I've officiated and coached for about 20 years and I wonder myself sometimes! I have found that, if coaches are really interested in learning and teaching they will often talk with you about certain discrepancies.
One particular case comes to mind...I was officiating a girls' high school tournament and in one match I called one team's setter three or four times for an illegal back-row attack. After the match the coach came up to me and my partner and thanked us for making the calls. She said that in her area, the officials apparently were not very knowledgable and never called her setter for the foul, even though the coach kept telling her that what she was doing was illegal. The setter basically felt that as long as she was not being called for it, she would continue to do it.
Since she was always able to dump the ball over the net (when the ball was completely above the plane of the net) as a back row setter, it took her a few games during the tournament to adjust her thinking and her approach to handling balls passed close to the net. You're right Rev, it can be confusing and frustrating for players when officials don't know or mis-apply the rules.
|