Speaking of AAU basketball, I was recently reminded why I have always tried to stay away from such.
I'm on my local board's mechanics training committee. These are guys and gals that recently passed the written rules exam and are now undergoing floor training (mechanics, signals, etc.) with my committee.
After exactly five two-hour training sessions (with no players), the chairman of my committee decided to team up with a local AAU program's "in house" fall league. These are games where nobody really cares about the score, nobody remembers the score ten minutes after the game, it's just an excuse for basketball players to run up and down the court to stay in shape before the middle school and high school season starts. These "in house" games are normally officiated by older high school players, and/or adult parents/coaches.
So now we have our rookie officials, who are literally officiating on a basketball court with ten players for the very first time ever (for free). I'm roaming the sidelines offering constructive criticism.
Coaches know that these are spanking brand new officials, and also know that my trainee is totally deaf.
Yet one coach ruthlessly keeps screaming at my deaf trainee.
Maybe I was unprofessional to do so, but at one point I said to the coach, "Coach, you do know that these officials are brand new, have only received a few nights of training, this is their very first time ever on the court with players, and the guy you're screaming at it is totally deaf? Right?"
He replied, "I know. You guys need to do a better job training them".
