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| Referees taking part in the women's camp at WWU. |
This time each year (that is, the dogs days of June and July), Gorski can be found roaming the Pacific Northwest coordinating, overseeing or simply observing the numerous officiating camps in the region.
It's a heavy dose of training, educating, coaching, mentoring, and, of course, prospecting for Gorski, the individual responsible for assembling and managing a combined roster of more than 120 who referee GNAC men's and women's hoops each season.
These summer camps and clinics are a key (and mostly unseen) aspect of Gorski's job and his never-ending quest to provide the best officiating possible for the nearly 300 GNAC games he assigns each year.
In recent weeks, Gorski has administered a major men's camp (at Central Washington University) and a major women's camp (at Western Washington University).
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| Officials at the men's camp during a classroom session. |
In both instances, the camps attracted sizable contingents of current and prospective college referees who use these three- and four-day sessions for continuing education, training, and development purposes. The men's camp at CWU featured 84 officials and 12 staff members; the women's camp at WWU included 51 officials and 10 staff members.
In addition to extensive on-court training for the referees, classroom sessions included the following topics:
- Calling the obvious
- Atypical plays
- Effective coach communication
- Being an excellent crew chief
- Consistency in making calls
- The science and art of officiating
- Developing professional mechanics and signals
- Improving communication skills
- "Crashes and no calls"
- Professional pre-game and post-game crew meetings
- Using Synergy (online video tool) and downloading clips
"Many, many hours of meetings and preparation went into the making of these camps," said Gorski from Oregon, where he was observing a camp in Oregon City, just south of Portland. "Without the leadership of [current officials] Paul Patterson and Steve Somers, much of what is accomplished at these camps could not have occurred."
Gorski pointed out that classroom sessions are heavy on video from past GNAC games.
"Having our officials see themselves -- and other top GNAC officials -- as they made their calls was priceless," Gorski said. "To see some of our top officials, like Tyler Trimble or Doug Sturdivan, show a video clip of themselves making a mistake takes the heat off of a younger official who might make a similar mistake. The campers get to see top officials who are not afraid to show clips of themselves missing a call -- and learning from them.
"Our goal," continued Gorski, "was not to embarrass or belittle any official, but to open the door to sharing our mistakes and learning from them. The 'science' of officiating involves video clipping and sharing. The 'art' of officiating involves the verbal portion in dealing with players and coaches. Basketball officiating cannot exist without the marriage of the 'science' and 'art' of calling a game."
While much of Gorski's summer is spent on the road prepping his roster of officials for the coming season, the former longtime collegiate official wouldn't have it any other way.
"I have been involved in officiating since the 1970s and I can easily say that the training, the evaluations, the game clips and the presentations given to these officials are second to none," Gorski said. "And I couldn't be any prouder of both my staffs and the effort they put forth to make these two camps a true learning experience."
