There's the start of the swing and the motion of the arm. The same thing that happens between 1 and 2 (etc.). No one is complaining "hey -- you stopped your count" during that interval

Look.

You are getting five arm movements. You can also count 1001 or 1 Mississippi I don’t care. By the time my arm gets out and back you’ve gotten 1 of those, you get 5 full ones. And as per Roman generals instructions a distinct pause after last chop before whistle blows.

My arms start down by my side. When I deem ball at disposal, I start counting "one thousand...". When I start count in my head my arm comes up to my chest. It goes out as I say "one." It comes in to my body as I say"one thousand"....and back out when I say "2." And so on. The visual indicator at the start is my arm going up to my chest.

Starting count - at 0 or 1?
 

Totally agree. Some simple things we over complicate. Count 1-5. If you make it to five blow your whistle.


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Sure, everyone's input is great and makes sense. I am not trying to complicate the count. I am trying to answer one single question: Is there a count without a visual signal? Unless you visually signal an arm movement at 0, the answer is yes.

Another thread had a debate as to when the ball was at the disposal of an inbounder, the visual 5 second count, etc. It is clear that the ball can be at the disposal of a player and a count started but yet, not a visual signal.

You are way, way, way overthinking this. The whole point of the arm movement is it takes a second--five arm movements = five seconds. So the arm movement should be starting at the time the official is starting the count. Is there going to be some fraction of a second between the time the official decide its time to start the count and the time a spectator can recognize the visual movement of the arm? Sure. But who cares.

(If that doesn't do it, think of a the difference between a clock that counts down from 8:00 in whole seconds and one that shows the hundredths. Typically the clock that only shows seconds won't move for a second; but the clock that shows hundredths instantly goes to 7:59.99. Those scrolling hundredths are the same as your moving arm.)

When my arm is going out I count "one thousand" when it comes back and touches my chest I count "one."

I always hear from coaches that I count fast. I just put a stop watch on my count. I'm actually about 6.5 seconds. 5 seconds goes by REALLY fast.