Things the Mechanics Manual Doesn't Tell You

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Is there an advantage to walking and talking vs reporting from a stationary position in the reporting area? This is a mechanic that some high school and men's college officials do, even though it is not approved for those levels.

IMO, stationary reporting allows the scorer to better see and understand the information that the official is giving on fouls, but walking and talking may be faster for the official.

Advantage? Not really. It is probably done because it often does not matter if you stop or not in most cases. For the record, both Men's College and HS have the same table reporting mechanics as it relates to procedures. If you use your voice and clear the players, it really matters little if you are completely stopped or you are moving a little bit.

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

I understand that when new, follow the book when in doubt. When I get more experienced, then I can deviate if allowed to by local assigners. If I move up to higher-level college (D2/D1), as long as I use proper HS floor coverage, I can use college signals in a HS game (although I'll probably try not to mix the two). If I get to the G-League, this becomes irrelevant .

I think most officials make an effort to use the mechanics that are subscribed in the book when we start. But then you realize that there are things no one really cares about or holds you to in much detail. I know for me the more experienced I got, the less anyone worried about when I stopped reporting a foul because I handled coaches or players a certain way.

Peace