One team "too rough"

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by ChuckElias

In this case, it served to shut the coach up for the rest of the night. Who cares why he shut up. A non-complaining coach almost always makes the game better for everybody involved.

I'm not condoning/condeming Mark's comments; just answering one particular question in your post.

I'm also not condemning your spelling misadventures, Mr. Language/Grammar/Spelling/Diction Person.

[Ref Daddy]

2 Issues herein: 1) Ref handling situation and 2) lopsided game based on player skills.

Issue 1 was addressed. What about issue 2?

Managing a blowout can be real difficult. Having a player with a “future” in basketball working against munchkins half their size from the drama club is a real trick.

One cannot penalize a kid for being dominant, nor can you disadvantage underachievers or skill challenged for trying hard when they are obviously outmatched.

You know your in trouble when the coach of the loosing team starts asking the referee's to "assist" in staying competitive by swaying interpretations. In short asking for favoritism.

Coach’s should develop and communicate strategies that maximize opportunity to win a contest with what they have. Hey a foul is a foul, position is position, fundamentals are fundamentals even if I'm 1-on-1 with Michael Jordan.

Common in High School games.

[williebfree]

Originally posted by Ref Daddy
2 Issues herein: 1) Ref handling situation and 2) lopsided game based on player skills.

Issue 1 was addressed. What about issue 2?

Managing a blowout can be real difficult. Having a player with a “future” in basketball working against munchkins half their size from the drama club is a real trick.

One cannot penalize a kid for being dominant, nor can you disadvantage underachievers or skill challenged for trying hard when they are obviously outmatched.

You know your in trouble when the coach of the loosing team starts asking the referee's to "assist" in staying competitive by swaying interpretations; in short asking for favoritism.

Coach’s should develop and communicate strategies that maximize opportunity to win a contest with what they have. Hey a foul is a foul, position is position, and fundamentals are fundamentals even if I'm 1-on-1 with Michael Jordan.

Common in High School games.

Issue #3

The coach who is even more underskilled than his/her players.

It is obvious that Mark's Coach was an issue #3 coach; as demonstrated by the coach's request of the officials.
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As far as Mark's conduct... I know I would not have handled it that way, but I am not "appalled" that he did it his way.

[Jimgolf]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
Last night, the score after the first quarter was 20-5. The coach of the trailing team comes up to me and my partner and says that although it's obvious that his team is nowhere as good as the other, it's because the other team is much bigger and stronger. At that point it was all I could do to keep from saying "Ya' think???".

He then says that the other team is using it's size and strength to play too rough and his boys are getting hurt.

If you call a tight game, it favors the team that is less physical. If you call a loose game, it favors a team that is more physical. The spirit of the rules says that no team should be given a unfair advantage. The question is what constitutes an unfair advantage?

One team being bigger or stronger is a fair advantage that comes from genetics, nutrition and workouts. One team being rougher than the other may be an unfair advantage. When you see a disparity like this, make sure you're not letting the more physical team get away with fouls that look like they would be no-calls against a stronger team.

When a big guy displaces a small guy, it's a foul, even if this amount of contact would not have displaced a bigger player. And when the little guy smacks the big guy across the arm, ir's a foul, even if the big guy treats the little guy like a mosquito. Call what you see, not just what you're used to seeing.

[Forksref]

Originally posted by rainmaker

This is the point where I get off the bus. I thought the first exchange with the losing coach acceptable, but I don't see that any good can come of talking to the other coach about it.

I didn't agree with the first exchange. The less I say to coaches, the better, IMHO. I would have said something like, "Coach, we will call the game within the rules and we can't do anything about size differences."