First Time for Everything

[bigdogrunnin]

OK, had to share . . .

Was helping out a friend of mine who is an assignor in our area last night. He needed me to do 2 JH Girls games (7th A, 8th A). 7th A goes off without a hitch. 30 pt. blowout. 8th Grade game seems to be going OK. I am not particularly happy with my partner, but he is working hard and giving his best, so fine. Middle of 2nd quarter, Team A player catches a pass above her head and is holding it with both hands, still above her head. Team B player comes over and punches (closed fist) the ball out of her hands a split second after she catches it. TWEET. I blow my whistle. Violation . . . OOB to Team A. Never had this call before. VG coach who is there to watch the game asks me about the call, and I let him know violation. At half I look it up . . . Rule 9.4 (NFHS) . . . something like "cannot strike the ball with a closed fist."

Second one . . . I am L, partner is T. Team B player is going down sideline. Team a player runs in front of her. Team B player falls and loses ball OOB as a result of contact from Team A player. TWEET! I have a straight block, looking right through the play. Partner runs up, TWEET! OFFENSE . . . and signals the opposite direction. He NEVER even looks at me or acknowledges my whistle. Had he done so, I would have held my call to make sure we were on the same page. He never even turned around, and had his back to me the entire time. Yes . . . the dreaded BLARGE!!! CRAP! What now . . . so, I run over to him and ask what he has. He says offense. "Are you sure?!" I ask. "Yep!" OK. I report my foul, we call a double foul and go to point of interruption. Couldn't believe it. Leave up to a JH Girls game to get me into those situations . . . Oh, and team B won the 8th grade game too.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

Team B player falls and loses ball OOB as a result of contact from Team A player. TWEET! I have a straight block, looking right through the play. Partner runs up, TWEET! OFFENSE . . . and signals the opposite direction. He NEVER even looks at me or acknowledges my whistle.

My guess: Partner never even heard your whistle, so didn't realize at first what was going on. Then was working on "selling the call" and "acting confident" and just blew the teamwork thing.

Next guess: He'll learn.

[rngrck]

These double foul situations are nothing but the result of partners not communicating with each other. How a partner could not hear or see his partner is beyond me!!! Calling these type of fouls will sure erupt the place.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by rngrck

These double foul situations are nothing but the result of partners not communicating with each other. How a partner could not hear or see his partner is beyond me!!! Calling these type of fouls will sure erupt the place.

Actually, if both partners hit the whistle at the same time, for the same length of time, it's quite easy to not hear your partner's whistle. It's happened to me a few times.

And as for the place erupting...who cares?

[rgncjn]

Well, I had a first yesterday, also.

I was working a G-JV game (as a favor to the assignor who needed an official for the game, and I was off). Team A (home team) begins the game with six players. They are terrible.

A1 fouls out early in the third quarter, and the rest of the 3Q goes without hitch. Team A has 5 players remaining, no problem. In addition, Team A is losing by 20 or so at this time.

I notice A2 go to the locker room between the third and fourth quarters. When Team A takes the court to begin the 4Q, they only have 4 players on the floor. I ask Coach A where the fifth the player is at. He replies, defensively, "She is playing varsity, she is done for this game." Fine, let's play.

With 3:50 left to play, A3 commits her fifth foul. As I am going to report the foul, I see Coach A walking to Coach B. As I report the foul, Coach A says the game is over, he "doesn't want to finish." Alright, fine with me. Game is over.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by rgncjn

Well, I had a first yesterday, also.

I was working a G-JV game (as a favor to the assignor who needed an official for the game, and I was off). Team A (home team) begins the game with six players. They are terrible.

A1 fouls out early in the third quarter, and the rest of the 3Q goes without hitch. Team A has 5 players remaining, no problem. In addition, Team A is losing by 20 or so at this time.

I notice A2 go to the locker room between the third and fourth quarters. When Team A takes the court to begin the 4Q, they only have 4 players on the floor. I ask Coach A where the fifth the player is at. He replies, defensively, "She is playing varsity, she is done for this game." Fine, let's play.

