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Old Mon Feb 12, 2001, 03:00pm
Mark Padgett Mark Padgett is offline
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Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: only in my own mind, such as it is
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hawks Coach
Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Padgett
The deception comes in when the coach knowingly sends three of his players to the wrong end of the floor, in the hope of deceiving the other team's players.

It is no more "deceptive" than a player head faking one way and going another.
Mark, I would differ with you on that, but I guess you probably know that already. Key words: rec game. These kids are out having fun playing ball, and probably walk on the court only halfway aware of what is happening. It's hard to get them to understand how to play defense, let alone get them to change ends of the floor when they are confused. Just get them all started playing at the right basket after halftime, then all basketball-oriented deception is fair game. I'm not a big fan of these trick plays, and yes, I do consider them unsporting (though not a T in case you are wondering).
I understand what you're saying, and my answer would be this: as I've stated before, I am on the board of our local rec league and have more tenure on that board than anyone else. If this happened in a game in which I was officiating and the opposing coach complained, I would tell him that making his kids aware of what was going on was his job, not mine. I have also coached both kids and adults in rec leagues. When coaching, I always felt I wanted the refs to ref and to leave us coaches to succeed or fail on our own.

BTW - our rec league starts at 3rd grade and there is no coach at that level shrewd enough to think of this.
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