Quote:
Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
barring a time-out request.
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Nah, can't agree with you on that one. You're being overly officious and you're interfering in an area where you don't really belong imo.
The kid is hobbling. He ain't gonna die from a sore leg. It's up to the player and the coach to decide whether he's well enough to play. If the player and coach tell me he's OK after I inquire, that's good enough for me.
What are you gonna do, Nevada, if the coach does give you a TO request to try and keep his player in the game? Refuse the request and say the kid
has to leave?
I'd check this philosophy with your association executive or someone from your state body. I'm not sure that you'd get backing from them if you ever pulled that stunt. I know and guarantee that they
will be contacted by that coach/school/league if you ever do call that one. How do you answer something like "My player had a sprained ankle. His doctor cleared him to play but the referee wouldn't allow him to try it." Shudder.
[/B][/QUOTE]
JR, I hope that my choice of words didn't give you the wrong impression of how I would handle this situation. I used the word barring in the following sense:
Main Entry: bar·ring
Pronunciation: 'bär-i[ng]
Function: preposition
: excluding by exception : EXCEPTING
Perhaps I should have just written excepting a TO request.
I would certainly grant the requested TO, but the kid still needs to be physically able to continue IN MY MIND at the end of that TO or I am not going to allow him to remain in the contest.
To respond to your method of handling it (that if the coach/player tells you the kid is ok that is good enough for you), I do consider their input, but I am going a step further and making the final decision. Just because they say he is ok is NOT good enough for me. I will watch the kid's actions and movements. If I'm not convinced that he can physically compete, then he's going to sit whether the coach likes it or not.
Now when I say physically healthy, I'm talking about more than a tweaked ankle or sprained/banged knee. A person can tell when someone who took a knock is going to be able to play through it. I'm far more concerned with the kid who looks very pale or has shortness of breath, but it could be something physical too.
I'll give you an example from a game I had this summer. A girl got poked in the eye during rebounding action. The game continued and she ran down the court and stood in the lane to play defense. While the opponent was running their offense, I noticed that she had one eye closed and in response to a teammate instructing her to switch who she was guarding, this girl replied, "I can't see."
Tweet... right then and there. I didn't care where the bal was. To me that was clearly a safety issue. I cannot have a player on the court who admits that she can't see. Even if it is only out of one eye. Someone or the ball could strike her from that side and she would not have the normal reflexive protective reaction. I can hear the attorney now, "You heard her say that she couldn't see and didn't stop the game?"
The coach in fact did give me a hard time about sending his player out. I told him that it was a safety issue and what I had heard her say. He still wasn't convinced until I said in definite earshot of many parents, "Coach, look at her eye. She can't keep it open. Now this is somebody's daughter, do the right thing for her and give me a sub or I'm ending this game."
He sent in a replacement. Later he apologized to me and said that he was caught up in the moment.
When it comes down to it, this is not professional sports; these are just kids. Often these youngsters push themselves too hard due to pride or peer/parental pressure. Sometimes their coaches drive them beyond their limits out of a desire to win. I'm all for challenging and motivating a kid, but I'm not about to have one drop on the court while I'm officiating.
So the bottom line is that if I am ever genuinely concerned for a player's health, I'm stopping that game and getting the kid some assistance. If that means the player has to leave the contest, so be it.