The player is deaf, not blind.
Sit the signer.
mick

OK, what am I missing?

What do we need a signer for during a live ball?

There are only a limited number of set plays, isn't it possible for the coach to figure out a way to communicate while the ball is live? And teach that to the rest of his student athletes?

btw...I've worked 1 game with a deaf player, and 1 game with a player who understood virtually zero English. In both cases the coach, the assistants and all the players figured out a way to tell me before the game that the player in question was challenged and I shouldn't think he's ignoring me.

That confirms what I've thought for years. My coaches are dumber than most. :)

Nah, I don't think so.

I'm sure mine are dumber ;)

I have had deaf players and had the signer on the sideline. Given what happens on the bench I have no problem with a translator standing there as long as it is all they do for the head coach.

If they are acting as an assistant standing alone and telling the player something and coach has not said anything I may question it.

Have them go from baseline to baseline- NO WAY. One team can not have an advantage. You can see sign from a distance. There are coaches thatwrite play #'s on samll whiteboards to signal.

The bottom line is that there cant be an advantage over the other team using commn sense.

A few years ago, there was a very dominant team here in the Portland area with a deaf player. She was very, very good, so they had worked out a number of adaptations. The interesting thing was that whenever there was a need to communicate with her during a live ball, there was a set of signals (signs?) that all the players and ALL THE FANS!! would do, like they were cheers. It worked! She didn't have to pick one person out to look at, and there wasn't a person running the sidelines for the translating thing.

The other interesting thing was that when there was a time-out, there were several fans whose job it was to stand up right behind the bench, so no one could see the interpreter. Like the coaches on TV that hold the clipboard over their mouths.

Have refereed in a few deaf tournaments plus the World Deaf games a few years back, we had no problems in regards to a signer which was done from the team bench. We used whistles with peas in them as the players could feel or hear the vibrations of the pea, Fox40 whistles were useless to use.

Re: so you wouldn't
 

As you say, there is no "deaf section" in the rulebook. We have to, therefore, work with the rules we have. And those rules tell us that only the head coach is allowed to stand in the bench area. It hardly seems overly judicious to enforce this explicit restriction. If you allow the interpreter to stand, are you going to allow an assistant coach on the other team to stand, as well? B/c you know the other coach will ask.

So how do you get around that explicit restriction? Either the interpreter stays in the bench area, but must remain seated; or we find another place for the interpreter where s/he can stand.

Sorry if that is -- pfft -- ridiculous.

Re: so you wouldn't
 

No, I wouldn't let the signer stand.

Evidently you haven't been to very many basketball games if you think you can't hear a coach just because his back is to you. If the coach isn't "paying attention?" Gimme a frickin' break! It's his player. If he's not "paying attention," that his problem, not mine. -- pfft ridiculous.

Why do we need a signer during live ball? coaches should be communicating enough in practice with ways for teams to communicate. Theres a school with one. EVERYTIME I had that school the coach would beckon me over to the table during warm-ups. We'd get the other coach and explain that he had a deaf player, who relied off of visual cues to play and that everyones quick stoppage on the whistle was required for a smooth game. One of the assistants would sign to him if needed be. I told him he was only allowed to stand and sign. If he talked, or verbalized anything to anyone else he would be belted. Also, if he had to stand, the head coach had to sit. (They were techinically co-head coaches). No problems... what so-ever. Kid was a post player. So he was responsive. My partner and I agreed to both hit our whistles as an echo. Apparantly he's not completly deaf because he can feel the pressure of the fox 40 on his ears from the particual frequency it emits. Being an audio engineer as well, it makes sense to me.

I once had a development game where the referees were instructed not to talk at all - the idea was that it would be good preperation for doing international games with a non-english speaking parter and team(s). Was a great learning experience as you had to focus on mechanics. I found it really hard, as I try to talk players out of violations/fouls a lot.

I agree with what a couple of people said early on, that school should get this settled with the state office and that way they will have the same peramiters(sp) for each game. What coach wants to re-explain this at each game? He will get several different answers. The AD needs to get the state office involved before the season starts.

Who said it had to be during a live ball. The rules don't permit anyone to stand except the HC during a dead ball either.

WARNING: This post contains ranting and raving which some readers may find offensive. If you prefer to avoid ranting and raving situations, please use your back button to return to the bulletin board and find a less emotional post.

Chris -- The spelling is either "parameter" or "perimeter" depending on what you're trying to say. I hope you're saying "perimeter" which has to do with limits and boundaries, but I fear you were intending to say "parameters" which is what most people say with this meaning. Unfortunately, a parameter is a specific type of item in a mathematical or scientific equation, and doesn't mean edges, limits or boundaries, except in certain very restricted meanings. One hears it more and more, though, with the meaning of "limits, boundaries, restrictions." "Perimeter" -- the edge of a geometrical figure -- has a much closer definition and would fit your sentence much better. So please tell me that is what you were trying to spell!

Thanks.

End rant. You may now return to your regularly scheduled bulletin board.

Since were off on a tangent....

Juulie, I actually think parameter can be applicable. Parameters are the terms under which something functions.

Perimiters are just about the edges, not the space enclosed by the perimeter.