2 minutes left in a close girls varsity game. Team B calls a timeout. During timeout, coach from team A comes over to me and informs me B1 has threatened A1 with physical abuse i.e., she's going to punch her lights out next time up the court. How would you handle this potentially dangerous situation? I'm going to hold off telling you what I did because I don't want it to influence your opinions/thoughts. Thanks.

__________________________________________________ ________
"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."--Albert Einstein

I would tell the coach, "Okay, I'll keep an eye on her."

And that's what I'd do.

But I'm not going to play "He said, she said."

I think this is all you can do at this point.

Let me add that I believed A1 coach - B1 had threatened the other player - B1 was big, physical, brash, "in your face" kind of player who definitely was capable of threatening players. And saying I'd keep an eye on her was too reactive, passive, insufficient....I wanted to AVOID issuing any flagrants. Up until now game had been exciting, clean, contest between 2 evenly matched teams - I wanted tokeep it that way.

Pull both coaches and both players together and tell the players, "I dont know and I don't want to know who started any problems you two may be having, but there will be no <b>"insert your phrasing here"</b> going on out there (the court)."
Most questions that come up after that can be answered by,
"That's not important, lets just play ball."

Hmm, but I didnt want to single out these 2 players. I was concerned that A1 would suffer repercusions from B1 possibly after the game????

Since I haven't herad any other opinions/thoughts, I'll tell you what I did and maybe that will generate agreement/disagreement.

First, I went to team B bench. I told them, without mentioning any names, that they were allowed to talk among their own teammates. Any other talking, would not be allowed and if it occurred a T would be issued in accordance with the good sportsmanship rule. B1 gave a sneer and a look of disgust. Her coach told B1 and the rest of his players to abide by what I said. He was in full agreement. I told them I was giving the same instructions to team A.

I then went over to Team A bench and gave the same schpeel (or speech if you are not from NY).

By the way team B was leading by one at the time and ended up winning the game by the same margin. No incidents the rest of the game. Both coaches came over to me after the game and applauded me for the way I handled the situation. I lucked out this time. You win some, you lose some, and a few get rained out!

I've had a game suspended due to a electrical surge, but I have yet in 20 years to have a basketball game rained out ;)

You didn't luck out. YOu won out in this situation by your capability and panache. Great job!

I've had 2 games rained out - both in old high schools with leaky roofs. Water on the court, and just too dangerous to play. Also had kinda similar one with a wet floor, but couldn't really call it a rain-out. Visiting JV team, before they left their dressing room after their game, put towels over the drains and then left the showers running. The visiting Varsity team was in a different dressing room. About 5 minutes into the first quarter of the Varsity game, we had water pouring out onto the court from under the door to that dressing room. Ended up having to call the game. Lots of suspensions, etc. on that one.

Is this not one of those situations though where maybe saying something is not called for??? Just me, but it seems like it comes close to an official physically restraining players from coming off the bench during a fight. The official has in essence prevented action that could be beneficial to the other team. Now maybe that is the response that Coach A wanted, but then again in a close game I'm sure he wouldn't have minded having 2 extra FT's and one of B's "big, physical" players off the court. I just think saying anything tip-toes the line between coaching and officiating.

I do want to make it clear that I'm not condoning letting players duke it out or letting play get overly rough, but in my opinion, the way to stop it is enforcing the rules and popping her with a Flagarent or Tech when the sitch calls for it.

Then you haven't been officiating enough basketball :D

I'm sorry, I don't buy it for a minute. That's like the cops saying they can't do anything until after a crime is committed. The fact is, they, and you, can do something. TravelinMan did something. BRAVO! Ignoring it could have led to serious injury, a major brawl, and who knows what else. If you are in a position to do something to keep that from happening, I believe your moral responsibility <b>far</b> outweighs the need for detachment. I could go on about reporters watching a kid die to get the photo rather than providing care and the like (I guess I just did), but I won't rant any more.

I've only had one leaky (lotsa towels)almost finished, new school roof. :)
mick

In that case, I think your actions were best. But I am curious about the repercussions after the game part. Did you think there would be a fight? How well did you know the player in question? Games are frequently closely contested with words and a push here or there, what made this one different?

Regardless of the answers to those questions, I still think your actions were best.