With 3:50 left to play, A3 commits her fifth foul. As I am going to report the foul, I see Coach A walking to Coach B. As I report the foul, Coach A says the game is over, he "doesn't want to finish." Alright, fine with me. Game is over.

Not fine. I know the OhioHSAA quarter rule, BUT, too bad, she is an eligible player in the JV book. She has to play in 4th quarter of the JV game. Too bad about the VAR game. PM with the two teams involved. Inquiring minds want to know, . Your secret will be safe with me.

MTD, Sr.

[ca_rumperee]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

OK, had to share . . .

Was helping out a friend of mine who is an assignor in our area last night. He needed me to do 2 JH Girls games (7th A, 8th A). 7th A goes off without a hitch. 30 pt. blowout. 8th Grade game seems to be going OK. I am not particularly happy with my partner, but he is working hard and giving his best, so fine. Middle of 2nd quarter, Team A player catches a pass above her head and is holding it with both hands, still above her head. Team B player comes over and punches (closed fist) the ball out of her hands a split second after she catches it. TWEET. I blow my whistle. Violation . . . OOB to Team A. Never had this call before. VG coach who is there to watch the game asks me about the call, and I let him know violation. At half I look it up . . . Rule 9.4 (NFHS) . . . something like "cannot strike the ball with a closed fist."

Ahh... but what signal did you break out on this one??

[bigdogrunnin]

sorry for the delayed response . . . TWEET. Violation. Signal direction.

OK, ANOTHER vent. What I have never had happen before has now happenede TWICE in the past 2 weeks. To me in just emphasizes the MASSIVE importance of always having a good pre-game with your crew. Anyway . . .

Last night I show up at the game site. I walk in the locker room and meet my crew. One guy I called with last week. Enjoyed it very much. The girl I have never seen before. So . . . I introduce myself and we all exchange pleasantries. I indicate that she is the R for this game as that what is listed on our game assignments. I asked when she wants to begin our pregame. She gives me the look, and says "whenever, I really don't think it's that big a deal." "OK," I say, "well, can we do one for me, because it helps me get comfortable with my crew." She says, "we can talk later."

We come in at the start of the 4th quarter (the game before ours), and sit down to talk. She says THREE sentences [LITERALLY]. 1) "Make good calls." 2) "Get good position." 3) "Let's hustle." I have to DRAAAAAAAAAAG anything else out of her. After this joyous time, we head out on the court.

The game goes fairly well, but she informs us early on that she doesn't like 3-person mechanics and isn't very good at it. I see what she means about 15 seconds into the game . . . I am OK with that though, because we all have to work hard to get good at anything. I offer my assistance as best I can and she works hard and makes some great adjustments. Later in the game she is really moving well . . . and I told her as much.

We get down to about 3-4 minutes left in the game, and everything seems to be winding down in a 25 point blowout. Then it happens . . .

Team B has the ball. SHOT . . . attempt for a rebound and FOUL! TWEET! Double whistle between me and the lead (I am trail.). I look at her and say "33." She shakes her head yes. I turn, report the foul, and begin walking to the other end of the court. Everyone stops and looks around like "WHAT!?!?" I look at the lead, and she starts to walk toward me. I ask her again, "you had 33 with the push right?" She now says, "no, I had white 15." DOH!! I ask what she saw. She tells me she saw 15 white push 12 green. I let her know that 33 green pushed 15 white (from behind) into green 12. She is emphatic, that isn't what she saw. OK. Double Foul, POI. No possession as it was on the shot, so we go to APA. Team A coach is quite upset. (I can understand why, but explain what we had and what we were doing.) We move on.

56 seconds left in the game. Team B is coming up the floor. Pt. Guard is dribbling up the floor at a fast pace. She gets to mid-court line and passes off down the floor. In the process she completely obliterates a defender standing immediately in front of her. Hits the defender SQUARE in the middle of her chest with her shoulder. I am T, she is C. We have another double whistle. I look at her to see what she is going to call. She doesn't do anything. SO, I START to drop my hand and signal team-control foul. DOH!! She decides to signal BLOCK. "Luckily" I hadn't thrown my punch for the TC foul, BUT I had taken a step toward the Team A goal. Team A coach is ticked! Tells me I let her overrule me twice! Why would I do that? I tell coach, "Coach, we had the same call, and she had a much cleaner look at the play. It is her call." I ask my partner what she had after the game, and she says the girl "started" to fall back and that is ALWAYS a block! I shook my head, said OK, and got out of there.

