finer points of mechanics
 

Two questions:

1) If my partner is reporting a foul or doing something similar where attention is on them, and I am at the opposite end of the court with the players, and I observe an action where I need to call a T what would be the best thing to do. What until he is done and run over, make a signal right then and stay there, etc? (this next part did not happen but I was thinking about it). What if the palyers invovled do not want to stop or things are progressively getting worse. Blow whistle to get partners, coaches and players attention?Thanks.

You never stop watching them, until you know your partner(s) are watching.

If it's bad enough for you to call something, it's bad enough for an immediate whistle.

If you've got players getting into it, address it immediately....either get to them to seperate them before it gets to a T'able situation or, if it is too late for that, blow it right away! Waiting can only make things worse. The sooner you address it, the fewer T's you'll have to issue and the fewer people you'll have to eject.

I agree completely. Our former interpreter/clinician used to say, "Let 'em see stripes!" Meaning, get between them or get close enough to the situation so that nobody tries something stupid. If they know you're there, it's less likely (although still possible) to escalate.

If it's already escalated, blow right away. That draws attention to the incident. If you wait then nobody saw what you saw and the call is a surprise. Blow right away, let them know something happened, and hopefully stop any retaliation.

You do not need to blow the whistle to call a T in this situation if you ask me. Depending one what happens, you might have to separate players without any whistle at all. First of all if their is some kind of altercation, I do not know if I want a whistle in my mouth so I can have it and my teeth knocked out at the same time. You should only use the whistle if you are far away and the players cannot hear your voice. You might have a fight break out and you will have no whistle but multiple technical fouls.

Peace

Totally disagree, come in hard with a whistle. A Fox 40 from close range does wonders at breaking up players...it's hard to think about punching when your ears are hurting.;)

I think that the other poster's point was that if you did blow the whistle, you might be able to stop the crap and thus avoid having to give out "T"s.

Of course, I'm assuming only.....

Good point about getting the whistle out of your mouth if you do have to step in between players though. Wise move.

That is one thing that makes this country great, we can disagree. I can use my voice to stop a lot of stuff. I do not need my whistle as my only tool to stop players from acting stupid. Also not all officials are made the same. An official that is 6'4 and 250 pounds of muscle is going to be received a little different than someone that is 5'6 and 150 pounds. So not all officials have to use a whistle or their voice to be seen and heard if you get my drift.

Peace

Yep and that 5'6", 150 pound official got there by knowing how to officiate and not because they have "the look" if you get my drift.:rolleyes:

If that is the case I would agree. My only point is that you do not have to use your whistle and the only way to stop action. I did not say you should avoid the whistle at all costs. If you are far enough away and you have to yell across a loud court, the whistle might be the only thing that will get their attention. Also part of good dead ball officiating is to be close to the situation where you would not have to yell at players. The calling officials should never leave the spot of a foul until it is clear that everything is OK in the first place. Then the non-calling official should be a back up to this. But this is a good discussion because there are many variations to how to handle these situations.

Peace

Actually I do not get your drift. My only point was that they might have to use a different tool that works for them. We are not robots out there are more than one way to skin a cat if you get my drift. ;)

I also do not fit the description of either officials I described and I hardly ever use my whistle in these kinds of situations and nothing has ever happened that got completely out of hand in one of my games. Also a good official knows when to use different tools for all kinds of situations.

Peace

Agree, you try something because you think that it's the best option at that particular time under the circumstances you're in, If that doesn't work, then you have to go to Plan B.

Or Plan C....

or Plan D....

Or....

Hmmm...let's see...looking back on all the times I had to get between players I have never once (that I can remember) blown my whistle. Or even (gawd forbid) used my whistle as a weapon. If I have go in I am not going in with the whistle in my mouth. When things calm down I'll hit the whistle before making the T sign. OTOH...if I think a quick T is all that's needed then I'll do that, but certainly never to stun anyone with the whistle. If you use your whistle as a weapon then you shouldn't be surprised when someone takes exception and retaliates.

As to the original question...if you need to go get between players then spit the whistle. If you think a quick T is what's needed then hit the whistle & T away. Do whatever needs to be done, don't worry that your partner is reporting a foul. You'll sort everything out after.

Where did I say use it when you are between players?

I said close hard with a whistle...but I come to expect it from the old guard...I could say the sun will come up tomorrow, we will all pay taxes and die, and you'd still argue against it.:rolleyes:

Agree. I'm not going to have my whistle in my mounth when I'm between the players. I've either already blown it on the way in or will not be blowing it at all unless something else happens that draws a T....just like I said in my original post. I think the point of the whistle on the way in is to get everyone's attention (including your partner who may be reporting with his/her back to the situation).