Coach got physical!!

rainmaker · #1 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 02:01am

Hope nobody minds if I brag a little.

Close game.End of third quarter. A1 is tall and is holding the ball up over her head. B1 is jumping up trying to jar the ball loose. This is happening right in front of B's bench. Coach A sees that his player is in trouble. Calls for time-out. By the time I blew my whistle, of course, B1 had indeed knocked the ball loose, and was grabbing it. Coach B goes postal. I went to the table, reported the time-out, turned to give whatever niformation he might accept. He screamed, "Suzy was touching the ball, you can't call time out when the other team is touching the ball." I said, "I am allowed to call a time-out if A has possession, which she did. The moment that matters is when I recognize and begin to blow, which I did before your player got the ball. Sorry, coach, I'm not going to change my mind." I turned to walk away. He followed me out onto the court yelling at full volume. In the jump circle, I turned around and gave the stop sign and said the "E" word. Didn't even phase him. Tweet! "T" Now he was about five feet away, between me and the table. I took one step toward the table and sort of to the side, he stepped up and chested up to me like a teen-age boy challenging a rival. He actually made contact!! I remembered something our teacher had just said in class this last week aobut the physical power of the whistle, so I gave another good, loud tweet. He was the one who put his ear in the way!! And another "T". By now the assistant was out on the floor and got him out the door.

The amazing thing was how calm I felt. I was really focusing all day on keeping my cool and handling the coaches, and it went great!! I really did it!! Wow, I felt very proud and pleased.

To top it all off, he came up after the game and apologized!! He MAY have been afraid of prosecution, but he managed to sound sincere and a little ashamed of himself, so I graciously forgave him and shook his hand and congratulated him on how much his players have improved since I saw them in early January. Boy did I feel big and mature and cool.

Thanks to all the personal attention I have received from you all. I have really done some learning this week, and I am ready for my eval tomorrow. The world is my oyster!

BigDave · #2 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 02:06am

Great job on handling a tough situation. But now you have to finish handling the situation. Report this to the proper personnel. It was an ejection and must be reported. Don't let the "nice guy" stint at the end throw you off. If he acted this way tonight, I'm sure he will do it again.

Once again, kudos on the way you handled yourself!

rainmaker · #3 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 02:38am

Don't worry, years with a teen-age daughter have taught me a healthy scepticism about apologies. The authorities already know, and in fact, the AD-type person was there in the gym as the sitch unfolded. He was very impressed with me, and told me so. I'm going to try to not let it go to my head.

mick · #4 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 09:06am

Quote:

Originally posted by rainmaker
Don't worry, years with a teen-age daughter have taught me a healthy scepticism about apologies. The authorities already know, and in fact, the AD-type person was there in the gym as the sitch unfolded. He was very impressed with me, and told me so. I'm going to try to not let it go to my head.

Cool Jewel.

Brian Watson · #5 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 09:10am

We're not worthy! We're not worthy.

bob jenkins · #6 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 10:10am

Juulie --

Grreat job. I can see the difference just reading the post -- before you would have said something like, "Did I do the right thing?" or "I was so nervous that I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the game and couldn't find my car in the parking lot afterward."

Giving Ts with the same matter-of-factness as you report a "hold" or a "push" is a sign of real growth in an official.

(Now, go make sure your head still fits through the neck opening on your shirt.)

winston robinson · #7 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 03:59pm

Two thumbs up!!! But , as mentioned earlier, a report of this violation is mandatory. You have to protect the next crew he may try this with.

Mark Padgett · #8 (**permalink**) Mon Feb 12, 2001, 05:01pm

Juulie - great job. And you didn't even need Dan or me to help!

BTW - why don't you email me at home and let me know the teams and the coach? Thanks.

Also - BTW - in another thread you asked about a mentor. Until you get someone to agree to do this, my suggestion is to think about the different characteristics of certain refs you admire and put together a composite model in your head. Then, try to emulate this model.

P.S. - you might want to think twice about including Dave