The Upward Basketball program is back at the in-laws’ church, and I refereed one short- and two full-court games today. I had feared for my legs, because I hadn’t even touched a treadmill since August or September.
Today wasn’t so bad, not only because of the few games, but for two major reasons:
In previous basketball seasons, the full-court press was forbidden, allowing people to get used to dribbling up to the half-court line before setting up a play. While a necessary rule to get beginners used to dribbling and playing in the game, it was harder on the trail referee who had to automatically run to the lead position at the other hoop when the ball changed hands. Now that the full-court press is in, sometimes the ball doesn’t make it back to the other hoop, and the referee runs a little less.
For the last game today we had a luxury: a third official. This meant that the officials didn’t have to actively make sure they were diagonal from each other, and two officials watched for fouls on the breakaways. The lead and trail referees stay on one long side, and the third referee is halfway between them on the other side. Nice work, if you can get it. 
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