Quote:
Originally Posted by rsl
This is motivated by the "To reach or not reach" thread, but it is really different.
In NFHS two man, what are trail's responsibilities in the paint?
At a recent camp I had the following situation. A1 throws a lob pass to A2 in the lane, and A2 has inside position on B2. A2 and B2 are standing five feet away from lead. As trail, I close to almost foul line extended because all the of the action is in the paint. I see a B2 foul A2 on lead's blind side, with significant contact but not a train wreck. I wait, there is no call from lead, so I whistle.
At the next break, lead (an experienced ref on our local board) tells me he saw the contact but was waiting for the shot, which A1 was certainly going to take any second. He then told me never whistle something right in front of your partner. Good advice.
I thought I had been taught that trail should watch for backside contact when the ball goes in the paint or on rebounds. But I think I reached on this one when I shouldn't have.
When is trail supposed to put two sets of eyes on the key? Never?
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You have to understand what is the competitive match-up, and which official is responsible for it. As I just posted above, you can't go make a call on your partner's match-up. Chances are he can see that play (as your partner did in your situation), and you need to respect his judgment of it. That is the gist of what he told you afterwards.
In more general terms, 2-man only works if the two officials cover what the other is NOT looking at. When both officials are looking at the same thing, big problems could occur. They might render conflicting decisions on the play or something could happen away from that action, which gets missed and thus makes a mess of the game.
Specifically, in 2-man the Trail has no primary responsibility in the paint "by the book." However, what works well in practice is for him to act more like a C and take his side of the lane because the Lead frequently has a poor angle or gets blocked out by the big bodies on his side of the paint.
One basically wants to help on the back side with plays that the Lead can't see. Of course, one must understand what the Lead can and can't see in order to apply this.