How to talk to a referee

[hooper]

Originally posted by mplagrow
I know it's probably already been said to death, but I'll throw in my two cents. I had an 8th grade girls game last week. Bonus by the end of the first quarter--both teams. All the girls kept fouling until halftime. After the half, the girls from both teams came out with their hands back and played clean ball.

So what was the difference in the second half? Is it that we called the game differently? No, it's because the coaches told them to back off. That's their job.

I will say this, though. The coaches won't tell the players to back off if they aren't afraid of their players getting into foul trouble.

Grade school kids don't get it. You call a foul on them, they'll do the same thing again and again. But the coaches are (usually) smart enough to tell them to back off if they are afraid of foul trouble.

Wow. As a coach, I disagree.

I think you're underestimating the impact that a foul will have on a player. It's sudden. It's clear. And there's an immediate consequence. A coach talking to a kid 10 minutes later might have some impact, but half the time the kid won't even remember the incident that the coach is talking about. (Teenagers tend to forget things....)

I think you're overestimating the coaching influence (though I hope I'm wrong!) and underestimating how impactful the immediate consequence of a foul can be. Refs really to have the ability to change the course of a game!