I've had 3 unusual experiences in the last couple of weeks. Two were funny and involved my assistant telling players about avoiding getting called for "over the back" and making sure they NEVER spent more than 2 seconds in the lane or they would get called! LOL, it was hard to enlighten the girls without showing him up.

Anyway, the 3rd experience happened last night when one of my players was showing off her new earings to another one of my players. I pointed out that she was not allowed to wear them in games, and team rules said she wasn't allowed to wear them in practice either. Naturally, she had just had her ears pierced and was told not to remove the little suckers for 6 weeks. She suggested that she might be able to put band-aids over them for the game. Aside from being more than moderately PO'd at the young lady, I am in a quandry. Before the next game do I approach the officials and ask them if they will allow her to play with the band-aids in place, or, if she shows up with band-aids, do I use "If I can't see it, it's not there" logic and see if the officials do likewise? I'm certianly not in favor of breaking the rules, but if the officals at are next game are not going to look to be sticklers on this one, should I bring it to their attention?

As a parent of a basketball girl and an official- have her take those ear rings out before a game. The holes will not close up.
For safety sake avoid having her earlopes tearing when someone reaches for the ball.

stewcall in VA
CVBOA

Stewcall, that is my intent, however, I would rather not have to make her sit (if she has her own medical concerns) and hurting the other kids on the team through her absence. She is certainly not a star player, but neither is she one with an attitude. The earrings in question are tiny diamond studs, so the safety issue is not sever, although I do believe it is real.

Never ever let anyone participate with earrings in. Aside from the safety concerns, if she does manage to get hurt, or anyone else, you are liable, because you disregarded a rule that was put in place for safety's sake. Whenever I see someone with earrings in, i go up to them and tell them, in order to play the earrings must be removed. I've gotten quite a few angry mothers come up and yell at me, but its a small price to pay for an safe game.

In PIAA games in Pennsylvania, after reading the sportsmanship statement to the captains and coaches in the pre-game meeting, the referee asks each head coach if he can certify that his players are properly equipped. It's incumbent on me to verify that my players aren't wearing earrings, etc., and if they are, I guess that puts the responsibility on me also. I would never pretend not to see earrings.

If I had the book here, I'd give you the excerpt, but John Wooden tells a story about Bill Walton showing up for the first practice day of a season with a beard, against Wooden's no-facial-hair rule. Walton said that he should have the right as an American to have a beard, and Wooden told him something like "Bill, you absolutely have the right to keep that beard. And our team will miss you." The next day Walton showed up clean-shaven.

This one is simple. Tell her she has to take them out to play. That's the rules.

You can continue to explain that the reason for the rule is both her safety and the safety of the other players. If she and/or her parents don't understand, that's not your fault.

Every job I've ever had has always included the mantra of "Safety First, Last, and Always". It applies here.

Grail

CYO-- What I did when I was reffing lots of JrHi girls games was to carry a needle already threaded and clearly having been sterilized in a little empty pill bottle. When a girl said she couldn't take out her earrings, I offered her to run the thread through a couple of times. I didn't offer to do it, just that she or a friend could. I thought it might make the earrings easier to put back in. No one ever took me up on it though...

A suggestion made here in the past (perhaps by Juulie) has helped me. Rather than tell the player she must remove them, tell her that she cannot play with them in. Let her make the choice rather than you tell her to remove them. It's a somewhat subtle difference, but I seem to get better acceptance with that approach.