Quote:
|
Originally Posted by SMEngmann
Nevada, I understand where you're coming from. My point originally was that this is a terrible POE because it advocates officials being overly officious and can put us in situations where we might be forced to call a technical which does nothing to help the game and, in fact could really hurt the game. Overly officious POEs have been, in my opinion, a disturbing trend in NFHS over the last several years. For instance the POE last year on flopping, and the one to call Ts for running off the court (before the rule change to violation). Why Fed wants more Ts and trusts the judgement of officials less is beyond me, but in the real world, calling these things can often put game officials on an island. The new uniform regulations are yet another example of those in the Fed office making it tougher on us to do our jobs.
That being said, as an official, do I deliberately disobey what the NFHS says and go by my own rules? No, I call the game as I am instructed to by my assignors. Does that mean I have to like what I'm told to do and the new rules? No, but I'm an official, not an assignor, and not on the rules committee, so I call the game the way my superiors want it called. Doesn't mean I have to agree though with everything that comes down from the higher ups.
One other point, much of officiating has to deal with the spirit and intent of rules, as you well know. Rulebook officials often get in all sorts of trouble with players and coaches and routinely manage to lose control of games (at least those who I've seen). It seems like with the POEs, the rules committee wants us all to move in the direction of being rulebook officials, which I strongly disagree with.
|
Whatever your opinion of the POEs just remember that the game belongs to the NFHS and they can do whatever they wish with it. If that means putting in strict rules on behavior which you consider terrible and overly officious, that's the way it goes.
It seems to me that the NFHS is attempting to keep the high school game from degenerating into streetball or the NBA and I support it.
As for enforcing these POEs, I just tell the coaches and players that this is HS basketball and you can't do that here. Summer leagues, camps, college ball, etc. is different. Like any other change, they are difficult at first, but after a couple of seasons everyone comes to understand what is unacceptable and stops doing it. The key is that you have to have consistent enforcement by the officials, coaches, and administrators in your area. That is the tough part.
So, what to your "higher ups" tell you to do? For example, what were your instructions on handling the coaching box and the untucked jerseys last season?