I am also a perfectionist for things that I am passionate about (in this case basketball officiating). Otherwise I wouldn't be on this forum, reading the books, and asking so many questions about mechanics and other aspects of officiating.

Now I know to just fall back on the book when in doubt, because if I am working with people that I do not know, they will understand when I use mechanics as in whatever the appropriate manual for the type of game is.

Being on this forum should be a tool, not the end all be all of your officiating experience. That is kind of the point of what most of us have been trying to say to you here. And as you get more experience, you will see what is important to those all over the place and what is not at all important. Many of these things you ask you, might be individually important, but not important to everyone that officiates. Either way, you will have to adjust. Good luck with what you do.

Peace

How Do You Find Out ???
 

Good thought, but remember, in regard to high school games, your local association may do some things differently than the manual. It's up to you to find out when to follow the manual, and when to do otherwise. How do you find out? Think back to your local association's original floor training. Listen to your local interpreter/trainer/clinician during the training part of your regular association meetings. Directly ask your local interpreter/trainer/clinician if you have any mechanics questions (rather than asking us here on the Forum).

I'm lucky in that my local board follows the IAABO manual 98% of the time, so if I have a question, I can just look it up. But we do differ in a few aspects of mechanics. For example, we point to floor for two point field goal try when shooter has a foot touching three point line. You won't find that in the IAABO Mechanics Manual.

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.J...=0&w=230&h=171

FTR I do this and it's not in the NFHS manual (which we use in SC) nor explicitly approved by our powers-that-be. So, this would be one example where an official (me) uses an "unapproved" signal, but nobody who matters is going to lose sleep over it.

Bona Fide ...
 

The "touching the three point line" signal is unapproved by IAABO International, but is 100% bona fide approved by our Connecticut State board, as well as our local board.

https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.W...=0&w=229&h=164

https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.F...=0&w=233&h=176

It's the ultimate punishment for a basketball official.