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Big Joe, I thought your original question was a good one. I am not an official, I coach kids. I think that part of coaching is teaching them how to play and what the rules of the game are. Each year I buy a rule and case book (and actually read them). I have tried to get our local board to furnish them to all coaches, but so far no luck, so I buy them myself. I follow this board, and occassionally ask questions. I have learned a lot. There were many things I did not know, even after playing the game for more than 40 years.
I liked the question because I too wonder how different officials interpret the "fumble". To what extent do they deem what might be a fumble really a controlled ball that is ruled a dribble. It could give me insight as to what to teach my kids. I am not here trying to criticize the refs, I am trying to figure out what they look for in these situations.
I really don't appreciate the smart a** remark about the coaching (not you Big Joe). Kids being kids, no matter how much you teach them, they are going to make mistakes. Some games my kids look great, and some they look like they have never been coached. I follow this board to learn, but remarks like that don't help matters much.
As far a pre-games, there is no such thing. We play in the Twin Cities area. Traveling teams play weekend tournaments. They schedule the games so that we usually get 3 to 5 minutes of warm-up between games, so not much time for anything. I do occassionally try to talk to the ref after the game if I have a question, but they are doing so many games that often they don't remember specific instances, or they are running to get something to drink or to the rest room between games.
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