Poll: Toughest Call
 

It's been a while since we've had a poll, so since the other thread generated some interesting discussion, I thought it might be just as interesting to have a poll about it.

Other: Basket Interference

I voted bench decorum, not because it is harder to distinguish than traveling or BI, but rather my personal hesitation or willingness to make the call.

The jump shot directly in front of lead with the shooting hand and defender away from you...no angle, no way to quickly get an angle.

It's basket interference for me too. Sometimes it's difficult to tell from the C or T if a player touched the ball or rim.... one time I knew it had been touched but could not tell which team the hand belonged to (in the sea of hands) that touched it.

I voted other - for me, the hardest call is advantage/disadvantage on minor-to-moderate contact. The more situations I see, though, the better I <s>think</s> am able to determine it.

Same here... Been known to give a little more latitude then others when it comes to yapping from the coach.

Other. There are many tough calls in this game. For me, struggling with when it's the right time to interrupt the game with a good quality foul call as opposed to letting it go and creating a good game flow. Had a clinician in a DI camp this summer ask me why I called that hand-check out front. The player didn't lose control of the ball, so why interrupt the game. That is a tough one to get, when is enough too much?

So, how was dance instruction camp? :rolleyes:

I put other because I was also thinking about basket interference and goal tending. Sometimes getting the traveling calls right on the jump stops in the lane when the player does the long jump stop thru the door.

I picked bench decorum and here is why.

It isn't that basket interference or traveling is easy at all. However, a travel and BI or block/charge, etc. is the same every night.

Coaches are different. Game situations are different. Yes, there are some things that can't be said or done EVER, but what you may ring up one night you may not the next.

The level you are officiating may change. You may do JH boys one night and the next have VG. While a travel is the same in both games, what you accept on the sidelines have probably changed.

Throw in some AAU or rec. league and I'm sure the tolerance level just dropped....but a travel is still the same.

Gotta go with the travel on this one. :)

Here's my vote.

Traveling is not a hard call to make. If you're not sure, leave it alone, let the game flow. That's a good thing if you're not sure, you get game flow on the no-call. Interrupting the game with marginal travel calls shows a lack of experienced. Makes you look like a rookie. Oh, you might be right on every call, but the more travels calls you make in the game, the more you set yourself up for criterism, both ways, which is why you don't see a lot of traveling calls at the upper level. Me, I look for the big travel calls, the one that everybody in the gym sees. The ones where I think that's a travel and everybody else thinks the same thing too, that's the one I'm calling. Center yourself around this objective and the traveling calls will drop right in your lap.

Wrong. You don't see traveling called as much at upper levels because players don't travel as much at upper levels. And don't worry about the criterism, it's really harmless.