Lessons Learned Again

[ranjo]

Here's the bonehead move I made last night in a girls varsity game. I post it here so those of you who have not yet made this mistake will learn from mine.

Blue team shooter is fouled, makes the basket, and is awarded one free throw. With Blue on the free throw line, White calls a time out. Both my partner and I get the number of the free throw shooter and assume our time out positions. We resume play after the time out (I am in lead). I blow the whistle, signal two shots (yes two) and bounce the ball to the shooter. She shoots and misses the free throw, half the players in the spaces go for the rebound and the others have that puzzled look on their faces. White gets the rebound, and I blow the play dead cause I know I done screwed up on one of the basics. I confirm with my partner that there was indeed only one free thow, and we head to the coaches to explain what happened, why it happened, the fact it is not correctable, and what we will by rule do about it. We have to go to a jump ball so one coach is going to be unhappy no matter what.

You can bet I am going to add this to my pre-game to check off with my partner the number of free throws each and every time, especially after a time out or other game interuption.

Ever had it happen to you? Learn from my mistake.

[zebraman]

I can remember one from early in my career that is similar but different. We were shooting 1-and-1 and I blew my whistle after the first shot instead of letting them rebound.

Just slow down. Stuff like this happens when we hurry.

Also, part of my pregame routine is that I say, "the lead does not give the ball to the free thrower until making eye contacting with partner(s) and getting visible confirmation from them regarding the number of free throws we are shooting." This puts responsibility on BOTH (or all three) officials.

Z