Crossing Whistles
 

Hello, I'm new here and signed up specifically to ask you more experienced officials how to handle a situation. Trying to learn, so I'll probably ask many questions unless I wear out my welcome.

Here is the situation that prompted me to come to you:

Officiating basketball at a middle school and there are two courts separated by a curtain. Our kids are playing and a whistle sounds loud and clear from the other court. Our kids all stumble to a stop, look at me and my partner. I just hold up my whistle as if to say, "That wasn't us" and the kids stumble to a start again.

This happened a few times during the game. Each time, the kids just slowed down like slow motion, and then kicked right back up when they realized the whistle was coming from the next court.

So other than being a distraction, it didn't affect the outcome of the game. The parents and coaches didn't make an issue of it, so we just played on.

Is there a better way to handle it?

Thank you in advance!

Nah, that's just the nature of the beast of multiple courts. If it causes an advantage, kill the play and make it right.

Welcome. And stick around!

This!

And what Freddy said, Welcome to the forum!

The kids eventually adjust. Your whistles need to be strong and loud

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If I can see anyone start to react I just say "not our court, keep playing". It won't take most teams long to figure out your whistle vs other court. Most teams that play at our wreck leagues in multiple court gyms do so several times per week so they get it taken care of pretty quick.

Never cross the streams!

Well played, Nevada. Well played.

Thank you for the advice! This is a great way to help pay for college, and it's been fun so far.
Still pretty intimidated, but having fun.

I had this happen recently while working in a gym with two courts. Normally I don't stop play, but the kid who had the ball took off for the basket before the others realized what was going on. As mentioned above, I felt that was an advantage, and I stopped the game and gave it back to the team who had it before the confusion.

My partner that day tried to give me a hard time about it...not sure he understood me when I explained it to him.

Our job is to ensure the rules are followed, and I'm sure your partner was fixated on the fact that the rules don't allow for what you did.

But the rules are there for a purpose, and your situation provided an advantage not intended by those rules. Good job.

Multiple court sites are probably one of the best examples of a good use of The God Rule (2-3).

Right. And thank you. Not sure the "founding fathers" had 8-court AAU tournaments in mind when they wrote the rules!!

I think you did the right thing.

If one team stops because of the other court's whistle and the other team doesn't, kill the play and proceed from Point-of-interruption.

Sometimes, you've just gotta officiate.

Welcome to the fraternity. Stick around and feel free to ask us questions, we're happy to help.

And just for future reference, it may be a good idea to pregame this with your coaches. Just to say if there is an inadvertent stoppage due to an unrelated whistle you will stop play and have the team that had the ball inbound it, or whatever. That way you are all on the same page and when the situation arises we aren't arguing about it. And the out of bounds option is better than just saying "play on" and somebody gets a free layup as a result. Now if the defense lets up and the ball carrier doesn't, then that's too bad.

Probably not a bad idea, but you'll still get an argument. Any time a whistle sounds and you don't stop play, and one team scores, the other will plead with you that they stopped due to the other whistle.

If I was working one of these games, I probably wouldn't plant that seed in the coaches minds before the game, but would deal with any situations as they came up.