Coach Follies

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Great double-header yesterday. Pre-season boys tournament. First game, at the end of the first half, the Blue coach says to me, "Let me know about 30 seconds before the half starts, so I get a chance to talk to my guys?" No sweat. It's very informal, so I'm just sitting at the table. After about 5 minutes, I blow the horn. The teams both go to their benches. My partner and the scorer are still out in the hall getting a drink or whatever. So a minute or so, maybe two minutes go by and my partner comes back in. I get the ball and go to midcourt. White comes out, it's their ball. I blow the whistle to get Blue out of their huddle. Nobody comes out. Horn blows again. Nothing. I blow the whistle. "Let's go, Blue!" Nothing. Partner also yells to the bench with no result. I whistle again and say, "Ball's coming in, Blue!" Still nothing. Finally, they break the huddle. When all 5 players get on the court, I blow the whistle and give White the ball; they get an easy basket. Coach then yells, "What was that for?" and says to my parter, "I asked him to give me 30 seconds! What was that for?"

If you told the Blue coach you'd give him 30 seconds "notice", you should have done that in a much more formal way, "Coach that was the 30 second horn." Then give the ball to white a LOT sooner than you did.

It's easy to avoid these situations if you set the clock for half time, then everyone knows what's up without you being the heavy. Why didn't that happen?

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

If you told the Blue coach you'd give him 30 seconds "notice", you should have done that in a much more formal way, "Coach that was the 30 second horn."

That's probably valid. I figured getting 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds would've covered any confusion. Silly me. Next time, I won't figure, and I'll do as you suggest. "Here's your 30 seconds, Coach."

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

That's probably valid. I figured getting 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds would've covered any confusion. Silly me. Next time, I won't figure, and I'll do as you suggest. "Here's your 30 seconds, Coach."

Remember, Scrapper, it's best if you usually treat a coach like you'd treat a 4 year old. It's fatal to tell a 4 year old, "You need to be in bed in 1 minute" unless you really have a stop watch going. You must be exactly precise, while at the same time keeping a neutral emotional tone -- no sarcasm. Then he's got no room to argue about anything, and if he does argue, you know it's his problem not yours.