"Over the back"
 

just had to tell you guys this one. had a varsity coach, who used to be an IAABO official send his captain to me during a timeout to ask me to watch the "over the back". I tell her that there is no such thing. she says, "ok, coach told me to ask," and walks away confused. I explained it to her later.

Since you knew that the coach was an official, I would have sent her back to her coach with instructions to tell him that you will be observing the over-the-back, but won't be calling any fouls for it. :p

good one, i have to work the boys varsity tourney at the same school this weekend. i'll remember that one.

Classic! I find amazing, that the coaches apparently read the rule book and still use terminology that isn't in it. I also like when coaches yell for over the back and then I tell them is no such thing, but there is displacement, they reply back saying I'm and official to.
Great maybe we will get the chance to work together!

When they tell me this, I usually reply back "that's nice, but you aren't the official in this game."

Possibly because there are still officials out there that use the term over the back.

I've decided not tell coaches that there's no such thing any more. The main reason, I've worked with officials who call this; officials they respect because they've seen quite a bit. Now, they are calling actual fouls, they're just reporting it as over-the-back.
So, if I were to tell a coach there's no over-the-back and my partner proceeds to call it; I'm the one who loses credibility. Now, my response is simpler. "There was no foul on that play, coach."

I usually show the pushing mechanic and state "on the back" or "on top the back" when I report.

JoeTheRef,

It is reporting like that that perputuates the myth of over the back. If you show push, call push! It is not on the back or on the top the back.

I worked with a guy last weekend at the state tournament that reported it as a rebounding foul...showed the push and said rebouding foul 23 blue...I thought it was pretty good, so I am going to try and incorporate it.

So, you confused a player with a sincere question.

For me, I try to be more professional and less sophomoric.

Coaches have a lot of trouble with "over the back" just because a player reaches over or comes around the side and beats the defensive player to the ball doesn't mean he/she was over the back. There has to be contact, they need to push off or '"be on the back" knock them out of the way or something, just reaching over and grabbing the ball without contact is not over the back as the coaches like to say. Getting the correct angle as an official for this call is not always real easy but something I have really tried to work on the past few years of finding the right position or angle to make these calls. The only technical I gave this season was giving to the coach bc I was tired of hearing him whine about the other teams player being over the back. He was just bigger and stronger and quicker to the ball, his team wasn't blocking out correctly to keep him from getting to the ball. This is coach talk that at times can get on your nerves. If the player is pushed in the back or shoved out of the way or is weighed down by the other player being on top of his back yes it will be called most of the time, but just getting beat to the ball is a whole different thing all together.:)

had a kid reach over and get a ball
 

the coach whined as was to be expected...he did make me chuckle though, he said, "we don't box out very often, when we do we need you to protect us" LOL...but it was the classic case of the kid out jumping his kid and getting the ball..

Why "call" anything?

Signal pushing and be done with it. There's no need to verbalise anything but the color and number.

For me, I don't need a coach/captain to ask me to watch anything.

Asking me to "watch for..." implies that it's happening and I'm not calling it.

No thanks.