

The Crown Refs Podcast
Paul Diasparra
The Crown Refs Podcast is the ultimate audio experience for basketball officials looking to elevate their craft, build confidence, and achieve long-term success on and off the court. Hosted by Paul Diasparra, this podcast helps referees master their skills, refine their judgment, and develop a strong officiating mindset. It features top names in officiating like Joey Crawford, Roger Ayers, Dee Kantner, Maia Chaka, Lisa Mattingly, Tyler Ford, Penny Davis, Reggie Greenwood, Scott Foster, Al Battista, Crystal Hogan, Bo Boroski, Gary Vee, Clarence Armstrong, and more. #Servethegame
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 18, 2021 • 34min
#146 The Rulebook vs. The Art | Camp Season Prep | with Fabian Jara
With Camp season around the corner, this conversation explores a few integral components of the expectations of an official when attending camps and reffing games in general.
Some of the keys we discussed are how to properly take feedback from observers and better communicate questions to them instead of sounding like a “Yeah but” ref.
We touch on the importance of differentiating between black/white vs gray and how and when to apply the rules as written. conclude by discussing the importance of using rule-based explanations when addressing coaches because they cannot communicate about officiating on an expert level.

Mar 13, 2021 • 50min
#145 Game Notes 019 | with John Cashman | Official since 2019 | PA/New Jersey
𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗻 is a 2-year official from Pennsylvania living in New Jersey who’s fell in love with the craft of officiating. He truly inspires to keep improving and reach his full potential as an official. He’s been working hard these past two seasons trying at improving and chose the Crown Refs IPR as a way to accelerate his growth.
In this episode of 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴, we discuss simplifying our thought process when making decisions and not bringing in too much information that can cloud our judgment. We talk about how to avoid game interuptors by using our voice to proactively officiate and not refereeing a play based on sound.

Mar 10, 2021 • 45min
#144 Game Notes 018 | with Pedro Rodrigues Jr. | Official since 2012 | Fitchburg, MA
𝗣𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗼 𝗥𝗼𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗝𝗿. has been stung by the officiating bug as his fire and ambition to improve multiplies by the day.
We're proud to have him back for his second Individual•Performance•Report to track his progress, flip the weaknesses into strengths and add more polish to his overall skill set as an official.
In this episode of 𝙂𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨, we have an in-depth signal school session, we elaborate on layered plays, talk pain tolerance, and finish up deciding on the new title to a future podcast series.
📺 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲
Game Notes 018 | with Pedro Rodrigues Jr. | Fitchburg, MA | The Crown Refs Podcast 143 https://youtu.be/3Fd4w0OyqZg

Mar 4, 2021 • 55min
#143 Game Notes 017 | with Kenny Ludlow | 8-Year Official | Pittsboro, IN
𝗞𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗟𝘂𝗱𝗹𝗼𝘄, is an 8-year official from Pittsburg, IN who has his sights set on one day becoming a full-time Division 1 referee. He’s aggressively attacked the camp scene attending over 15 camps in his career which lead to him continuously moving up the ladder. He’s currently working high school games, NAIA, and at the division 2 & 3 level.
In this episode of Game Notes, we discuss a tip for illegal screens, not allowing the coach to chirp in your ear during a play, when to address a distraction, and we ask the question are you reffing enough overall games?

Mar 2, 2021 • 12min
#142 Live From: The Locker Room vol. 2 | with Anthony Calise
In this episode of Live From: The Locker Room, we share multiple coaching interactions from this past weekend of games. We talk about how to respond to a coach when they yell from across the court, how to show more authority when communicating, and utilizing the extremely effective high school warning.

Feb 24, 2021 • 1h 12min
#140 Game Notes 016 | with Korbin Cruea | 2-Year Official | Swayzee, IN
Korbin Cruea grew up in Swayzee, Indiana (a smalltown an hour north of Indianapolis) where he fell in love with the game of basketball at a very young age. From a young age he got an inside look at an official's lifestyle traveling with his father on Friday and Saturday nights as he was an official back in the day. Ever since those days, Korbin knew he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become an official himself. He turned those dreams into a reality in 2019 when Korbin became an official and jumped in head first and started officiating all levels of basketball.
Now in year 2, Korbin loves perfecting his craft and game in hopes to become the best official he can be and achieve success at the highest of levels he can. Currently in the process of jumping from JV to Varsity in the state of Indiana, Korbin is all in and ready to take a deep dive into his craft with the IPR service.
“I love the value that Crown Refs has added to my game in terms of listening to the podcast and hearing all of the experienced officials shine light on lots of different aspects of the game. I am very eager to see where the IPR service can take me in terms of growth and continued improvement of my craft.”
In this episode of Game Notes, we discuss the importance of having good pain tolerance and patience as an official. These 2 qualities allow us to see more information about the play. This episode also includes great discussion on difficult play types and more signal school to help improve Korbin’s table reporting and confidence.

Feb 23, 2021 • 10min
#139 Rules Talk 5 | Team Control | with Zack Murphy
Team control comes into play in more areas in your game than you might think. In Rules Talk Episode 5, we break down the aspects of team control from its beginning to its end to help you become a team control expert.

Feb 22, 2021 • 34min
#138 Crossroads Officials Association | Indiana board Zoom call | with Mark Sexton
𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (COA) is the 2nd largest officials association in the great basketball state of Indiana. Currently, they have 174 licensed basketball officials and the leadership is committed to recruiting, training & retaining basketball officials.
Mark Sexton, an 8-year official, is in his first season as basketball chair of the association and grateful for the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Tracy Black.
“𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝘂𝘁𝘆 to give the game our absolute best. Our best is more than just showing up and running back and forth. Our best means we’re rule book strong, mentally prepared, physically ready and passionate about our craft. We focus our meetings around watching film, discussing rules and RELATIONSHIPS. We have incredible officials in Indiana... not just in Crossroads, but throughout the state.”
We recently had the opportunity to speak at a zoom meeting with the (COA) and here are some topics we discussed:
-Advice for when working with a new official. -Working as many possible games that you can the right way.
-Being unemotional about rule changes.
-You’re only as good as your love for the game.

Feb 21, 2021 • 31min
#137 Live From: LEEWOOD | Sideline Discussions
The Live: From series is a mash-up of sideline discussions that will give the listener that live feel and a chance to hear our instant reactions to recent plays from that night of rec games. We document some of the raw emotions that the crews are experiencing during, after, & before each game.
In this episode, we talk about the dreaded pump fake foul, floppers, and the most popular directional point. We also share some interactions and mention a few different tips on how to stay proactive when players begin to taunt each other.

Feb 17, 2021 • 1h 13min
#136 Game Notes 015 | with Isaiah Langlois | 5-Year Official | Dubuque, IA
𝗜𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗮𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗶𝘀, is a dedicated 5-year Official from Dubuque, IA looking to continuously evolve at his craft. Recently, he began to wonder if the officiating industry had any film review services available for referees to send their game tape in and get high-quality instructional feedback in return. About a day later he stumbled upon the Crown Refs content and quickly realized that we provide the exact service that he was seeking.
In this episode of Game Notes, we talk about providing rule-based explanations rather than over-explaining our calls, giving our partners a good pass vs. slapping the ball away, and not allowing coaches to influence, alter, or manipulate our decision-making process.