|
Line calls
I'm almost embarrassed to even ask this question. I guess I'll *really* be embarrassed if I turn out to be completely wrong!
I was working a middle school match tonight, and instructing the line judges on in/out calls. I generally illustrate by centering a ball on a line and rolling it slightly away from the court to show where it transitions from "in" to "out". My general instruction is that if more than half the ball is beyond the line, then call it "out"; halfway or less, call it "in".
Well tonight a coach came over to inform me that this was all wrong. She claimed that as long as any part of the ball was over any part of the line, then it was "in". So I placed a ball such that a small portion was over the line, and showed her that it several inches away from touching the line. She remained adamant that she's "played at all levels for 40 years and nobody has ever required the ball to touch the line; it only needs be over it". I was dumbstruck.
I told her the rule stated that the ball was out if it touched the floor completely outside the boundary lines. She claimed that the ball was not "completely outside the boundary line" as long as it was above it. I tried to emphasize that the rule said "touch", not "over", but to no avail.
How would you explain this better? Am I correct that the cylinder or shadow of the ball has nothing to do with these calls?
On a related note, should we make any allowance for ball compression on impact that would make the "footprint" of the ball larger, thus allowing balls to land a little further away from the line while still touching it? I'm thinking of the tennis replays where the ball "smears" as it lands.
Thanks in advance for your insights!
|