I was chatting with some fellow officials tonight and this topic came up for discussion.

In chatting with these officials (90 years total experience) it has only happened one time that a free thrower has violated on the 10 second count.

However, we still have to make a visual 10 second count on free throws. Do you really see a purpose to be doing this count, for a violation call that is seldom used.

Just curious and looking for discussion.

Ren

A. It is a rule so I'll do the count.

B. I would like to get home before the sun rises so I’ll do the count.

C. Know why your group has only called a violation on the free throe 10 second count one time? Because, it is one of the easiest violations to avoid, just shoot before the count gets to 10.

i know i will catch grief for this, but what about these.
1. open hand on a violation. it says this is how you stop the clock, but every clock keeper in the world just stops it on the whistle. therefor no need for the open hand.
2. there is no mechanic for a hit on the arm during a shooting foul, except illegal use of the hands. some times this mechanic does not represent what actually happened. we(officials) are supposed to show the nature of foul. and no triping foul except for the block signal.
i also agree with the 10 sec freethrow violation count. personally i never count.
these are just thoughts.

tony (small t)--
If it's triping from a player you eject the player. If the tripe comes from the bench, you throw a T, and give the coach an indirect. If the tripe comes out of the stands, you stop play, call the security guard, and search everyone in the vicinity until you find the guy (or gal) with the smelly plastic bag, and have him (or her) arrested for assault. None of these actions require a special signal, since they almost never happen, and no one would know what the signal meant anyway.!!

Crew -- I know you said open hand on a violation, however the table stops the clock on a whistle. Consider this, not everyone (partner(s)/table/coaches/players) know exactly what the whistle was for -- maybe. The open hand shows violation and the fist shows foul. If you have 2 or 3 players clustered around the ball in the corner, and you only "blow the whistle", no one knows if the whistle means violation or foul. BTW, I get "dinged" on my ratings if I don't have a visible 10-second count on the freethrow. I am from the south and we count slooooow, so i don't think I will have a violation.

excuse my spelling it should have read tripping. this is where common sense should have taken over and realized the error, rainmaker.

Firstly, FIBA has a 5 second count on free throws, but I still have only called 1 or 2 in the 15 years I have been refereeing.

Secondly, as far as the hand up in the air - what about deaf people? One of our areas top coaches is totally deaf, and he has commented on several occasions that he like having me run games because I use clear, crisp hand signals, and conciously try to make sure that I am at least half facing his direction when verbally reporting calls.

Excellent point re deaf schools
 

We've got a school for the deaf that we do game for. Signals are very important then. Granted, it wouldn't be good if your scorekeeper was deaf...

Re: Excellent point re deaf schools
 

Why would having a deaf scorekeeper make a difference? Although verbal communication helps to clarify things, hand signals can be used to indicate anything that happens in a game.

Imagine those that referee/score at the Olypics, on many occasions there would be no common language (although these days most have a "working" knowledge of English).

We have, on occasion, refereed games without talking at all just for training, really makes the emphasis on good mechanics!

If I can presume to speak for my buddy, Juulie, hey - she was only kidding! However, she probably should have used a grinning emoticon. The turquoise one actually looks like me.

Thanks for sticking up for me Mark. Or is this like the greeting card that says, "I heard some folks saying you act crazy, so I stuck up for you, I said........"That's no act!!"" I have never gotten the hang of emoticons. I can barely remember when to call 3 seconds and when not to. The computer stuff is just more haze.....

crew -- be thankful I'm not commenting on much of your spelling or grammar, or anyone else's on this board. I'm starting to get used to it, but my dead grandmother rolls over in her grave when I accidentally pick up some of the jargon. It's just that that one word, "triping" was too funny to resist...

oooooohhhhh! o.k


what about the bird signal? i no use