For our AAU ball, 2-person crews usually work three or even four games consecutively in a weekend tournament (then they come back the next day and do it again). These are 28 or 32-minute games, tipping off 70 or 75 minutes apart, so there is little or no downtime for the officials. It's a long day's work, but we see plenty of good and conscientious officiating, even under these suboptimal conditions
In a sizable minority of the games (15-25% maybe?), however, the officials elect not to switch positions on the dead ball -- or ever, in fact. Maybe they will switch at a quarter of half break -- although in a game last week with two 16-minute halves, I heard them agree that they shouldn't switch at the half, because the teams' switching ends would negate their switch.
I've now coached about 300 games, and officiating issues irked me a lot more in my first 50 games than in the next 250 [funny, SOMEBODY must have grown a LOT more capable during that time,
]. But this really gets under my skin. The kids are trying to play the right way, the families are paying for the experience, and the officials are being paid (not enough, I'm sure -- but paid -- ). This practice is simply lazy, as far as I can see. Plus, there is at least some chance of an impact on the game where the same official is on the baseline for all of Team A's possessions and none of team B's possessions -- that's why the dead ball-switch rule exists in the first place, right?
So (finally), the questions are:
Is there some NFHS or other exeception to the dead ball-switch practice? Is there something about this practice that is NOT wrong?
Would this nonswitching bother you as a coach -- remembering at this is pre-HS ball, and in the context of these 4-hour shifts these guys are working?
If it would bug you as it does me, how and to whom would you get it off your chest?
My next technical foul will be my first -- I'm sincerely interested in: (a) ideas about respectful ways to raise this; or (b) a thoughtful view that it's no big deal and I should forget about it.