All new referees must attend four complete 90-minute pre-season on-court training sessions conducted mainly on Saturday or Sunday mornings. A few sessions may be offered on a weekday evening in October. Failure to complete four complete on-court training sessions will disqualify an applicant from officiating games for the upcoming basketball season.
New referees must take two on-line, open-book exams to test their knowledge of hand signals, floor positioning, and rules and earn a passing grade of 75%.
Upon successful completion of the on-court training sessions and online examinations, first year referees will be required to attend one 30-minute training session to learn how to use the online referee system.
First year referees are assigned at least one to two games per weekend in the regular 12-week house league season.
Starting salary is $15 per game.
Referees will be provided verbal and written feedback throughout the season and a formal, written evaluation at the culmination of the regular season.
First year referees are typically assigned 3rd and 4th grade girls and boys basketball games to officiate as the speed and physicality of these games tends to be better suited for new referees.
Ideally, new referees will have flexibility in their weekend schedules to be able to work the game times assigned to these grades. Unfortunately, these game days/times will not be arranged and communicated until late October when player registration closes as game schedules are contingent upon a variety of factors including the number of teams formed in each grade, gym permits assigned to us by the county and other factors.
If you are considering becoming a referee in our program but have limited availability to work on the weekends, it may be difficult to assign games to you, so please consider your other commitments before registering. We do not expect a new referee to have their entire weekend open and available. We do recognize that there will be weekends when conflicts exist and individuals will not be available to work.
Most games for 3rd and 4th grade teams are played on Saturdays 8am – 5pm and Sundays 11am – 5pm. Typically, there are 10-12 games in these age groups each weekend with two first-year referees assigned to officiate in addition to having experienced referees on the court to provide mentoring and feedback.
Referees must read and familiarize themselves with the GF Hoops house league rules (12 page online document) and hand signals handout (one page).
Knowledge of the basic rules of the game is expected; however, clarification will be provided on commonly misunderstood rules during training sessions.
GF Hoops provides the referees with a whistle and handouts at the start of training. Once all training sessions and exam requirements have been met, referees will be provided an official referee jersey.