In a summer ball tourney, when the director tells you to ignore or "modify" a rule, ask him (or her - with deference to Juulie) what other rules they want you not to enforce.

Do this & be prepared to say "Yes sir" when he gives you the list.

You know, most of the tournaments I've coached in always had some rule modifications. But they were reasonable to keep the games moving along - like 1&1 after ten fouls, running clock modifications, shot clock and overall time modifications (e.g. 14 minute halfs), etc. We always received a summary sheet stating the use of NCAA rules with the following modifications (as listed)...

In 18 years of coaching however, I never saw any modifications of sportsmanship, decorum, and profane language. Would love to see a TD try to tell you that those rules wouldn't apply to his tourney. Yep, we're gonna let the kids and coaches, aw hell the officials and fans too, swear like a bunch of drunken bikers, because we think its a good idea.

Their concern is getting teams to come back so they can make $$$$, putting the tournaments together.

So they don't want us to make the coaches mad and they want the games to be under control, we of course, have to juggle that mess.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by blindzebra

Quote:

Their concern is getting teams to come back so they can make $$$$, putting the tournaments together. So they don't want us to make the coaches mad and they want the games to be under control, we of course, have to juggle that mess.

This sums it up exactly.

Tourney directors want to keep attracting teams, at $350 to $450 a pop who wouldn't?

Site directors want their games to stay on time and go as smoothly as possible, which usually means they support the officials but sometimes it means they say "You T'ed him for WHAT??!"

Officials, believe it or not, are a dime a dozen. If you say "screw that, I'm packing my whistle & going home" you are usually replaced within the hour. If you aint well connected you've probably walked out on more than that 1 game.

One of my regular summer partners and I have gotten into the habit of pre-game meetings with each coach and captain(s) prior to the games. Just 60 seconds of "Good sportsmanship, watch the language, play basketball not soccer," goes a long way towards keeping things in order. You normally get 5 minutes between games anyway, and have to wait for someone to work the table. Any ounce of prevention....

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dan_ref

Quote:

Originally posted by blindzebra Quote: Their concern is getting teams to come back so they can make $$$$, putting the tournaments together. So they don't want us to make the coaches mad and they want the games to be under control, we of course, have to juggle that mess. This sums it up exactly. Tourney directors want to keep attracting teams, at $350 to $450 a pop who wouldn't? Site directors want their games to stay on time and go as smoothly as possible, which usually means they support the officials but sometimes it means they say "You T'ed him for WHAT??!" Officials, believe it or not, are a dime a dozen. If you say "screw that, I'm packing my whistle & going home" you are usually replaced within the hour. If you aint well connected you've probably walked out on more than that 1 game.

Ironically, good officials are not and they are the ones that have the best chance of successfully walking that tightrope, so TDs would be much better served by supporting us.

It's usually the rogue coaches that ruin tournaments for other teams. The ones who yell and scream, get the parents going, press with big leads and who teach all the little "tricks" to his team that keep teams from coming back.

As a coach, I differntiate the tournament organization from the officiating, unless I notice that a lot of high school or college kids are being used, sharing shirts so that they look official, just kind of walking up and down the court with no intentions of really "calling" the game.

If I get a T, and I have, I know I deserved it. It is not like it would suprise me. And I would not blame the TD for the issue. So the TD should not put so much wait on placating the coaches. I have never thought that a ref was out to get me when I got a T, I earned them all.

I can only think of one instance where I thought the ref was a little too literal. Consolation game of a 4 team one day tourney. The game didn't count, I was platooning in players every two minutes for equal minutes and then the scorekeeper (neutral) noticed one of my players was not in the book. When she asked me for the roster before the game I referenced the tourney program she had in her hand and she copied it from that and missed one guy. The ref, even after talking to the neutral score keeper assessed a bench T.

Then, this is where I lost it, the opposing coach who was placing way too much importance on a consolation game (not playing everyone, junk D, etc in 7th grade) started saying "he can't play, he can't play, he's not in the book" to which I said, "I'm not benching him, its 7th grade and I am trying to teach them the game, I am not making him sit, T me up every time he goes in if you have to."

Then the ref did calm down the other coach and we moved on.

Actually the ref wasn't literal at all on this one. He was wrong. If you gave the scorer the right roster and the scorer copied it down wrong, then that ain't a T. It's a scorer's mistake. The official shoulda just corrected the scorer's mistake and added the number without penalty.

We owe you one.

Yea, this is one of those little details that gets missed sometimes. The information doesn't have to be in the book at a certain time. It has to be available at a certain time. If the coach has a printed roster that he lays on the table, and the book never gets filled out, there's no T.

2 Wrongs don't make....
 

Also scorebook issues aren't bench technicals. If one should be called it is an administrative technical foul.
It doesn't affect anyone on the team bench.