5 Second OB Call...

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

From Jurassic Referee: "Unless they were gaining some kind of advantage out of it, I wouldn't worry too much about their lack of hustle on throw-ins. And if they're down by 20 that quick, they aren't gaining any advantage by delaying anything. That's especially true for crappy MS girls teams. I'd either ignore it, or maybe quickly mention to the coach if I got a chance that his kids are a l'il slow on throw-ins."

Jurassic Referee: Are you using the Tower Philosphy/Principal of Advantage/Disadvantage/Spirit and Intent of the Rules for a VIOLATION? I thought that you always advocated that the Tower Philosphy/Principal of Advantage/Disadvantage/Spirit and Intent of the Rules was for FOULS only?

Three words:

See Snaqwell's response.

[Jim Henry]

Starting my 7th season on Nov. 5 as a ref and have done a majority of my games for middle and junior high teams. My philosophy is to call the game by the rules with the understanding that in the grade schools there is some flexibility. But I have never gone overboard with it. Especially on the OB 5 second. When you are doing the visible count it has to be enforced. In the paint I have been more flexible and have allowed more then 3 seconds early in the game but tell the young ones to get out of the zone. When they don’t next time, they get the whistle. BTW, to comment on an earlier comment, once you get into high school games, they are cleaner and easier to call.

[Mark Padgett]

FWIW - we tell all the refs in our rec league, which works games in grades 3-12 (although the vast majority are in 3-8) to make the calls on these infractions. It's not that we want to be nasty (at least that's what I tell the parents), but our philosophy is to demonstrate to the kids what is and what is not a violation, and that there are consequences to their actions. We feel that's the best way for them to learn and we use this as a "teaching tool". Our hope is that after getting called for a violation and losing possession a few times, they'll learn not to do that. Our experience over more than 25 years is that this works a lot better than just continuing to give warnings or to just "let things go".

[mick]

Originally Posted by Jim Henry

...When you are doing the visible count it has to be enforced.

Visible counts can start later and last longer in some games.