"Play"

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by M&M Guy

Communication is essential. I'm not saying we shouldn't communicate with the players, I'm just against the announcment-type comment, "Play!". Or, "Ready!". Or, "I'm going to hand the ball to the player that's out-of-bounds, so I sure hope everyone is ready to go, because I sure am!" It just draws too much attention to us when it's not necessary. I almost always say something to the player as I'm handing (or bouncing) the ball to them. "You're on the spot." "Ready, 22?" "Got the right play from coach?" But it's just between me and the player, not the big, overall announcement.

For me, a fair amount of the time, the player I'm handing the ball to needs the "big overall announcement." If I skip that part, we never do get a throw-in carried out.

Is it too late in this thread to go off on a tangent? What do you do when you're ready to hand the ball for the throw-in, and the player who is supposed to do the actual throwing is standing just in-bounds, waiting for everyone to be in place? Do you just wait? When is this delay? When do you say something? When is it illegal?