new ref about to get started

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by totalnewbie
Here is a quesiton. I appreciate why teh rule book is organized how it is organized, but it isnt exactly a model of clarity. Is there any reference that does a better job breaking down the types of fouls and violations, etc?

Clark

As a lawyer, you will find this very frustrating. The most blatant problem is that words that sound just like normal American-English words are used with specific jargon-type meanings, but there aren't necessarily clear, concise definitions anywhere. Compounding this problem, coaches who read the rule book and think they understand the situation don't know about the "altered" meanings of normal words, and thus unknowingly design plays and coach their kids in ways that are illegal.

An example is rule 9-3. It says, "A player shall not cause the ball to go out of bounds." That sounds pretty straightforward, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the average Joe who offers to coach his nephew's 7th grade team doesn't realize that "cause" has a specific definition which is much different from the one he would use in everyday conversation. The rule book does clarify in 7-2-1, "The ball is caused to go out of bounds by the last player in bounds to touch it or be touched by it, unless..." But that doesn't necessarily make it any easier to understand. Why not just change 9-3 to say, "A player shall not be the last to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds."? A similar muddying of the waters occurs on the subject of the backcourt violation.

The only thing you can do is to keep asking questions, keep reading, keep studying. And think up reasonable explanations for the few coaches who try to study the rule book, but haven't yet learned the rules.