Gaining An Edge

I started the WVSAAC basketball officiating class at the beginning of this month. It's been four weeks and I'm realizing how much of advantage I'll be at when I'm able to implement the knowledge and experience I learn from reffing into coaching and teaching my players. Obviously, coaching is being able to teach and develop skill. That includes teaching both tactical and technical skills.

Becoming an official means being able to dissect the game and the rules for complete understanding and enforcement. Because I'll be gaining knowledge from a different perspective, I think I'll be able to more effectively teach my players the right way to play the game, as well as a better understanding of the rules.

Technical skills are important because I'll be able to teach my kids the right way to dribble without palming the ball, which is a call that the NCAA and other basketball organizations are trying to enforce more consistently. Guarding and defensive position are both things I'll feel more confident in teaching, because I'll know what is legal and what will be called.

A lot of calls are based on the use of tactical skill. Tactical skill is defined as the decisions and actions of players in the contest to gain an advantage on the opposing team or players. Most palming, displacement contact, and illegal screens are used to gain an advantage over an opponent, but isn't legal. Being able to teach the LEGAL ways of going about this will be critical.

Overall, I feel like I'm setting myself apart from other coaches with reffing. Not only is it a great way to network with coaches and organizations (if I earn the respect of them), I'll also learn intricate details and the correct interpretations of the rules, which I'll then be able to use in coaching my players. By the time I'm getting into my first coaching jobs, I will have seen the game of basketball from four different perspectives: the fan, the player, the coach, and the official.

My Passion

I like telling people what to do. I like it even more when I tell people what to do, they listen, and achieve something or are successful. For the first year after I decided I wanted to be a coach, the only explanation why was because of my boys. Those three teams are some of the only memories I carry with me from Kansas. It’s been two years since I’ve coached them, but there isn’t a day that passes that doesn’t have them in it.

My experiences with them made my life. The start of my sophomore year and my foundation coursework for ACE has really opened my eyes and my mind to how bad I want this. Last year, I loved my classes, and I did well and enjoyed learning, but never wanted to go. My new classes are at 7:30 and 8 in the morning, times my eyes aren’t used to seeing the sun in the sky. Anybody that know me, knows I’m not a morning person. That getting me out of bed for classes, from elementary school on up, was harder than hell--if it even happened.

For the first time in my life, I’m excited to get up and go to class. Not that it’s any easier TO wake up, but my classes give me the drive to get out of bed. I want to learn.

While I sit in these classes, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be. My passion truly is basketball. I’m smart enough to do almost anything I want to do. The hardest part of this so far, has been trying to help those understand why coaching is for me, as opposed to something of THEIR choice.

It kills me when the people I love don’t try to convince me to change my path. I know they love me and they just want me to have a prosperous life, and I don’t want to negate that at all. To me, I know they think coaching is a fall-back, or an easy path to take. I’ve never thought that at all. When my friends make fun of my classes and how “easy” they are, they don’t understand that each class means more to mean than any amount of money the classes their taking for their big, fancy majors ever will.

I have friends in engineering, communications, pre-med, biology, and every other major. They talk about how much money they’ll make in the future. What I take more pride in is that not one of them talk about how much they love their classes, or that they want to go. Yeah, they’ll make more money in the future, but I don’t think they’ll have a career they can truly feel passionate about. I will, and that’s what I hope to portray.



Let me start simple. My name is Carly Moon. I’m a 19 year old sophomore at West Virginia University, but I’m originally from Kansas. Most of my spare time is spent playing basketball, cooking, reading, writing, or watching Lifetime and ESPN.

At West Virginia, I’m chasing a degree that will either prove ground-breaking or a waste of time. I’ve played basketball since I was in the second grade. Something about the sport just drives me. Even though I haven’t figured it out yet, there are some things I have figured out. People always made a big deal about my shot, although I never saw it as anything outside of ordinary. Maybe my lack of recognition in myself is the reason I didn’t take my game to the next level, maybe it’s not. I’ll never really know that answer.

What I do know is that after playing for twelve years and coaching for three, I want it to be a big part of my future. I’ll never play at the college or pro level. This put my goals even further out of reach. However, you don’t even know what my goals are yet. You’ve probably figured out the easy part, and that’s coaching, but you haven’t figured out the who or the how.

Here’s the plan so far, and the last of what you’ll learn about me today. After earning my bachelor’s degree in Athletic Coaching, I’m juggling the ideas of either finding somewhere to coach, or furthering my education and value by getting my master’s degree in athletic coaching. I also plan on minoring in Sports Psychology. Whether I get a master’s or not, I’m hoping to find an opportunity to gain experience at a small college. The kicker? I want to coach men’s basketball.

Crazy, right? I know, everyone’s told me.

You’re probably thinking the same thing. This is enough to read for one day. Next time I’ll talk about how I plan on being one of the first women to coach on the men’s NCAA level. It won’t be hard, it’ll be next to impossible. I know how much work it’s going to take, and I’m more than willing, if not excited to pursue this dream. Hopefully over time, you’ll start to believe in me, because I‘ll need all the support you can throw at me.

Hope you enjoy and follow my progress into the future,

Carly Moon