: JD Collins, Penny Davis, Jamie Luckie, John Higgins, Doug Shows, Bert Smith, James Breeding, Mike Eades, Paul Szelc, Tyler Ford, Roger Ayers, Gerry Pollard, Terry Wymer, Gene Steratore and Rick Boyages.

ST Vincent de Paul runs the largest food pantry in the country and serves over 3,000 families a week. Their resources have been stretched due to the pandemic. Gene Steratore donated PPE items directly to the pantry for the volunteers to work in a safe environment. Nick Terry, a RefQuest Plus member, has also arranged weekly pallets of food to be donated directly to SVDP through his job as a Sysco sales director.

RefQuest founder Bo Boroski on his motivation behind this campaign:
"We saw an opportunity to keep officials engaged as well the opportunity to provide financial relief to a food pantry stretched thin by the Covid-19 pandemic."
KYLE BOHINC
ONE OF MANY IMPACTED BY THE MOVEMENT
"I Love listening to the Crown Refs podcast! The quality of the content and depth of details when discussing officiating principles is first class. So I wanted to start by saying thank you for what you do — keep up the amazing work!

I describe myself as a rookie official with 6 years of experience! What I mean by that is this past season I jumped back on the saddle after a 12 year hiatus. I officiated throughout college and enjoyed very modest success. I generally received positive feedback on my officiating abilities and most importantly always had a lot of fun.
There wasn’t anything overly dramatic that took me away from officiating, I simply felt led down a different path in life. With each passing year away from the court, in the back of my mind I found myself saying what if, what if I had stayed with it, what if I chose another path, etc. Years of accumulating what if’s turned into “now it’s too late to get back”, “I’m too old to advance”, or “It’ll never be the same”….

Until I finally realized there are no what if’s in life, only do’s and do not’s. So I summoned up enough courage to DO and enrolled in two camps this past summer. They were both overwhelmingly positive experiences. The first time I blew my whistle I cried (fortunately it was during a pre-camp drill and not during a live game!!). I missed everything about officiating basketball. The hard work. The preparation. The mental and physical toll it takes on your body. The unruly fans. The unforgiving coaches. The highs of a perfect call contrasted with the lows of knowing you got one wrong. The unspoken codes (non-verbal communication) only understood by fellow officials. The camaraderie. The friendships.
Your podcasts help me to keep going. I listen to them regularly during my workouts to improve both the mental and physical aspects of my game. I’d love the opportunity to go to the next level and review some game film together.
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On the court my goal is to be a NCAA Division 1 official, men’s or women’s. While not tying myself into any timeline to get there, my development plan is to start working college within 3 years and reach D1 level in 7 years. It’s ambitious, but that’s my focus.

In the short term, I’m challenging myself to do whatever it takes to get better every day, step by step and enjoy every minute of the process, now matter how long or grueling the grind may be to reach my goal. I have a lot of ground to make up.
Further down the road I would love to get involved in the development aspect of officiating, whether as an evaluator, trainer, assigner, etc.

Big picture, using officiating principles to develop people to be better leaders, spouses, parents, members of their community, etc. is something that’s really inspiring to me and is also an area I would like to explore as I continue my journey.


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