5 Second OB Call...

[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.