Quote:
Originally posted by WinterWillie
I've been doing this for years since I was instructed to do so by our state interpreter and our local association interpreter. Our state athletic association directives supersede any NFHS rules. Our state directives often vary from federation rules such as the one whether to signal when the defensive player is not within 6' of the offensive player.
|
That doesn't make it any less archaic and antiquated. No one does this anymore. How long ago were you told to do this? You might want to check with your state association to see if it is still common practice.
Quote:
|
If you had a player collapse on the court, wouldn't you want to know he had an asthmatic condition. If a player tells you he has lost a contact lens how would you know if he was wearing lens...
|
So, if a kid collapses and it's not in the book that he has epileptic seizures, you're not going to stop play? Are you going to run over to the book and check it?
If a kid tells you he's lost a contact, and he's not in the book, are you going to ignore him? Let's say you stop the game, he's not in the book, are you going to call T? What if he finds it and shows it to you?
I hope I know the answer to those questions. The point is, whether this is in the book or not, I'm going to stop play when necessary. In the 18+ years I've been officiating, I've never done what you suggest. And in that same 18 years, I've had a kid tell me he lost his contact lens exactly ONE time. Honestly, it's not that big of a problem.
Quote:
|
A technical foul is the least of our concerns!
|
I can't argue with you there.
Look, I'm not beating you up, especially if that's what they told you to do. But it's not necessary. It's a non-issue. If it was, it would be an NF rule. If your state is requiring an athletic trainer on the bench, then he should be aware if a player has a medical condition. I've also had coaches come to me before a game and tell me that "#4 is deaf" or "#44 has ...." That's fine. But I didn't to have that written in the scorebook.
Years ago, contacts lens were $300 or $400 a pair. It was necessary to stop and find a CL. Now, they're $17 a box of 6. If the kid loses one, he goes to the bench and pops another one in. It's crazy to try and enforce this with a technical foul.
[Edited by BktBallRef on Jan 10th, 2004 at 01:15 PM]