Local Rules or Customs

[M&M Guy]

I see a lot of different rules in summer camp games similar to what you experienced. Running clock, except for the last minute of the half or game. Shooting fouls count as 1 point, then the non-shooting team takes the ball out. Or sometimes you only shoot free throws after the 7th team foul. It seems like the idea is to fit more basketball into as little time as possible by eliminating some of the "dead time" of free throw shooting. (Of course, I think the de-emphasizing of free throws has a lot to do with contributing to kids not working on FT's, and therefore the percentages going down over the years, but that's a whole other discussion.) I can see rec leagues doing these kinds of things as well.