In defense of timers
Id like to rise to the defense of the lowly timer. Due to problems with in house timers in past years, my association offers the use of officials as timers at the varsity level. (A nice way of making $25 a game.) Last night was my tern. I was assigned a JV game to ref and then had two Varsity level games to time. Both schools are in the largest size class in the state. The home gym had fairly new equipment.
This is what I faced. The start/stop remote was lost so I had to use the console. Console had +1, 2, and 3-point buttons for home and guest. For the home team the +2 button gave +1 most of the time. For the visitors +3 did not work at all. Quickly I learned to use +1 at all times. To sound the horn I had to press my thumb down so hard that I feared I break the thumb. Forget the 30 or 60 second timer. Ive learned to wear my Chronograph on game day. All the buttons felt the same so I had to take my eyes off of the court to locate the correct button at times. These types of situations/problems are not unique to this gym.
Doing the clock one gets to appreciate proper mechanics. One thing it has taught us is that if you can see the timer he/she can see you. The chop is very important for the timer to see. Even one who is an official. The one thing I have a problem with is the chirp whistle. While we are all taught that the loud crisp chirp is the proper way to blow, it is very hard to hear with several hundred screaming fans shouting their lungs out.
Now add the problem of having a timer that is interested in the game itself...
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