Quote:
Originally Posted by Loudwhistle
Had a weird one last night in a 5th-6th playoff game. Ball went out of bounds on my side and I couldn't tell who it was off, ( three players all crowded around the ball when it went flying out of bounds) I blow whistle and look at partner for help, he didn't see who it was off either. I call jump ball and say, "red" and then point to the correct rim. As I'm gathering the ball to hand off for the throw in a parent says, "it went off white." (She was right there and the ball actually hit her when it flew out of bounds.) I said to her, "I believe you 100%, but since I called a jump ball I have to go with the arrow. A white player that was involved with the incident then says to me, "it went off my foot." So I said to him, "thanks for being honest." I reff all grades 3rd through 12, but I have to say one of my favorite things about the lower levels is you can explain the rules as you reff. Any games middle school or higher I usually don't talk to the audience.
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In this situation, going to the arrow is correct. However, I don't know about the player telling you it went off of him. Yes, no one will lie about the ball going out on him/her, but if you already went to the arrow, what will you do?
Good thing with the eye contact, though. You wouldn't believe how many games I did where my partner was in your situation and would go straight to the arrow without looking to me, whether or not if I saw who it was out on. And the majority of the time I did see who it went out on.