ZZZ“As soon as you lose focus, that’s when something happens that calls for such concentration.” That’s a common admonition, challenging you to maintain your concentration constantly during a contest. You’re cautioned that, if you allow your attention to wander for an instant, something will happen in the game to exploit your lapse. ZZZThe truth is, those types of “happenings” occur throughout most ballgames. The reason it seems that they happen only at bad times is because the other occurrences aren’t noticed due to your readiness to deal with them. There is no magical force that is “out to get you” as an official (even though it may seem that way sometimes!). Maintaining your concentration is important because, when you lose that focus, common game circumstances lead to uncommon mistakes. ZZZAdditionally, a lapse in concentration can cause you to be in poor position for a call. It can cause you to interpret a rule improperly. It can make you more irritable than you normally would be when dealing with tension during a contest. Concentration is foundational in that way because if it is lacking, other aspects of your assignment will likewise suffer. ZZZThe ability to put all other matters aside and focus entirely on your job is often what separates the elite officials from the rest, says Jim Burr, NCAA basketball official. “The better referees’ concentration ability is at a different level,” he says. They are never in the wrong place, never surprised at a bad time and never unprepared to deal with any situation that may arise. They are at ease with the flow of the game, even in the tensest circumstances. ZZZArt Hyland, supervisor of men’s basketball officials for the Big East Conference, cites a feel for the game as the quality that separates exceptional officials. He says that every game is different, and a proper feel for the game is what enables the good official to apply the rulebook, as necessary, for that particular game. He also notes that kind of focus is difficult to establish after the beginning of a game. It must exist before the game begins, then be maintained throughout the contest. He cites an interesting phenomenon among coaches and spectators: Many times, when a call is missed during a game, the coach or athletic director will assume that the official wasn’t focused. As a supervisor of officials, Hyland recalls many contacts about a missed call, when the coach cited a lack of concentration on the part of the official. It seemed to be a natural conclusion, he says, and often an incorrect one. Most of the time, the official simply missed the call – nothing more. The key to remember is that people will often assume you are not concentrating during a ballgame.