[BillyMac]

This is my 27th year of officiating basketball. I've always been good at "booklearning", so learning the rules wasn't very difficult for me. What is difficult for me, after 27 years, are the rule changes. It's hard for me to keep them straight in my mind. I've gone from players moving into the lane on a free throw touching the rim or backboard, to the release by the shooter, back to the free throw touching the rim or backboard.

Last year I worked with one of the best officials on our board, a veteran official. After a double foul was called he was ready to put the ball in play using the alternating possession arrow until I reminded him that the new rule was point of interuption. It's not the rules, it's the rule changes that can cause problems.

Also, our local board recently switched from NFHS mechanics, which hardly ever seemed to change in 25 years, to IAABO mechanics, which seem to change every year, in many cases, without any type of announcement. For 25 years, with NFHS mechanics, as the lead, my boundary line responsibility was my closest endline, and my closest sideline, all the way back to the farther endline. Granted, sometimes I had to ask my partner for help after I blew the whistle to stop the clock on an out of bounds on my line. Now, with IAABO mechanics, as the lead, my sideline responsibility ends at the foul line extended. It's hard to change, especially when some of our veteran's, who are great officials, don't seem to realize that the mechanics have changed.