[oldsetter]

A. King,
I assume by screened, you would mean a players body between you and the ball. I would also wonder what criteria you would use for calling a 'double' (as in over hand setting motion) when you can not see both hands (contact points) due to the players relative position on the court to you?

Are you saying that there are no positions on the court or orientations of the players body that you do not want or need help from the R2?

Andy,
As your R2, any unusually contact that I have a very good view of, I would look at you to see if you glanced at me, I would have a discrete signal for you to ignore or take if you wanted it, or I like a slight head nod for play on. Hopefully there would be very few of these in the match. And I would think that a good R2 could adjust to the standards of the R1.

I had an official tell me that I should make the call (I'm mainly considering these doubles where you can't see both hands) based on what I see and not expect any help from the R2. My response was, that if I did not see two contacts or prolonged contact, then it was going to have to be legal. (Did not go over well.) Which the reply was that if it was over controlled it was prolonged and if it was under controlled it was a double. I don't mind an argument to develop good philosophies so I replied that I've been making this way too hard. I was actually looking for two contacts on doubles.

I find this very frustrating and appreciate any insight anyone is willing to provide. It appears that there is a discrepancy between the rule book and the way many official practice. Also I have found that many officials are very defensive about there ball handling philosophies. Whew. I guess if you are on shaky ground, you don't like to be challenged. ; )