Hold The Ball

[tjchamp]

I had a situation get real ugly at a 7th grade girls game about 2 weeks ago, and would like to know how you all handle this type of situation. Post player b5 comes down with rebound, guards a1 and a2 go after the ball, a1 gets an arm while going for the ball. Tweet to call the foul. A2 continues to hold onto ball with B5, b5 pivots hard away, then directly into a2, sending her to her rear-end. I blow the whistle again and say very loudly "when the whistle blows you hold the ball, hold the ball, hold the ball." Not the best choice of words, but it's what came out. I didn't think the contact justifed a T.

That set off WW III. I go to the table to report the foul, and the parent of B5 comes over and starts yelling at me. Claims I should not berate his daughter. I start to tell him I was not berating his daughter, just trying to get the play settled down. Partner comes over to get me out of situation, and says we don't need to talk to parents. Now every time down the court the parents are crying for a call. One parent (HS certified no less) is yelling at the top of his lungs, for travelling, offensive foul, illegal pick, you name it.

Team b gets to the free throw line, shoots first FT, partner forgets to check table b4 giving ball to thrower for 2nd try, big mistake. Team b had a sub waiting. Obnoxious parent from above comes racing down to the other end of the court and screaming again for us to get our heads out of our butts and let the sub in the game. I blow my whistle and tell him to leave the facility, game won't go on till he is gone. The site admin was actually on the way to do the same when I had him tossed.

Now for the fun part. Coach sends a letter to the league stating that I swore at coaches, players, and fans. States I said "hold the GD ball." GD is not part of my vocabulary. I would have used an F bomb if I had swore. This is really frustrating as I never swear. Heck, the only time I ever talk to the players is to find out what age group they are in b4 the game starts. The league is going to send me a letter telling me not to swear at players.

Sorry for the long post. How could I have handled the initial incident better? I feel pretty good about tossing the parent, as things really settled down once he left. I actually had 3 or 4 parents come up to me after the game to ask me what took me so long, and the parent of b5 apologized for yelling at me too.