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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." |
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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." |
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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! |
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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. |
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mick |
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Regardless of the answers to those questions, I still think your actions were best. |
Thanks everybody for the responses. I consider it part of good game management to avoid technicals and flagrants wherever possible(please understand I am not saying it is poor game managment to call technicals/flagrants, in fact good game managemnt may demand technicals) . As I officiate more and more games, I find I get better at handling situations like this. There is no substitute for experience.
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__________________________________________________ ______ "Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it."--George Santayana |
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Say you'll watch for it, maybe talk to both team captains/coaches if you think it's warranted - seems about all you can do.
I was working a (flag) football game once where the offensive line of one team (my co-workers :eek:) kept coming up to me saying that a player on the opposite team (grad students in my department :eek:) was continually trash-talking and swearing at them when she went through the line. I kept on telling them I didn't hear anything (they claimed she was doing it quietly) and that I wasn't going to flag what I couldn't hear. Wouldn't have been any different no matter who was playing. |
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"YOU ARE LIKE SO NOT PRETTY!" |
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Mark - that's just the girls talking to you when you wear fishnets. :p |
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