"Letting Them Play..."

[tnsteele95]

Again, middle school games last night, two officials. Four games total, two JV two Varsity. It seemed as though both officials were content to let the kids play ball, which meant it was very physical. The crowd got a little rough, but seemed o.k. the first couple of games. As the night wore on, the officials just swallowed there whistles and didn't call anything except out of bounds. Kids were swinging elbows, pushing, traveling, just a very out of control situation which led to a few kids getting hurt and the crowd was absolutely out of control. After the game, I heard one official tell a paret, "We were just trying to let them play ball."

So here's my question, where do you draw the line between calling everything and letting them play? I'm just a rec league guy, but I've learned quickly that it's a safer bet just to call evrything the whole ball game. It may slow the pace, but there's a lot less blood.