Traveling philosophies....

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by IUgrad92

Just follow the d@mn rules, as written, to the best of your knowledge and capability. IMHO obviously, call me a traditionalist..........

Then why do we see legal jump stops called traveling much of the time? Not trying to get too socially contentious, but I see all the time urban kids complete a legal jump stop, only to see officials that are not used to seeing that kind of talent or officials that are used to seeing suburban and rural kids on a regular basis calling travels that were not there. I do not think that this has anything to do with people just not wanting to make a travel call. I see a lot of travel calls that just are not there, being made. Also do not get me started on the many high dribbles or when a player clearly does not have control of the ball being called.

Once again, this is the most inconsistently called rule at all levels. So I would not just say that officials are not calling something to stay out of trouble. I think many officials are not calling something because they do not have the judgment level (which is very important to get certain rules right if you ask me) to recognize a travel or some might not call something they are not really sure about.

Peace

[IUgrad92]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Then why do we see legal jump stops called traveling much of the time? Not trying to get too socially contentious, but I see all the time urban kids complete a legal jump stop, only to see officials that are not used to seeing that kind of talent or officials that are used to seeing suburban and rural kids on a regular basis calling travels that were not there. I do not think that this has anything to do with people just not wanting to make a travel call. I see a lot of travel calls that just are not there, being made. Also do not get me started on the many high dribbles or when a player clearly does not have control of the ball being called.

Once again, this is the most inconsistently called rule at all levels. So I would not just say that officials are not calling something to stay out of trouble. I think many officials are not calling something because they do not have the judgment level (which is very important to get certain rules right if you ask me) to recognize a travel or some might not call something they are not really sure about.

Peace

Agreed. I think too many times a travel gets called because 1) "It just looked ugly", or 2) "There's no way he could go from point A to B without travelling. And to me, neither is a good reason.

If I have a travel call, then I have a reason why. If the coach asks, I tell him specifically which foot was the pivot and what the player did illegally. If there is an 'ugly' play (no control, high dribble, etc) or if a player covers a lot of ground and I don't have a travel, then I make sure I know why I didn't have a travelling violation so that I could 'briefly' explain, if needed.

IMO, know WHY you whistle a play and make the reason rule based.....