My view at basketball games

Whenever I photograph basketball, I generally like to be under the basket where I can get a good view of the full field of play. Friends of mine often remark how I must have the best seat in the house. During a playoff game tonight, I was reminded how the best seat in the house is often made difficult by the referee who also needs to see the entire court, in order to call fouls, out of bounds and other infractions. 

The accompanying photograph is a good illustration of what can happen when a good play is taking place and I think I have a clear shot of the play. The ref slides in front of me and blocks my view of the play. In the game tonight it happened infrequently, but in some games it happens a lot. Usually it occurrs briefly and my view opens back up. At the half time break tonight, I walked over and showed the ref my "best" shot, the one you see here and he responded with, " Oh you got my good side again." The official tonight, Larry Datz, is an old friend.  We go back over 20 years, he officiating football, soccer , basketball and lacrosse, while I covered many high school sports in Suffolk's North Shore.

Over the years I have had to deal with an infrequent official who appears to purposely get in the way and most of them who couldn't be more accommodating, like Larry was this evening. When we talked at the half, he remembered that one of my fellow photographers often talks to him during the game, saying, "Larry, you're in the way again, can't you move." It is an easy situation to deal with, when one realizes that many good plays will occur and percentages are you will be clear to capture most of them. It really is a privilege to be able to be so close to play and record numerous frozen images of good play and expressions on the athletes faces.

Girls Basketball playoffs

Suffolk County's high school basketball playoffs are underway this week with a group of the larger school's girls teams playing this evening. I attended the Smithtown East at Ward Melville game briefly this evening prior to my being called away for a fire alarm. Trying to look at the game differently than during the season, I ended up wth several shots of the player's hair flying all over. Some tie their hair in a bun, others a pony tail and some not at all. When action is frozen, we have the opportunity to see the result. 

Tonight the players were charged up on both teams, because one of them would end their season with a loss, while the winner would get to play top ranked North Babylon next Monday night, at North Babylon's home court. Neither team wanted to lose, and I'm sure that despite the odds, they both wanted the chance to knock off the best team in the county.

College indoor track

Last week I travelled with the Stony Brook University men's and women's track team to the Giegangack Invitational meet at Yale in New Haven Connecticut. The 80 year old indoor track at Yale remains a magnificent structure, more like a giant green house than an indoor track facility. In addition to appearing in pristine condition, the track is banked to afford faster running times for the athletes. The meet itself was well organized, running exactly on time over more than 6 hours. The Seawolves ran a number of personal bests in the various events, with Lucy Van Dalen of New Zealand running the mile in 4:40.26, one of the best 10 times in the nation this year. She also broke the school record, her third in three weeks in different long events.

In addition to the wonderful facility and the ease of producing photos with the good natural light, I also had an opportunity to photograph the  start of the  mens 60 m dash seen in the second photo with this entry. Slowing the camera's shutter speed and tracking the athletes with the camera results in this effect.                 

County Track Qualifier

Culminating a season of indoor winter track, the best of Suffolk's runners and field event athletes converged on SCC-Brentwood's indoor track to try and qualify for the State meet March 7 at Cornell University. Pole vaulting will occur Thursday night at SWR HS. Middle Country's Miles Lewis (left)won the 55meter dash final. In the longer events two runners from Ward Melville, Caroline O'Hea in the 3200m event and Mary Kate Anselmini in the 1000m event were winners. All three normal run in large school events, but winter track lumps all schools in one category. Bobby Andrews, a senior runner from SWR HS was the meet standout, winning both the 3200m and 1600m races easily. On the ladies side, Janet Mellnor of Mt Sinai won the 300m dash and was second in the 55m dash. Qualifiers include first and second place winners plus a third if the time or distance was better than the state preset qualifying time. For further results, see just in time racing