Players complaining to me more than other officials

[BryanV21]

A lot of things are said and done in the heat of the moment, and unless those things are entirely out of line, I don't think there's a problem trying to avoid them. Not making eye contact could do that. Take the following examples (which come just off the top of my head, so might not be the best cases)...

1. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A looking at you. By the look you can tell that he's not happy with the call, but he's not doing anything else like yelling or waving his arms angrily.

In this case I don't see a problem with looking at the coach and letting him know that you'll be there to speak with him after reporting the foul.

2. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A angrily looking at you and shaking his head.

In this case it might be a good idea to avoid looking back at the coach, as his anger could increase resulting in him doing or saying something that any official would tag him for. The angry look and shaking of his head, in and of itself, is not t-worthy in my opinion, so why do anything that could simply "add fuel to the fire"? If he wants to talk about it then he can call me over in a respectful manner. I'm not going to react to him while he's acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

3. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A has an angry look on his face, and at the same time he's yelling "you've got to be kidding me" while waiving his arms wildly in the air in exasperation of the call.

In this case I'm reporting the foul, then calling a TF on the coach. I don't have to look at him, as he should know that he stepped over the line. If he really wants to talk to me, then he's going to wait until he calms down and calls me over in a respectful manner. IMO, looking at him while calling the tech could push him over the edge and lead to another tech/ejection, and I want to give him a chance to avoid that.

[UNIgiantslayers]

You guys are providing great examples with regard to a coach. The OP was about intramural/wreck players. There are many liberties that I'll extend to the former that I won't allow for the latter.

[Dad]

Originally Posted by BryanV21

A lot of things are said and done in the heat of the moment, and unless those things are entirely out of line, I don't think there's a problem trying to avoid them. Not making eye contact could do that. Take the following examples (which come just off the top of my head, so might not be the best cases)...

1. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A looking at you. By the look you can tell that he's not happy with the call, but he's not doing anything else like yelling or waving his arms angrily.

In this case I don't see a problem with looking at the coach and letting him know that you'll be there to speak with him after reporting the foul.

There are exception, but the vast majority of the time if a coach is staring me down he's going to be ignored. I'll manipulate a coach into showing at least some respect. I'm not going to reward a coach for being a clown with the wonderful words that always come out of my mouth.