Tuesday night. Officiating a boys JV game in nearby school. Visiting team has ball early. Guard picks up his dribble. Defender starts yelling, "Ball ball, ball." I ask myself, "Am I really hearing this at a boys HS game?" I thought this was young "chick ball" thing. Then, last night watched the local HS V girls game. In the 2nd half the entire visiting team yelled, "Ball, ball, ball" each time they were on defense. They did this the entire second half. Is this becoming common in other areas at levels above jr. high? Tell me it ain't so!

sounds
 

like the coach is going with a gimick hoping it would work rather than actually teaching his kids how to play "real" defense.

It does happen from time to time but not usually. It seems that the underskilled/ undersized teams will do it though.

Last Friday night we had a kid who always guarded the thrower on inbound plays and he was frantically waiving his hands whil jumping and growling. At first I thought I was hearing thing but the next time, I was administering the ball and this kid started growling. I'm guessing he doesn't get a girlfriend during season.??

It didn't. Either time. Boys game was 3 point loss. Girls was a huge blow out.

I've heard a couple of JH boys' teams do this. The worst was a girls' varsity team that had one player who did it, and she had the highest, shrillest, loudest voice I've ever heard. It really, literally made your ears ring. I was glad I was watching and not working. It didn't help them at all, they lost by a ton. I hope the refs pointed out to the coach that it not only didn't work, it was destroying the hearing of 10 or 12 teen-age girls.

__________________________________________________ ________

This was a HS V team -- and not a small school -- and they ALL DID IT - THE ENTIRE SECOND HALF. As for destroying the hearing, so can my FOX 40 -- one player (or cheerleader) at a time!

Three Stooges Manuver
 

Speaking of knocking out cheerleaders I had a game last night where I was lead and had a ball coming right for me along with two eager players. So I did the step back manuver and the ball was staying here so I stopped the clock and then pointed...right into the eye of the poor girl just like Moe Howard did to Curly. She was a good sport about it.

I had a girls JV game last week in which the entire bench yelled "ball ball ball" everytime the opposition had team control in front of their bench. Needless to say it got VERY old after awhile and I was seriously questioning the legality of this. It just doesn't seem sporting.

Anyone ever had this situation before?

I have it all the time, I've always ruled legal (maybe becuese I do it myself when I play :d) as long as it's just ball ball ball, if it turns into taunting the other team, I'd call it right away

LOL...I teach this ball, ball , ball, method to my players every year. However, it may seem funny but there is some rationale to it. We play a full court man-to-man denial defense. When the player you are guarding picks up his/her dribble, then I teach my player guarding the ball to get close to her oppenent yelling ball, ball, ball, this lets her teammates know that the dribble is dead and now its time to closeout on your man and deny all passing lanes. It works!! You normally wont see it at the boys V level because they are a little more in tune with the game. Its just one of those things where we all work together for the greater good of the team.

Yeah that seems really silly. My player do yell ball,ball,ball (only the ones on the court) when a player has picked up her dribble. This lets everyone know to close out on her opponent and deny all passes.

Yes, several times. And I've seen it in boys games too (although they generally yell "tight" instead of ball).

As Nate said, it's just a way for the player on ball to let their teammates know that an opponents dribble has ended and that everyone should deny the pass to try to get a 5-second call. There is nothing unsporting about it.

Z

If I was deploying this tactic I'd suggest using a different word.

"Snake ...Snake...Snake"
"Shoot...Shoot...Shoot"
"Spider ....."

Something a bit more creative?

somebody go snake snake snake, they risk getting a T :P so I wouldn't do that

How would you feel if your opponent called snake up your face :P ball's ok, snake's not

Edit:
how about players who are afraid of spiders
"Spider spider"
"Spider! Help!!!!" *player screams and runs away*
anybody had that in a game :P

Right on!

If this becomes a POI in the next few years .... I foresee a BIG chapter listing what annoying call out words can be used and those that would require a tecnical.

"Watch Out"
"Loose, Loose, Loose"
"Give it up"

What would Dr. Naismith say?