Injury Situation

[Nevadaref]

I'm glad you asked because many officials don't seem to know this, but it is up to the official to decide that the player is injured, not the coach or player himself. Here's a good rule to support that:

3-3-5 . . . A player who has been injured to the extent that the coach or any other bench personnel is beckoned and/or comes onto the court shall be directed to leave the game, unless a time-out is requested by, and granted to, his/her team and the situation can be corrected by the end of the time-out.


Who decides when to beckon a coach or other bench personnel onto the floor? The official. Does it matter whether or not they comply? Nope. Once the official has decided in his mind that that player is injured to the extent that someone from the bench needs to come onto the floor to assist him, the decision is made and 3-3-5 applies. Even if the team takes a time-out, it is still up to the judgment of the official whether or not the player is ready to continue at the end of the time-out. If the official decides that he is not, then the team can take another time-out or replace that player.

The #1 issue on the court is the safety of the student athletes. It's not getting the rules right, who wins, or whether the spectators enjoy themselves. Your primary job is to protect the kids.

If you believe anything else then you shouldn't be officiating high school sports.


Therefore, if I don't believe that the kid is healthy enough to participate, I stop the game and beckon bench personnel onto the court, then direct the player to leave the game, barring a time-out request.

Never let the coach or the kid make this decision for you. If there is anything that you could possibly be taken to court over and actually lose, it would be a situation in which you thought the player was hurt, but allowed him to continue at the risk of further injury because the coach or player to told you otherwise. I will never put myself in that position.