This is a little long, sorry.

Calling 6th grade rec. ball. About 1 minute into the game B1 grabs a rebound and B2 starts streaking ahead for a baseball type pass with A2 right on his heels. I am trail so I break with them. Since they started a couple of steps behind me I have my back to the rest of the court and am running full out (turning my back may have been a mistake) to get into position. I hear a loud thud and a whistle. That is when things started getting interesting.

Turns out, the player faked the pass and started dribbling up court. My partner therefore was watching him and the poorly executed double team trying to stop him. The thud was a A4 hitting the floor face first. Coach A is one the floor fast to check his player and is howling for a flagrant foul on B3 for a shove. Partner says we didn't see a foul and couldn't call what we didn't see. Coach stands up and gets in his face (about an inch apart), then bumps him with his upper body (body check). Partner takes a step back and whacks him with a "Flagrant Technical - Coach A. Coach, you're out'a here!" After I get the coach away a few feet I tell him he has to leave the building. When he says no, I tell the table to start the TO clock, then tell the coach if it gets to 0:00 before he leaves the game is a forfeit. Luckily (I thought), he leaves.

We go about another minute and I call foul on a player from the same team. He slams the ball down in anger, so I give him a T. As I am reporting the fouls, I hear "A Tech for that?" in a loud voice immediately followed by a whistle. My partner has called another T on the same player and tells him he is leaving. We shoot the FTs and I'm getting ready to put the ball in play and the "adult" behind me is yelling "Just knock the sh!t out of them!", "Come on, nail 'em good" and other interesting advice. I simply walk over to the table where a coach from the school supplying the gym is sitting and tell him to remove the parent (looked like it made his morning judging from the smile on his face). We just get started and another player from team A shoves a player on B. I toss him with a flagrant T. Then call EVERYONE from that team together and say "If anyone wants to leave, raise your hand now so we can get this game finished." They get the message and things settle down and the rest of the game is quite.

After the game, I am told by the league commissioner (he arrived late and missed the excitement, the coach who removed the parent filled him in) that he knows the name of the coach and is willing to call the police if my partner wants to press assault charges to go with the 2 year suspension he is going to get. My partner passes on the charges. Would you have passed? Other than talking to the kids faster or calling the game immediately, what could we have done to nip this in the bud?

Larry,

The only thing that you might have done to "nip it in the bud" is to catch what happened that sent A4 to the floor. Maybe there was nothing there and he just tripped. But maybe he really was shoved. The problem, as I'm sure you know, is that neither you nor your partner really knows what happened. Once that play is over, though, there's nothing you can do about it and you just have to deal with whatever happens after that. And it sounds to me like you did everything right. The T's were deserved, the adult's removal was deserved, and I think that I too probably would not press charges over a "bump".

Just a lousy thing to have happen, but I think you did ok in the situation.

Chuck

In my state, Oregon, this is a class A misdemeanor and will be prosecuted under our sports official assault law. We are instructed to press charges in all cases, then it is our choice to also pursue the matter in civil court.

Hind sight being 20-20, you did what was required! however a couple of things about positioning.

You should never turn your back on players. In the transition you describe, you should be at least looking over your shoulder. In transition it is tough but if you go back to basic court coverage, the trail has the on ball call in the area of the court you decribe. You as the lead should have it but dont turn your back running at full speed, because you need to help and know where the ball is...

Sounds like the thing that might have cut this short was one of us seeing what happened. Thinking about it with the benefit of hindsight, turning my back was the problem.

Next time I am in this position (kids breaking away from me), I think I may let them go a little ahead of me and look back over the shoulder as much as possible. I let myself drift too low and put myself in a position where I could not watch off ball in the transition and the two breaking players. Based on how my Saturday went, if I had been looking back the shove would have involved the two players I was trying to catch.

Learned something in all of it, so it wasn't a total loss. Know what the first thing I thought of was when I had the "adult" removed? The "hockey dad" incident! Luckily I had 5 more games after that one and didn't have to deal with a possible confrontation when I went home.

This happened to me about a year ago and I passed. I did get a small measure of revenge, however, since the coach was shorter than me and when he bumped me, I still had the whistle in my mouth, so I just blew it right in his ear. He literally physically recoiled. After seeing the look on his face, I felt avenged.