Last night, T.J. Halliday, IAABO International Director of Learning and Development, gave a Summer Zoom presentation on Enhancing Communication.
During the presentation he mentioned two IAABO mechanics changes for the 2025-26 season, minor changes, but nevertheless changes.
For over forty years IAABO officials have been told, "Never bounce the ball across the lane".
That no longer applies, but only in some very specific cases,
only in the backcourt, and
only with no defensive pressure.
We've got some lazy officials who, for the sake of convenience, have done this for many years in both the backcourt and the frontcourt.
I wonder if this will give them license to do it incorrectly more often.
Not clear in the slide, but this is to be signaled
after the administering lead official bounces the ball to the free thrower and then backs out of the lane to a position out of bounds.
In the past, as the lead, as the season dragged on, in some late February middle school games, as my mind wandered after working too many games, I've absent mindedly done this, caught myself, embarrassed, and immediately dropped my signal.
Now I will be correct to do this.
I wonder how these changes compare to NFHS mechanics?