Ball-handlers / Freedom of Movement

[JRutledge]

This is actually the same as it has been the last couple of years. Coaches know the rule basically and if we call it they either adjust or they sit. Really not much else to complain about. We still have a coach that wants every little touch a foul, but for the most part we ignore that and call what we think is a foul.

I have had games with a lot of fouls to games with hardly going into the bonus in the first half.

I also have been doing this for a longer time in college basketball, so I never had to be convinced as to what I should do as an official. I am pretty dug in at this point.

Peace

[BillyMac]

I called several hand checks in a scrimmage yesterday. No coach complained to me, and most yelled at their player, "Keep your hands off the ball handler".

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Will It Carry Over To The Regular Season ???

If we stay consistent and persistent.

And you guys are still doing scrimmages into December?

[bainsey]

So far, I'm seeing kids adapting. I'm having to call fewer second-half fouls than first-half ones.

Of course, in one game, I had Coach V complain we should've called more hand-checking fouls, while Coach H complained the fouls were 8-0 against his team.

[Dad]

Maybe I've just been lucky, but after 6 varsity games I have seen some major improvements. Only issue I've had, which was a sad one, was a star player in a great game picking up three stupid fouls(Hand checks).

Stuff going in the right direction:

1) Players adapt way faster to calls. After the first couple calls the games are clean.

2) Coaches stopped complaining about it except jokes, "I can't wait until January when this stops getting called." Less anger and more joking around is always good

3) Fans only yell, "Let them play!!" in the first quarter instead of riding us the entire game.

4) Officials seem to all be on the same page this year. Makes the games flow when we're all consistent.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

And you guys are still doing scrimmages into December?

State mandates: First game for girls can be no sooner than December 7, first game for boys no sooner than December 12.

We're still playing football. State semifinals are early this week.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

State mandates: First game for girls can be no sooner than December 7, first game for boys no sooner than December 12.

We're still playing football. State semifinals are early this week.

State semi-finals in football this weekend but public school basketball started on Nov. 30th, private schools started a 2 weeks before that.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

State mandates: First game for girls can be no sooner than December 7, first game for boys no sooner than December 12.

We're still playing football. State semifinals are early this week.

Girls basketball started November 16 for regular season games. Boys basketball started the week after on November 23.

Football State Finals for all classes are the weekend of Thanksgiving on Friday and Saturday. So the weekend before Thanksgiving was Semifinal weekend and the Boys were already practicing.

It can be done, both sports playing at the same time.

Peace

[SCalScoreKeeper]

Just finished working a varsity girls tournament and did a boys tourney before Thanksgiving.Seems like the kids and coaches here are getting the message and after a few called in the beginning they clean it up.Extended Armbar hasn't been all that much of an issue here it's primarily two hands on the ball handlers or handchecking.

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I called several hand checks in a scrimmage yesterday. No coach complained to me, and most yelled at their player, "Keep your hands off the ball handler".

I had a three-team scrimmage this past Friday and one team came out particularly aggressive on defense. I had to call 2-3 hand checks or arm bars early-on; at one point, I said "hands off the ball handler" after calling one. To their credit, the players adapted to to the calls.

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

And you guys are still doing scrimmages into December?

Here, the girls season started this past week. Boys start tomorrow. My first HS level game is Tuesday. Let the fun begin.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

The "rules changes" that have been implemented the last two years really have not changed anything but to encourage officials to turn back the clock at least forty (if not more) years with respect to how the game should be officiated.

For me, I haven't changed how I called fouls for the last forty-five years. It is the responsibility of the officials to call the game per the rules and the players should play the game per the rules.

MTD, Sr.

[OKREF]

Why are people acting like this is new this year? This was a rule and emphasis last year.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by OKREF

Why are people acting like this is new this year? This was a rule and emphasis last year.

It has actually been the "rule" for as long as I can remember. It was just that way too many officials (nearly all, me included) were doing a piss poor job of calling it. No one was going to do it and be the only one doing it. They tried points of emphasis for years and got no movement in what was being called. They really didn't want to go to absolutes but pretty much everyone was ignoring the directives year after year. So, they simply changed the wording to make what should been a foul all along more set in stone without latitude to ignore it under what was really a poorly applied advantage/disadvantage philosoply. There was an advantage, just one that was less blatant than some fouls.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It has actually been the "rule" for as long as I can remember. It was just that way too many officials (nearly all, me included) were doing a piss poor job of calling it. No one was going to do it and be the only one doing it. They tried points of emphasis for years and got no movement in what was being called. They really didn't want to go to absolutes but pretty much everyone was ignoring the directives year after year. So, they simply changed the wording to make what should been a foul all along more set in stone without latitude to ignore it under what was really a poorly applied advantage/disadvantage philosoply. There was an advantage, just one that was less blatant than some fouls.

That's what I said two posts ago.

MTD, Sr.

[OKREF]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It has actually been the "rule" for as long as I can remember. It was just that way too many officials (nearly all, me included) were doing a piss poor job of calling it. No one was going to do it and be the only one doing it. They tried points of emphasis for years and got no movement in what was being called. They really didn't want to go to absolutes but pretty much everyone was ignoring the directives year after year. So, they simply changed the wording to make what should been a foul all along more set in stone without latitude to ignore it under what was really a poorly applied advantage/disadvantage philosoply. There was an advantage, just one that was less blatant than some fouls.

I agree. We had a big discussion about this in our association last year. Several guys and coaches for that matter didn't like the new wording and the automatics. My answer was exactly what you just said. It was really our fault as officials because we weren't officiating this type of contact properly.