[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by rwest
Here's the situation. 9th grade girls. Less than 5 seconds less. Team A is ahead by 1 or 2 points. I can't remember which. Team A inbounds the ball in their back court. A player from Team B pushes the Team A player who has control of the ball. No attempt to make a play on the ball. I call a foul. The push was not very physical, but it was a push. Team A's coach wants to know why it was not an intentional foul. I had no response. My partner came to my rescue and said that it did not warrant a intentional foul call. To be honest this was my 4th game ever and I was not even thinking in terms of intentional or not.

So, did I get it right? When do you call an intentional foul? What are you looking for? I realize that most fouls late in the game by the team that is behind are intentional. But when do you call it?

Thanks.

First of all do not worry over whether you did not get it right this early in your career. Officiating is a constant learning process.

Some intentional fouls call themselves. It is the ones that do not call themselves are the ones that officials are made big money to get correct.

For the fouls that are questionable, you should ask yourself if this would have been a common foul in the beginning of the game. If your answer to this question is yes then it will be a common foul at the end of the game.