Injury timeout

[Danvrapp]

Had a situation this weekend in a 7th grade girls game that I wanted to discuss. There was a girl for team A that kept crying every time someone looked at her funny, and we (partner and I) would have her removed from the game because of 'injury.' I'd suggest this happened at least 3 times in the first three quarters. Now, there comes a time towards the end of the game that she was on defense and drew a charge on the opposing team. Well, wouldn't you know she stood up and started crying! So, as she started to walk to her bench, I waved the coach out. Now I'll say about 15 seconds elapsed before I approached the coach (in the middle of the floor) and innocently stated that if she's OK we either need to play on or get her replaced with a sub. WOW! The coach went ballistic and hollered things like "I thought this was supposed to be an injury timeout!" and "My girls have been getting beat (up) all *#$%@ game," amongst other stuff. He was really getting up in my face (got a towel?) and hollering like it was his job! T time. After the game, I reflected upon whether this warrented a T or not. What do you think?

Here's some intangibles:

1. The game was close. I belive the irate coach's team was losing by 2-3.

2. The game was almost over. About 45 seconds left.

3. The girl that got hurt was standing up, she never fell or lay down after the initial charge, and the coach had 4 of his girls wrapped up in a big everyone-will-be-OK kind of bearhug. I figure since she could stand, she could either play or walk to her bench so we could get on with the game. This is when I approached the coach.

4. Again, I waited a bit after the coach came on the floor to request that we continue playing.

[Dan_ref]

OK, how about this:

- if you wave the coach onto the floor the player has
got to go. No option. If the girl was standing up
you might have asked him if he wants a time out before
herding them off the court & getting the sub in.

- there's no such thing as an "injury timeout". *DON'T*
rush the injured player off the floor. Be patient but
as soon as the player is able to walk to the bench or
get carried off the floor get the sub in. If the coach
is by himself, as is typicaly the case in these games,
give him a few seconds to have a parent or league
director cover for him or take the kid off his hands.
Did I mention *DON'T* rush the injured player off the
floor?

- the coach wanted to "protect" his girls, so he went
after you. Or maybe he didn't like your tone of voice
when you aproached him. Or maybe he's just a loud mouthed
jerk. In any case, you don't have to take it, regardless
of the score or how much time was left. You done good by
banging him.

[Brian Watson]

I agree, the second he came on the floor, she was done for a dead ball. Plus, don't sweat the T, as they say he eeeaaarrnneedd it.

Now, if this was a frequent thing with her, did you discuss the problem with the coach? A player who busts into tears 3 times in a game after suspect contact has issues, or they are trying to pull something. either way you need to know to play on, or send her off. A little preventative officiating might have (no pun intended) prevented this from happening.

[Hawks Coach]

If a player is up and walking, it is pretty simple. You can ask the player if they are able to continue, or if they need a sub. If they can't go on, you tell the coach he needs a sub and send the player to the bench. Coach should not need to come on the floor except when a player is down, in which case you bring appropriate attention to them rather than moving them. This player is moving, so she can move over to the bench.

It seems that you feel you have an overly sensitive player who might be using this as a ruse to help her team? Can't tell, but the way you phrased things led me to believe that. I have played against teams that we hurt all the time, in games that are far less physical than most we play or see in AAU. I have one player who is always the first to get hurt herself, although she only gets "injured" once every 3 games instead of three times in one game. Some players just can't handle the contact, especially in girls ball (although most of my players give and take in the physical department). But they do get better through time, and 7th grade still has many girls who have not dealt with this and will be hyper sensitive.

As for the T, I know that injuries will set coaches, players, and fans off more than anything else. I have more problems with my parents when kids get hurt than any other time (and none of them know about incidental contact!). I even had a problem on an intra-club scrimmage with one of my parents because her child got fouled hard by an aggressive player, who was not playing dirty and did not intend to hurt her. Having said all that, I didn't see it, wouldn't judge your call. In general, if you are inclined to give any leeway, this is the time for it. But if he is right in your face yelling, T him. If he is voicing his displeasure strongly, but not overly demonstrably or right in your face, you may want to warn him. Let him know that there are no injury TOs in basketball, player has to leave for a play, need a sub now! But I would never say you were wrong not having seen or heard it.

[Edited by Hawks Coach on Apr 30th, 2001 at 03:35 PM]

[Mark Padgett]

The first time she cried, I would have called an official's timeout and made the coach replace her. All subsequent times, I would have asked her if she was hurt. If she didn't say "Yes", I would have just continued the game. After one or two times of doing this, my guess is she would have stopped crying. Either that, or the coach would have taken her out. Either way - YOUR problem is solved.