Tough Call

[Paul LeBoutillier]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rainmaker

Maybe this could be a Delay of Game type situation with the first violation in a game being a warning, and the second being a technical. It happens so rarely that kids may not even know the rule, and so giving a warning if necessary seems reasonable.

There's no question about the fact that many kids are not aware of this rule. But it's the coach's job to make sure they DO know the time limits for various activities on the floor. I'm sure the 10 second shooting limit for FTs was intended as a means of insuring against a delay of game.

After the situation took place as I described it at the beginning of this thread, the coach from the losing team addressed the issue with another varsity official who was working the tournament and complained that his team should have received a warning. The official calmly explained that we're not required to give warnings before making a call of this sort.

In retrospect I wondered myself if a warning was appropriate given the obscurity of the call, but when I thought about it, couldn't that be construed as showing partiality for the shooting team? (Remember, when the coach blew up he accused me and my partner of favoritism.) Had I stepped toward the shooter after the first try and said, "Hey, you took a long time to release the ball on that first shot, remember you only have 10 seconds." couldn't the OTHER coach have accused me of favoritism and been correct???