Lost Contact Lens and Timeout
 

A1 loses a contact lens during a live ball and calls a timeout because the lens is lost. Is the timeout charged?

The quick and dirty answer is: NO! Why? Players and Head Coaches 'request" at TO and Game Officials 'grant the request'.

Now lets look at the Situation: Glasses (and contact lenses) are Equipment, they are not part of a Player's Uniform (shoes are not Equipment but are part of the Player's Uniform, and, with apologies to the late J. Dallas Shirley, when they become untied are not to be treated as a pair of glasses that have come off. This is a discussion for another thread but my position can be found in many previous threads which one can search for in the Forum.).

When a Player loses his/her glasses or contact lenses, stop the Game at the appropriate time. If it is a contact it is entirely appropriate for the Game to be stopped for a short period of time to search for the Contact. If not found immediately, the Player is to be treated as an Injured and Ill Player and be replaced or his/her Team can use the TO protocol to keep said Player in the Game.

MTD, Sr.

EDITED on Dec. 19/Thu.(10:51pmEST), 2024:
1) Delete sentence in RED. RATIONALE for deletion: I was in bed responding using my phone and did not proof read what I wrote.
2) Replace deleted sentence with: If the Player's HC comes onto the Court to attend to the Player, the Player is to be treated as an Injured/Ill Player and must be replaced or his/her Team can use the TO protocol to keep the Player in the Game.

Thanks Mark. I agree with you but have found no rule or case book play to support.

I always stop play immediately when glasses come off. Contacts , I would never see those. So understanding you, player can request a TO to find a contact and I treat it similar to how I would had I stopped it myself - say for glasses.

Ask And It Will Be Given To You (Matthew 7:7) ...
 

5-11-4-Exception-A: No time-out is charged: If, in 5-8-3 (grants and signals a player’s/head coach’s oral or visual request for a time-out) the player’s request results from displaced eyeglasses or lens.

Sorry Mark T. DeNucci, I find no rule support for your statement above. Citation please.

Ancient Times ...
 

Thirty-five years ago, when contacts first became popular, we were encouraged to ask captains in pregames who wore contact lenses on their team and to mark it in the scorebook, seemingly to prevent "free" timeouts. That procedure went out of fashion real fast as the number players with contact lenses increased exponentially.

We were asking the Captains as early as the mid-1970s and after officiating and having a deaf female student-athlete. who did not wear her hearing aids, who played for Miami-Dade C.C.-North and then played or Florida International University I also would ask about hearing aids and also have those marked in the Scorebook.

MTD, Sr.

Please see the above EDITS.

MTD, Sr.