I have recently been getting interested in the idea of having a bare whistle, without a lanyard. I have seen Javy and a couple of NCAA-W officials with it. It looks intriguing.

I was wondering if any of you guys have tried this, if so what are some of the methods you have used?

Use a lanyard because thats what the mechanics book says to do. You only get away with that in the NBA or if you've been in college ball a REALLY REALLY long time. I was not using a lanyard for a while and I prefer to not use one. No one from my Assc. ever came down on me about but a few senior officials mentioned I should be using one. Trick is to remeber to catch it or take it out of your mouth. It helps me slow down soo much more than if I dont have one. I would usually blow the whistle and take it out with my unraised hand either tuck it in the waistbelt, drop it in the right pocket or just hold it depeneding on what was going on and what foul I had to report. In the course of the season that I was WITHOUT a lanyard I only dropped my whistle 5 times and that was only because some wierd situation was about to happen and I didnt have time to process my "catch, secure, move" routine. Try it in some AAU Games or something. I'll probably be without a Lanyard from now until next season with the exception of camps. Dont use a finger whistle though..that just looks bad... take the ring off your whistle and practice catching it etc for awhile before you try going onto the court with it.

One of my mentors from this past season said:"You look good without one unless it looks like you've never done it before." (he hasnt used a lanyard in 3 years.)

What's the big deal!
 

Why bother? Is that one string hanging down from your neck that cumbersome? Isn't it more work having to worry about catching or putting your whistle in your pants?
I guess I just don't get it.

I was giving it a thought because I think it could enable an official to communicate slightly better on the floor. You could only have a whistle near you for the 2-3 seconds it takes to blow it and stow it. After that you don't have to worry about the thing around your neck, you can become a better communicator then by talking more, and not having the whistle in your mouth as a barrier.

I will probably give it a couple spins here this week in IM ball, and go from there.

It does help communication and I found that I was taking it out during fast breaks and stuff and i'll admit its nice sometimes to not have anything on ur shirt or kneck when bending over or whatever... It gave me more patient whistles and such. Even on those *bam * Bam* type plays the extra time I was forced to take made me look like I was more in control of myself and the game. The first time I put my lanyard back on ( iuse a noose) itook my whistle out with my hand and went to bring it down by my side... yeah- dont have to do that anymore... but the habits of slowing down still slightly linger.

I worked three or four rec games with a guy one time who was trying to get the hang of working without a lanyard. It was hilarious, and then tedious, and then annoying, because he kept forgetting and dropping the darn thing. He was such a good ref, though, and so popular that none of the coaches complained. Very interesting.