Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam
My only question here is, do you chase the ball down when it heads 20-30 feet out of bounds? We're told specifically not to chase the ball, especially if it entails turning your back on the players.
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I've searched through my old emails and I can't find the email that I'm remembering... so I must back-track a bit from my assertion that my association stated this directly (maybe it was verbally at a meeting instead of an email or from one of my non-association assignors).
But the instruction that I recall was simply to not tell players to go get the ball (looks lazy and it is not their job). 99% of the time, the ball makes it's way back to the official in a reasonable amount of time. In a case where the ball ends up at the other end of the court and no player is nearby to pick it up, the game is now being held up. It would be inappropriate for the officials to direct one of the players to go chase after it. In that case, the nearest official should jog over and get it.
But I did not mean to suggest that every time the ball goes out of bounds, there should be an official running right after it and turning his back to the players.