"Letting Them Play..."

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by 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.

The trick to this level is to learn how to strike the balance.

First, it has to be your balance, not the fans'. They have no concept of balance. They want everything that their kids do to be legal, and everything the opponents do to be illegal.

Second, that balance has to be based on the rules, and not the skill level. