Missed Calls by the Basketball Referee

Basketball referees do their best to get every their calls correct. In most cases, they do…but not always! Missed calls are part of the game; just like bad plays by the athletes or wrong decisions by the coaches. The sooner a referee learns to accept this fact, the easier it will be to move on from it and improve.





Watch our professional sport referees and umpires on television and you will see that even on the big stage, they miss many calls; some at key points in a game. And these are the best of the best, making the real money.





There are often good reasons that calls are missed. Sometimes the official may not have the best angle to see a play. Other times, something distracts their attention and they may miss a call right in front of them. Sometimes the referee’s view is blocked by a player and he or she cannot see the complete play. Whatever the reason, good calls and bad calls are part of every game. We may as well get used to it.





Sometimes a missed call can be fixed. There are times when a basketball referee can get help from another official in an attempt to get it right. If that official has a better view, there should be no hesitation getting their input. It may seem awkward, but getting the call right is a lot better than getting it wrong and insisting you are right.





Most of the time, however, bad calls cannot be reversed. The basketball referee has to get the ball back into play, take the heat and move on. As a referee friend once told me, "some of our bad calls, we just have to eat."





In the long run, the basketball referee that prepares, hustles and make a genuine effort to get the calls right, will be successful. But when a call is missed, they need to accept it, move on and vow to get the next one right. After all, missed calls are just another part of the game.





Visit becomeareferee.com to learn more about how to become a basketball referee.