I have a question, had a game last night and the player were constantly complaining about calls. A1 got 2 fouls back to back because of extending his arms straight out when B1 was trying to put a rebound back up. He was definately initiating the contact (A1). So, his complaining was out of fustration, he was not a team captian and I ask him to keep his comments to hisself and told the coach too. Should I have popped him with a "T" there after for further comments?

rob.wilson,
Other people's children .... :rolleyes:
(<I>Sounds like a lower level game.</I>)

If you hafta ask, then no, don't "T" 'im.
I probably would if it continued after the fore-warning, but I may have quickly explained to him his problem instead of just telling him to keep quiet.
mick

You also told the coach to keep his comments to "hisself", or you told the coach about your warning to A1? Also, did you specifically warn A1 that A Technical foul would follow any such additional comments? Did you attempt to enlist the help of a captain?

Technical fouls are a powerful tool in our arsenal and are typically (when applied to unsporting behavior)reserved to counter egregious conduct. Is A1's additional comments and/or behavior unsportmanlike and/or are others able to hear/see it? If so I'm probably assessing a T. If not I'm probably trying to see how I can keep the game going smoothly.

You did right by telling the player to keep his comments to himself. Let the coach do the talking for him.

I will give a coach the opportunity to voice his opinion on how the game is going, just as long as he does not get personal. On the other hand I will take nothing from the players. Doing both jr high and high school varsity basketball, it seems the players and coaches watch to much college and NBA basketball and they think the game should be officiated and played as such.

Sportsmanship is something I feel is falling by the wayside. Coaches,players,parents are getting way of out hand.

Actually I told the coach that he was complaining...this was a BJV game, rival schools.....he actually calmed down when he realized what he was doing was wrong.

Rob, it sounds like you got this one right and you did't need to go the "T" route and hopefully the rest of the game went smooth as well.

To clarify, if I'm looking to assess a T for unsportmanslike behavior on a player and now choose instead to warn him, I want to make sure my warning is clear: "Additional comments like that and you've got a "T"! or, "That's enough"! etc. To say 'keep your comments to yourself' doesn't seem like a clear enough warning,IMO. Of course your body language, tone and volume all come into play and maybe that with the verbage you chose gave a clear warning.

I had a similar situation last season (JV game) where the players were constantly making comments after calls and no-calls. During the next dead ball I called both coaches to the table and told them what was going on. I then said that they could stop this behavior with some well-chosen words to their players but MY only way to stop it was with a whistle(s). I told them in no uncertain terms that Ts would soon be forthcoming. I didn't hear another word from anyone the rest of the game.

Clay is right
 

I absolutely agree that sportsmanship is falling by the wayside. It seems like fewer and fewer people are playing the game to have fun. We'd rather worry about how fair it is and complain about the rules. OK, so I'm overgeneralizing, but I believe it is a trend that we see much more now than 10 or 15 years ago.

Last year I had a BJV game in which everybody had the "Who me?" act after any called foul and an indignant look after every no-call. I finally held the ball before administering a free throw and said, "OK guys, I realize that none of you has EVER committed a foul before tonight. Yet somehow, each one of you is being hacked every time you go up for a shot! Come on, guys, lets just play the game!" Everyone laughed and we moved on. If the coaches won't teach the kids that GAMES are FUN, I will do my best to do it!

Not too bad, mplagrow ! :)

davidw,
I would suggest being careful saying that any other comments (or whatever) will bring a "T" as that might sound like a threat and you may back yourself into a corner and have to give one when you do not want to. I definitly agree with the clear warning and if I see improvement I will consider saying something positive to him (something short and sweet but positive) like "much better 12 or nice job".

What you say
 

The less you say on the court will give more impact to what you say when you say it.

A JV game involves 13,14 and 15 year olds generally. Sportsmanship is very important at this level and we should have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior from kids. Telling him you are going to give him a T is a threat. I've done this, sure, and I was told by an evaluator not to do it again. I haven't done that in quite some time. Whether it is unsporting behavior or constant physical play, I always tell my partner(s) in the locker room "we will be able to find 10 players that want to play tonight." We cannot allow kids to run our games and constantly complain about everything. These kids will make us look foolish in the end if we let them slide in the beginning of the game. It is just like foul calls, we have to call it early so we can avoid it late or call it late and be consistent.
The words I say go for me too.