Thank you for listening to the Crown Refs Podcast. We appreciate your continued support. We think you’re going to love this episode because it’s a mash-up of some of the best content of the year. #68 features Joey Crawford, Scott Foster, Al Battista, Stacey Thomas, Reggie Greenwood, Derrick Stafford, Ed T. Rush and Ronnie Nunn. On behalf of Crown Refs we wish you a happy and healthy new year.

Stacey Thomas had a legendary college career at Michigan and was selected 23rd overall in the 2000 WNBA draft. She went on to play 6 seasons in the league and won a championship in 2003 with the Detroit Shock. Since retiring from basketball, she's built a 12-year career as an official. She currently officiates at the division 2 level and her goal is set on reaching D1. To support his podcast click here. https://anchor.fm/crown-refs

NBA scout Al Battista returns to the podcast to give us sequencing and guidelines. He broke down some play types ranging from jump shots, rebounds, push offs, blocked shots, clamps, flops, game management and much more. He also emphasized the fact that more officials need to stand up for themselves and respond to the disrespectful behavior that coaches often demonstrate. We hope you enjoy and hit us up on social with feedback. Have a great season!

Christian Watson, 31, is the Bo Jackson of referees. He currently works at the division one level in football, baseball and basketball. He is the youngest D1 crew chief in America and is the son of a former 2-sport official. We discuss what it took for him to ascend up the ladder, the skills that transfer over to any sport, his future goals and much more. #servethegame

Luís Ferreira, is a 20-year old regional referee from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He’s been officiating since 2018 and reached out to me with a couple of game management questions. We spoke about running the game, when to give a warning vs technical foul, and turning fear into strength. Outro music: “Canaria” by CERTIBEATS.

In this podcast I sit down with a local high school coach to discuss ways to improve his communication with officials. We talked about technical fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct and ways that we can make the relationship better for officials and coaches. We want to bridge the gap between coaches, refs, players and fans to make the game we all love even better.

On episode 62 of the Crown Refs Podcast, Trevor Houle joined me to talk about the need to recruit officials. We dive into recruitment techniques for officials under 30 years old and how to overcome obstacles that prevent people from joining the ranks/officials leaving the profession. Also discussed was retention of current officials and overcoming the statistic that 70% of all sports officials quit after 3 years (NASO 2019). Time stamps. 1:45 The shortage of officials

5:18 Abuse

13:58 an investment in yourself

15:15 The good, the bad & the ugly

20:10 Stay patient

26:50 We need to be humanized

30:50 Find a mentor (crown refs)

33:28 Study groups

35:00 Utilize technology

39:00 Comission vs Omission

40:40 Controlling fan and coach behavior

44:00 Change is coming

46:04 Empathy

Ed T. Rush officiated 33 NBA finals games and then went on to build a premier training platform for basketball officials to accelerate their growth. His former student, Rob Rorke was able to develop through the court club system to rise up and become an NCAA-M Division 1 official. In this podcast, we speak about the mistake recovery strategy, breathing techniques under duress and the mentorship program that court club provides. Time stamps. 1:50 strong foundations

5:31 mental game series

10:02 the value of COURT CLUB

14:00 JD Collins breathing tips

18:14 mistake recovery strategy

22:06 Tyler ford’s development

25:49 court club content

29:25 confidence conditioning statements

35:40 the passion to teach

46:00 your growth before mine

On Sunday, November 10th, 2019 I had the opportunity to present Crown Refs to my local IAABO Board 52. I spoke about my passion to make a lasting, positive impact on the officiating world and why they should listen to the podcast before and after games. If you have any questions throughout the year feel free to contact me. My phone number: 914-206-2397. Thanks -Paul Diasparra

In order to raise awareness surrounding the new flopping rule I decided to write a letter to the floppers. Hopefully, players and referees can enjoy this light-hearted piece together in the spirit of good fun. #dontflop