a trend continues

[just another ref]

I stopped at the local high school last week and watched practice for a little while. Varsity boys were doing a drill: rebound, outlet, fill the lane, pull up top of the key, hit the cutter for a layup. I was only half watching at first while talking to someone, but it caught my eye anyway. travel.....travel......travel Finally I watched while the whole team went one time through this drill. Twelve guys involved,(six pairs) six trips down the court, five travels. A couple were marginal, perhaps, but I feel sure that I would have called at least three. Finally I heard the coach tell one guy to "keep your feet quiet" when you make the pass. I know this was only a drill but I feel you play like you practice. Most of this shuffling, etc. I feel is the result of more and more "inconsequential" travels not being called the last few years. Do some of us here have a policy, perhaps unwritten and unspoken, of applying advantage/disadvantage to violations in general and traveling very much in particular. The problem as I see it is the same as many other areas on and off the court: The more you give them, the more they will take.

[jritchie]

the more we let them look like the nba the more they will try to be like them.... But another question, does this school not have a specific date before they can start practicing, i know here in kentucky we can't do anything with basketball until October 15th??? we can have open gym as long as it's open to everyone, including non players...

[just another ref]

Originally posted by jritchie
does this school not have a specific date before they can start practicing, i know here in kentucky we can't do anything with basketball until October 15th???

Small schools around here (classes B & C) which have no football, start basketball more or less whenever school starts. Jr. high games start next week. Varsity games start in mid-October.

[lrpalmer3]

I went to the camp where a college coordinator of officials told us NEVER to call travelling unless its rediculous.

I then had the opportunity to work with a D1 official in a high school tourney. I passed on a couple border-line travelling calls and the other official ripped me a new one, I mean, constructively criticized me at half time.

This situation is like so many others, when in Rome.....

[zebraman]

Originally posted by lrpalmer3
I went to the camp where a college coordinator of officials told us NEVER to call travelling unless its rediculous.

Those kinds of comments always drive me nuts. I wonder if he really meant to say "call it if it's obvious" rather than ridiculous. I think that either extreme is bad. Ignoring a travel hurts the game. One official calling 15 travels per game hurts the game too. Common sense, just call the travels you are sure of.

I then had the opportunity to work with a D1 official in a high school tourney. I passed on a couple border-line travelling calls and the other official ripped me a new one, I mean, constructively criticized me at half time.

Good for him. I appreciate college officials who realize that the high school game is different and that the FED wants to call it a little more "by the book."

This situation is like so many others, when in Rome.....

Yep.

Z

[SF]

If I'm not sure it's a travel, I won't call it. But, if I am sure, regardless of how advantageous or not it is, I will call a travel. Some officials I have worked with won't call any but the blatant ones, but that's not my style.

[Tim Roden]

A lot of this is how we call JH ball. I know when I call JH, especially the B level games, I sometimes don't call it until they take their 5th step. If I called every travel at that level, we would be there all night with a 0-0 score. At the High School level(freshman up) we need to call every thing that the rule book says is a travel whether the d1 official agrees with it or not. The kids need to learn how to do a jump stop and not get happy feet. On several evaluation forms I have used over the years, the question was there as to whether or not you felt like the official being evaluated was aware of the pivot foot.

[ChrisSportsFan]

When it comes to traveling calls, the toughest one is when the kids do that jump thru between 2 defenders. Some kids are sooo athletic that it can be tough sometimes. Did they pickup their dribble jump stop and jump stop again, pickup their dribble mid jump stop, you know all the variations. There are many atletic kids that can do this without traveling and then there are those that can't and I don't want to reward them with a layup. What do you guys look for with this move?

[JRutledge]

Call the obvious travels and leave it at that. If you "think" they traveled, they did not. If you know they traveled, you blow the whistle. That simple. The more experience you have, the easier it is to notice those kinds of things.

Peace

[jdccpa]

If I were coaching a high school team I would invite a ref on ocassion to practice to blow the whistle and point out the travels, violations and fouls. I too have observed practices where the coach was letting travels go and in fact teaching the kids moves that would be called fouls by most refs during a game.

[ChrisSportsFan]

I like jdccpa's idea and have done that for both of my kids teams. We've also had a portion of a practice early in the season where I could go over some rules with them and it seems to help. Now they're 11 and 14 and have a pretty good understanding what the rules are vs the myths. This year my daughter will play HS ball and I'd like to offer my services to their coach but don't want to step on his toes or offend him. (as if he doesn't already know the rules). LOL

[TimTaylor]

Originally posted by jdccpa
If I were coaching a high school team I would invite a ref on ocassion to practice to blow the whistle and point out the travels, violations and fouls. I too have observed practices where the coach was letting travels go and in fact teaching the kids moves that would be called fouls by most refs during a game.

Our association does this. Most of the schools in our service area schedule a pre-season scrimmage, quite often in conjunction with a "parents night". It gives the players a chance to experience what the limits are before their first competitive game.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by zebraman
One official calling 15 travels per game hurts the game too. Z

A team traveling 15 times in one game and it not getting called is worse.

If a team travels 50 times in a game in my area they are going to get called 50 times by me. Please explain the logic of not calling travels when they occur.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett

A team traveling 15 times in one game and it not getting called is worse.

If a team travels 50 times in a game in my area they are going to get called 50 times by me. Please explain the logic of not calling travels when they occur.

Hey, it's good to see you back. Especially since I've passed you this summer in number of posts.

Are you coming to my camp? Nov 5,6. You and Joe D would make a great TBA team!

How's the campaign goin'?

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by TimTaylor

Our association does this. Most of the schools in our service area schedule a pre-season scrimmage, quite often in conjunction with a "parents night". It gives the players a chance to experience what the limits are before their first competitive game.

And it's the one time you can call it and call it and call it, and the coaches say thanks!