[ace]

Use a lanyard because thats what the mechanics book says to do. You only get away with that in the NBA or if you've been in college ball a REALLY REALLY long time. I was not using a lanyard for a while and I prefer to not use one. No one from my Assc. ever came down on me about but a few senior officials mentioned I should be using one. Trick is to remeber to catch it or take it out of your mouth. It helps me slow down soo much more than if I dont have one. I would usually blow the whistle and take it out with my unraised hand either tuck it in the waistbelt, drop it in the right pocket or just hold it depeneding on what was going on and what foul I had to report. In the course of the season that I was WITHOUT a lanyard I only dropped my whistle 5 times and that was only because some wierd situation was about to happen and I didnt have time to process my "catch, secure, move" routine. Try it in some AAU Games or something. I'll probably be without a Lanyard from now until next season with the exception of camps. Dont use a finger whistle though..that just looks bad... take the ring off your whistle and practice catching it etc for awhile before you try going onto the court with it.

One of my mentors from this past season said:"You look good without one unless it looks like you've never done it before." (he hasnt used a lanyard in 3 years.)