Partner's late...How do you cover the court?

[Old School]

You can not roam all over the place. You will be out of position more often then not. Being at the FT line might at times be too close and prevent you from getting to the other side of the court should the ball swing over. You should be opposite the table and work where you can see everything.

At the jump, I explain to the players and coaches, it's on your honor system on the baseline if the ball goes out. If you can not work it out, it will be a jump ball. For example, ball goes out on the baseline opposite from where I'm standing, if the teams can't agree and I'm not sure, jump ball.

I use to try and go down to the baseline if the ball worked it's way down there. What made me stop was that I found myself over time refereeing the baseline for one team and not the other because no way I was going to go baseline to baseline. It turned out to be more baseline one team, trail the other. Not fair to me so I try to stay center. I could cover more here and even caught an intentional foul late in the game.

I have always worked my trail position towards center court because I had a great look at the ball and everything else. Plus, my Lead would often not pick up the ball in 2-person when it was deep in his corner. The area between the FT line semi-cirlce and half-court is where you start, preferrabily opposite table. If you need to go in from here, you can but don't go down too far. If the ball swings from one side to the other, you can easily go from one side to the other and then in.