Off topic, so if you are offended please move along, I did think readers of this board would be interested in this item:

I attended a sport last night, High School, where the Coach, or player from the bench passes a live ball into the field of play, to an active player.

Any guesses what sport it was?

Not a trick question, just a observation of an odd rule in another sport.

Any guesses?????

Just guessing....Lacrosse?

It's not that, but I have no clue what it is???

Dodgeball? Or is that even a sport????

baseball / softball

A Few Clues
 

Clues:

* it is an Olympic Sport.
* As I mentioned, High School sport, at least here in Michigan.
* Ball is yellow (typically, I have only ever seen it yellow, I guess it could be another color, but it would be an oddity)

My only guess would be soccer - if the ball goes out of play, doesn't someone just get it and give it to one of the players for the throw-in (or corner kick), while the clock's still running?

Another trivia I heard recently - what's the only major sport where the offense is not allowed to actually touch the ball, and only the defense handles it?

Hmm...yellow ball. Tennis?

That's easy. Baseball.

Another Clue---
 

Soccer is a good reply, but I won't give a "correct" as (from what I have seen in kids soccer, I have no other frame of referance) the ball is given to a player to throw in, but that player is out of bounds, so I wouldn't consider the ball "live"

In this sport it is passed into a legal, live player in the playing area.

One more clue as to the identity of this odd sport:

At any one time the 2 teams may be shooting at goals that are unequal in size (one teams goal is bigger than the other team's goal), if the venue dictates it.

Water polo? (with the horses of course, hee hee!)

Dan - yep, baseball's easy. But I guess I had never thought of it from an offense/defense perspective before someone asked me.

Now, I've been accused of having a bigger goal than most, but I must draw the line at yellow balls...:eek:

You are correct sir!
 

Ref Ump Welsch got it right, it is Water Polo.

When a shot on goal goes out of the pool, the coach or player on the bench grabs a standby ball and quickly tosses it to the goalie, who tends to immediately pass it up the pool to her offensive players. I am just a spectator, so I don't know all the rules, but it appears that they must pass it in to the goalie, not another player.

BTW, I can't figure out how they ref the thing, the players are beating each other ALL the time, and on rare occasions they blow the whistle. I can't figure out what is an acceptable assault and battery on opponent, and what is penalized.

As to goal size, goals are 10 feet wide, and the top is 3 feet above the water surface. However if one end of the pool is less than 5 feet deep, the top of the goal is 8 feet above the bottom of the pool. (if depth is 4 feet, the goal would be 10 feet by 4 feet) In shallow ends, the goalie (is the only player allowed to) stands on the bottom of the pool, the deep water goalies has to tread water.

It is a great sport, my daughter got involved and it is really fun to watch, and she sure loves playing.

I'm surprised to hear about the different goal sizes, although now it makes sense, considering most schools that have pools probably have a shallow and deep end. That's the clue I was struggling with.

Doesn't PETA get involved with those horses being under water for so long? :D

Re: You are correct sir!
 

I hope your daughter is wearing a one-piece swimming suit. THe men's polo I saw when the Olympics were on TV included a lot of "pantsing". I don't think children should have to handle that!

I think the refs stand along the edge and can see pretty much straight down. At least, that's how it appeared on TV. They'd probably get a better angle from a window in the side of the pool. But then the players would have to wear numbers on their butts, I suppose.

When I saw it on TV, I thought it was interesting that there was almost never any specification of who committed the infraction, but everyone just seemed to know. You'd hear a whistle, see a pair of hands go up (the confession), and play would go forward. It looked like a lot of A/D was used.

Re: You are correct sir!
 

Sounds like the 4th game of a set of 4 AAU basketball games to me. :)

"I hope your daughter is wearing a one-piece swimming suit.The men's polo I saw when the Olympics were on TV included a lot of "pantsing". I don't think children should have to handle that!"

Actually most girls wear 2 suits... very tight to attempt to not give opponent something to grab onto

"I think the refs stand along the edge and can see pretty much straight down. At least, that's how it appeared on TV. They'd probably get a better angle from a window in the side of the pool. But then the players would have to wear numbers on their butts, I suppose."

They have numbers on their hats, numbers 1 through 20, they have an interesting mechanic to report numbers to table, they do use both hands, and a fist mens 10+, so for lets say, 17, they would make a fist, then transition in one motion into 7 fingers into the air... it is interesting to see.

Minor infractions are just a stop in play, and ball turned over to non-offending team. If defense offends, they must back off at whistle and allow offense to pass ball on unmolested.

For flagrant fouls they call it and "exclusion" or commonly called a "kickout" the offending player must swim to side of pool and remain out of play for 20 seconds, or until their team gets ball back, or goal is scored. 3 exclusions and player is out of game.

It is interesting to see governance in other sports.. and how it is simular and different to basketball.

Re: Re: You are correct sir!
 

Absolutely right! Now, adult co-ed leagues...where do I sign up? ;)

On the "exclusion" fouls - is that handled like the penalty box in hockey? The player goes to the side for a prescribed time limit? And, what's the difference between a normal "back off and play on" foul and an exclusion foul? Is it like a flagrent foul in basketball? If so, is there another level still that could get a player ejected from the match without waiting until their third?

Quote:
On the "exclusion" fouls - is that handled like the penalty box in hockey? The player goes to the side for a prescribed time limit? And, what's the difference between a normal "back off and play on" foul and an exclusion foul? Is it like a flagrent foul in basketball? If so, is there another level still that could get a player ejected from the match without waiting until their third?

Again, I am just a spectator, but it appears that the exclusion foul is, somewhat simular to a flagrant and rougher than the normal "back off and play on" foul. I have never seen an ejection prior to third exclusion foul. I think if defense fouls right in front of goal a penalty shot is awarded.

A penalized player goes to side for up to 20 seconds, although from what I have seen usually a shot is taken, or ball turned over before the 20 seconds is over, (at least at this level of play, I assume more proficient players control ball better) and penalized player rejoins game on either of those occurances. The scorekeeper is supposed to raise a flag when 20 seconds is over, however parents keep score (me) and sometimes miss it, and coaches usually yell for the player to go back in. Coaches exercise more control over the game than in basketball, I suspect due to the fact that most players are fairly new to the sport and are still taking a lot of instruction, as opposed to bball players who have usually played for years and years.

From what I see, the Water Polo culture is a much smaller fraternity than basketball, so there is a lot of self regulation by players, for lack of a better term, more of a gentlemanly governance of the game.

Sounds like the 4th game of a set of 4 AAU basketball games to me.


I'll let you know later. I have 4 in a row tomorrow...at 2 different venues. Could be worse. I WAS scheduled to do 2 at the same time at different venues.

Gee, do you also walk on water?!

That more or less matches what I saw during the Olympics.

Your use of the word "molested" is interesting. In some contexts, that would be an issue in the courtroom, as well as in the pool!

No, but there is more than one guy scheduling the officials for this AAU tournament.