How involved should you become

[blindzebra]

Originally posted by Hawks Coach
blindzebra
You are right, nobody said skip the fouls. However, my experience has been that it is a slippery slope, and giving the benefit of the doubt on violations slides into giving the benefit of the doubt on contact. And then it gets ugly, and people get hurt. The problem is not all refs make this distinction that you are making, despite what is said here.

If you can keep your leniency to missing a couple of violations, I have no problem with that. I am not one who is big on calling every travel when a team is completely overmatched and down by 40 points. Frequently they can't even initiate their offense, so letting a little marginal stuff slide is no big deal to me. If it lets them play a little more and keeps the game flowing a bit better, you be the judge. And if it is a team that could compete but is screwing up, you can usaully see the difference. In those cases, keep calling your game because you could be a momentum swinger by changing.

But the obvious mismatches are obvious - do what you feel comfortable doing as long as you aren't jeopardizing safety.

That is actually my chief concern in this philosophy.I've
seen plenty of over matched teams getting killed and their frustration grows.Over matched players will usually commit
more fouls,that is why I'm more likely to call marginal stuff on the team that is up by a lot.Their play is frustrating them and the last thing that game needs is for it to be 9-1 in fouls against them too.I'd prefer to avoid
it's 7 on 5 out here,so I'll call things tighter on the team with the big lead,especially if they are still pressing.

I'd never stop calling fouls on the team behind,but I'll try not to increase that frustration level that could lead
to hard fouls and players getting hurt.

I always talk to the players,my games will always have plenty of,"Good take,nice pass,that's good hustle," but I'll usually talk more during blow outs,especially with the younger kids.Again if they hear encouragement for playing hard,the right way,the score has less emphasis and things don't get out of hand.

We don't officiate in a vacuum,so every game won't be a close,well played and even match up.We make judgments based on the rules and the level of play.We make judgments based on advantage/disadvantage and flow of the game.We make judgments for game management reasons.

That is a lot of balls we our juggling,their is no perfect
answer to this,but safety should never be ignored.