Scorekeeper venting here

[Jimgolf]

Been with scorekeepers like that. Some people get into watching the game and forget they have a job to do.

One thing that helps is to make sure the book and scoreboard match the benches, i.e. the bench on the right is on the right page, the bench on the left is on the left page. This might seem simple, but a number of summer tournaments screw this up since they might assign the home and away teams based on a coin toss after the books have been filled out and the benches assisgned. Nobody cares who the home team is on a neutral court, so settle the seating assignments as soon as the teams come out for warmups, and make sure the scoreboard, the book and the benches are coordinated.

Other than that, all you can do is repeat all the information you get - "Two points Red Team, number 21" "Foul on 3 Blue, his 3rd foul" and hope the nitwit gets the message.

[stmaryrams]

Was at my son's summer league game on Saturday and had the coach/admin ask for a volunteer to run the clock as they already had a parent to do the book. First game of the day.
I agreed to but immediately found out the timer switch would not work as well as the horn. I turned of the machine and found it was set for soccer. A quick reset and a change to the second timer control had us ready to go.

So before we start I know they have several "Rules" in place as this is a summer developmental league for feeder Catholic grade schools to one high school. I check with our coach as to how they are running the clock - regular with stops for whistles, running or some combination. Both officials - both of whom I've worked with- are not sure. Finally get admin to give us the lowdown as he is busy coaching his kids in pregame.

He is trying to teach me how to run a clock and what to do for the officials. Got some quiet giggles out of that and never let on that I'm an official.

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by Jimgolf

Been with scorekeepers like that. Some people get into watching the game and forget they have a job to do.

One thing that helps is to make sure the book and scoreboard match the benches, i.e. the bench on the right is on the right page, the bench on the left is on the left page. This might seem simple, but a number of summer tournaments screw this up since they might assign the home and away teams based on a coin toss after the books have been filled out and the benches assisgned. Nobody cares who the home team is on a neutral court, so settle the seating assignments as soon as the teams come out for warmups, and make sure the scoreboard, the book and the benches are coordinated.

Other than that, all you can do is repeat all the information you get - "Two points Red Team, number 21" "Foul on 3 Blue, his 3rd foul" and hope the nitwit gets the message.

This is what I try to do. I have my own printed score/stat sheets I like to use whenever possible and I will align them in the directiont hey are trying to score. Makes things work a lot easier for me. YMMV.

Had a situation last fall at an away game (MS Girls) where they had a non-playing girl on the book. It seemed like she missed a foul late in the A game, but since it had no bearing on the game itself (both teams already in the double bonus), I just made a mental note to be more active in making sure the two books agreed in the B game. And aside from an official who felt the visiting scorekeeper doesn't belong at the scorers table, we had no problems whatsoever with both books agreeing.