Do you stop the clock with your right hand and then put your right hand behind your head? Or do you stop with the right and use the left hand for the charge signal? Or do you immediatley give the left hand behind the head and a "going the other way" signal? I have seen a bunch of different mechanics and wanted to see what was used most often on this board.

As you probably know, Ben, the correct mechanic is to stop the clock, give the player control signal, and then point direction all with the same hand.

My habit is to stop the clock with my right hand. Then I go to the PC signal with the right hand and point direction with my left.

I'm not recommending this, however, as I got dinged for it in my last college evaluation.

Depends. How's that for an answer?

If the PC foul is right in front of me, CLEARLY in my primary where my partner would NEVER double whistle, I will come up immediately with my right hand behind my head and punch with my left hand. I then do something that annoys the people that can cite the NFHS mechanics manual front to back and give a loud and authoritative "OFFENSE!" or "THAT WAY!" Sometimes I neglect the PC signal.

If the contact is in a double-whistle area I'll come up with a fist and get quick eye contact with my partner -- if he's not making a call, see the previous paragraph. If my partner is making a call, then our pregame will determine who makes the call unless one of us sees something prior to the primary contact.

Rich

NF mechanic
 

In the back of the NF books, I noticed the signal chart. It shows the calling official raise his right hand to signal foul as always, and then using the right hand to signal the player control foul. I've seen it done a couple ways too, but just sharing what I see here.

hope this helps

maz

Chuck,

Did the evaluator care whether the call was correct?

Rich

I understand what the "Proper" mechanic is, but rarely do I see it called that way. I am just curious how others handle it. I find myself stopping the clock with my right hand, giving the signal with my left and pointing the other direction with my right.

The approved mechanic has already been stated: stop clock, player control signal, new direction all with the same hand. I also find myself using the women's college mechanic which I think is a powerful signal...just a punch with the right hand in the direction the ball is going. I try to use the NFHS approved mechanic but I find it hard not to use the punch, especially if I have just done a women's game the night before.

Not sure, but I think even the women's mechanic is to stop the clock first.

We all knew the call was correct, so that wasn't an issue ;)

Sell the Call
 

If it's a close call that I need to sell, I go up with fist, PC with rt hand and then punch with left and loudly say "offensive" or "this way", (must be a regionsl thing Rich). If I don't need to sell it, I leave out the punch and use the "offical" mechanic of signalling direction with right hand.

Mregor

Cannot say I do.
 

I do not think I ever raise my hand. I just signal the with the hand behind my head and my fist pointed the other way. I have been doing it like that for awhile now, and I have never been told to stop by anyone. I think this is an issue for your local folks to deal with and most in my area realize that no one is going to "sell" the call by doing this.

Peace

That's me!

But I NEVER say "That way!" Aaargh, I hate that!! :D

I've really experimented with this one the last couple of years. I used to do like JR except the hand pointing the new direction was not a fist but and open hand.

Last year early in the season I tried to use the procedure as outlined in the manual--3 seperate signals all with the same hand.

What I found was in the process of doing that I generated more negative response from players, coaches and fans as they saw the foul call and then over the course of the rest of the signally mechanic, realized it was going to be a PC. The time delay seemed to generate the additional neg. responses.

Noticing this I went back to my old format. One hand behind head and other one pointing the direction and because of my diminutive stature, I would usually take a step or two onto the court while doing this. It might seem strange, but I found once I went back to that, there were fewer people going crazy. I think it is because the quicker signaling leaves less time for confusion, less confusion, less controversy. Anyone else notice anything like this?

Anyway, my observations.

[Edited by davidw on Dec 11th, 2003 at 02:08 PM]

The 3 step mechanic with the right hand looks goofy and takes too long.

Skipping the "stop clock" signal looks really cool, unless you happen to be working with a partner who also skips the stop clock signal. Oooooooooops!