I would very much like to hear some thoughts on this . . . thanks.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

I asked when she wants to begin our pregame. She gives me the look, and says "whenever, I really don't think it's that big a deal." "OK," I say, "well, can we do one for me, because it helps me get comfortable with my crew." She says, "we can talk later."

We come in at the start of the 4th quarter (the game before ours), and sit down to talk. She says THREE sentences [LITERALLY]. 1) "Make good calls." 2) "Get good position." 3) "Let's hustle." I have to DRAAAAAAAAAAG anything else out of her. After this joyous time, we head out on the court.

At this point, you can do a little personal pre-game in your head: WARNING, TROUBLE AHEAD. Knowing she's the lackadaisical type, you have to be extra alert all the time.

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

The game goes fairly well, but she informs us early on that she doesn't like 3-person mechanics and isn't very good at it. I see what she means about 15 seconds into the game . . . I am OK with that though, because we all have to work hard to get good at anything. I offer my assistance as best I can and she works hard and makes some great adjustments. Later in the game she is really moving well . . . and I told her as much.

It's good that she was learning so quickly. But part of the pre-game for new 3-whistle people is to "just ref", and leave the mechanics in second place of focus. It's a lot easier to correct a few missed rotations than bail out of the kinds of jams you got into!

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

We get down to about 3-4 minutes left in the game, and everything seems to be winding down in a 25 point blowout. Then it happens . . .

Team B has the ball. SHOT . . . attempt for a rebound and FOUL! TWEET! Double whistle between me and the lead (I am trail.). I look at her and say "33." She shakes her head yes. I turn, report the foul, and begin walking to the other end of the court. Everyone stops and looks around like "WHAT!?!?" I look at the lead, and she starts to walk toward me. I ask her again, "you had 33 with the push right?" She now says, "no, I had white 15." DOH!!

She nodded to you that 33 was okay, but she didn't really know what you said. Knowing that you and she haven't gotten on the same page, next time, go clear to her and say the words, "push on 33?" But even then, since she gave the call up to you, you are the one who can change your call, and you shouldn't have, since you were sure you were right.

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

56 seconds left in the game. Team B is coming up the floor. Pt. Guard is dribbling up the floor at a fast pace. She gets to mid-court line and passes off down the floor. In the process she completely obliterates a defender standing immediately in front of her. Hits the defender SQUARE in the middle of her chest with her shoulder. I am T, she is C. We have another double whistle. I look at her to see what she is going to call. She doesn't do anything. SO, I START to drop my hand and signal team-control foul. DOH!! She decides to signal BLOCK. "Luckily" I hadn't thrown my punch for the TC foul,

You might have had a better angle. Was one of you straightlined?

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

I ask my partner what she had after the game, and she says the girl "started" to fall back and that is ALWAYS a block! I shook my head, said OK, and got out of there.

In simple kindness, you should have at least suggested she look up the rules that she kicked. What she does with that suggestion is then her problem

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

She tells me she saw 15 white push 12 green. I let her know that 33 green pushed 15 white (from behind) into green 12. She is emphatic, that isn't what she saw. OK. Double Foul, POI.

That is a simultanious foul not a double foul.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

She tells me she saw 15 white push 12 green. I let her know that 33 green pushed 15 white (from behind) into green 12. She is emphatic, that isn't what she saw. OK. Double Foul, POI.

Originally Posted by LDUB

That is a simultanious foul not a double foul.

If 33 green pushed 15 white into 12 green, that is a foul on 33, nothing more.

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by just another ref

If 33 green pushed 15 white into 12 green, that is a foul on 33, nothing more.

And the other official saw G33 push W15 at the same time that W15 pushed G12 which makes it s simultanious foul.