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!

I'm all for the stopping the clock part, but then using the right hand for the other two steps in sequence just doesn't seem right. I prefer stop clock with right hand, give signal with right hand and direction with left hand at the same time.

There are times when there is the book mechanic, and there are times when you have to sell the call.

The book shows right hand because most of us are right handed... Dont get wrapped up in that. By the book, it should be Fist high, behind the head and point with same hand... The NCAA men (not seen many NCAA games this year, I wonder why)got the one head behind the hand and the other hand pointing down to an art.

I like the NBA offesive signal , and I beleive the NCAA women us it...

I generally go behind head and point with same hand. ( NO fist) I like the punch but too often it is hard to get away with it... The more bang bang the play is the less I go up and stronger the punch...or throw. There are times when you just have to be on the call and make it fast and right.. I have seen too many guys go thru the NF routine to get the mechanics right and by the time they did everybody wonders what is happening? who the foul is on? and starts whining.

Hard and fast then -- ball is back in play no one will argue if you are strong ...

At the consistent request of my HS assignor, I do all 3 with the same hand in all HS games. I do them very fast to help sell the call. I put the fist up and down as fast as possible and immediately go to hand behind the head (Kelvin, I try to avoid the head behind the hand. That kind of looks like a British salute). Then point with open hand.
I agree that while the fist is in the air, it appears you are indecisive. Thus, I do it as fast as possible.

I've been told by one of the evaluators in my board, that you need to sell the call, and signal the player control signal or point the direction as soon as possible. So in other words i was told to skip the fist.

Isn't this coincidental that we're talking about this and its the mechanics question of the week over at the IAABO page.

What I do is stop the clock wiht my right hand, then come down with my right behind my head and point with my left. I see alot of NCAA officials doing the same. I think it looks good and nobody has really said anything about it.

Looks like it's me and rob against the world! :)

Actually......
 

In retrospect, I do raise my hand. I just do not do it for very long, then I go into the "selling" portion of my signal. I raise me right hand, then I put my left behind my head and punch with my right. Because it is so second nature, I really did not realize I even raised my hand until I had a game the other night. I might even throw in a "no basket" signal if that is at issue. I guess I do these things just to give myself a second to think about what I am going to call.

Peace

Try not to take it personally!

Who? Rob? Or me?

Just a bit of a story that will make me thing about putting my arm up. My dad got home from a game today, and told me that he had a charge without putting his arm up, but his partner had a block, also without the stop the clock mechanic. My dad gave up his call, because his partner was in better posistion, but the coach didn't like that too much. So, if in doubt about the call, raise the arm, and hold the signal.

Hey Ref18,

That is not good when you have double whistles, open hand and closed fist, we call the a blarge! Did you come together and discuss the call or did you just yeild to him? I had the same thing happen last night to me and my partner just took the call. Communication is the key!

This is exactly why I previously said that going right the PC signal looks cool. . . unless your partner also neglects to stop the clock.

Put up the fist. It doesn't take long, and the split second tells you whether you're going to have a problem or not.

I guess I have been watching Jim Burr too much. Sometimes I just go with "offense" point and take a couple of steps in the opposite direction. This is wrong, I know, but I have been influenced. It seems that most of these calls are obvious meaning that everyone sees the contact/crash. They just want to know which way you are going as soon as possible. Shame on me but this is what I do instinctively. I also bypass stopping the clock on out of bounds plays. This is a habit that has gone unnoticed in my college games. However I got marked down for it in a high school game. Changing my mechanics is harder than changing what rules I'm using for me. I know it is wrong but this is what I find myself doing.

Last night I was at the LSU vs Utah game. I had great seats, courtside, opposite of the Utah bench. During the game I got a chance to watch Teddy Valentine, Kerry Sitton, and Pat Adams up close and personal. Not that this is new information to any of you, but Mr. Valentine has a style all of his own. He does not use "textbook" mechanics, but he has no problem getting his point across to the players and coaches. Mr. Sitton on the other hand could not have been more "by the book". He did a fine job as well, but you could tell that the players and coaches were "sold" more on Teddy's calls.

A side note to that story, if anyone was watching the game you may have seen when Pat Adams called a block in the second half and ended up flat on his back (he slipped on a wet spot). The entire gym was rolling in their seats. I looked over at Teddy and noticed that he was looking away from the camera and right at us. He had his hand over his mouth so that you could not see the smirk on his face. About 10 seconds later he winks towards us and says "I really can not laugh, not too long ago I fell twice in the same game." I wanted to ask him if he ever fell in front of Bobby Knight.

[Edited by Ridgeben on Dec 17th, 2003 at 09:35 AM]

Alright, let me through this into the mix...
What about a PC call with a no basket signal? At what point in the sequence of arm waves do you signal that?

Wow, 3 years and a month later! Is that a record of some sort?

lol -- do we have a resolution or is it time for a philibuster?

I move to squash...

That is an official who is doing some serious archiving!

If a shot is involved, I raise my fist, then wave off the basket ("No basket!"), then point the opposite way ("Offense!"). Then I give the PC signal at the table.

By the book, I think you should give the "no basket" signal after you do the normal PC sequence. So you'd go:

1) Fist
2) Hand behind head (same hand as #1)
3) Point opposite direction (same hand as #2)
4) No basket signal.

I know I'm replying to a post over three years old, but I find myself doing the same thing - just a sharp point in the other direction. I don't think I bring my hand behind my head anymore until I'm reporting the foul.

I think if you work both fed and ncaa mens rules you would be wise to take the "wave the shot off" out of your regular sequence.

Good point. And it almost got me in trouble just last week at a D3 game. I had a charge and instinctively waved it off. Then, at the table, I was thinking, "Jeez, was it already out of his hand?" I asked my partners about it at halftime (both very accomplished D1 officials). They said, if it's that close, wave it off. That's what everybody expects anyway. If it's obvious, go ahead and count it, but on one that was that close, it was ok to wave it off.

But your point is very well taken.

Then you would have had a charge and no player control. Signals would be different.

Yep, as long as you remembered it when you blew the whistle. :)