Safety

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Mine was also a safety-related issue requiring the game to not be played

You are overvaluing the safety factor of officials. Kids have been safely playing basketball on playgrounds and in gyms with no officials for a hundred years. Games with three officials are probably a little safer than games with two officials. Games with two officials are probably a little safer than games with one official. Games with one official are safer than games with no official. Associations/states have come up with somewhat arbitrary numbers that will allow for games to be played safely. For some areas it's one official. For others it may be two officials. Heck, some states have one person mechanic guidelines in place.

I find it odd that a state that won't allow a game to start with only one official will allow it to continue with one official if the other gets hurt. Are they, or aren't they, admitting that the game can be safely, or not safely, played with one official? Is this a lawsuit waiting to happen if the game is allowed to continue with just one official? There must be reasons in addition to safety why such states would allow such?

It's unsafe to play the first minute with less than two officials, but it's safe to play the remaining thirty-one minutes with just one official? If it was mostly about safety, these states wouldn't allow such to occur.

Are the powers that be in Wisconsin (thirty-one minutes with one) more concerned about player safety than the powers to be in Connecticut (thirty-two minutes with one)?

Do states think that middle school kids can be safe with one, but not varsity high school kids?

The worst injury I ever saw in a basketball game was a compound arm fracture. Middle school game. Blood all over the place. Four officials in that game would not have prevented that injury.

Second worst injury I ever saw in a basketball game was a dislocated elbow. Girls varsity game. I can still hear her screams thirty years later. Four officials in that game would not have prevented that injury.

Or, does the number of officials have more to do with the validity and impact of the game's outcome (in addition to safety)?

In my opinion (and in the opinion of many states) one very high quality official can safely keep control of a varsity game.

I won't say the same thing about the validity and impact of the game's outcome.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Mine was also a safety-related issue requiring the game to not be played

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Second worst injury I ever saw in a basketball game was a dislocated elbow. Girls varsity game. I can still hear her screams thirty years later. Four officials in that game would not have prevented that injury.

I've been involved with basketball for over fifty years, as a player, coach, fan, parent, and official.

Almost all injuries are a result of wrong place, wrong time, wrong angle, wrong landing, preexisting injury, accidents, bad luck, etc., not because of anything the official did, or didn't do. Players take off balance shots trying to avoid blocked shots, kids jump off balance trying to block shots, kids dive into bleachers trying to save balls heading out of bounds, kids trip over their own feet, kids trip over teammate's feet, kids trip over opponent's feet, and yes, sometimes kids are tripped by opponents, often with a foul being called. Some happened when a player is fouled, almost always with the foul being called by an official, and it's often not a "hard" foul, but an ordinary foul.

One of my players once broke both wrists after being fouled on a shot attempt. Official called an intentional foul. Nothing the officials did, or didn't, do previous to this could have prevented this foul by an aggressive off the bench player late in a blowout game.

How many times each season do we hear coaches say, "Better call some fouls or somebody will get hurt".

Of course that's coach-speak for, "Better call some fouls on the other team or somebody on my team will get hurt", or, "Better call some fouls on the other team so we can get some free throws because we can't make a field goal to save our life", or, "Better call some fouls on the other team so we can get their best player in foul trouble".

I hope that most Forum members wouldn't say to the coach, "Sure coach, glad to oblige, I agree that this game has been called in an unsafe manner and that we need to make this game as safe as we can, I'll be glad to call more fouls". Most officials would simply answer (if the coach was well behaved and deserved an answer) "We'll keep our eyes open coach".

That being said, that's not the same thing as my partner and I getting together and discussing that things seem to have gotten a little "chippy" and that we may want to call the game a little tighter. In fact, here in my little corner of Connecticut, we have an unofficial signal that we use to communicate such, to stay on the same page, stick out your fist and turn it like tightening a valve.