Speaking of visible counts...

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by Splute

good words of experience JRut. IMO, at the middle school level, we do not add anything to the game by STRICTLY enforcing 5-second counts to the exact second or non-contested (no press) 10-second counts. It is far more enjoyable to have a flow to your game rather than interupters at this level. I believe we are all on the same page here; use common sense for the game you are officiating.

The best thing for lower grade (or any grade, for that matter) teams in a game is to have all the refs who work their games call them the same. That way they can concentrate on playing, not on the calls. If all the refs called all the games strictly according to the rules, the consistency of officiating would be at it's optimum and it would make it incredibly easy for teams. They would no longer have to "adjust" to any particular person or crew. If all of us agreed to modify a certain call a certain way and we all did that all the time, then that would become the "de facto" rule and it would work the same way for the team. But - the odds of that happening vs. the odds of calling the game by the rules is slim to none. That's why we should all call all the games according to the rules. It's the most logical conclusion and results in the highest level of consistency, which is best for everyone.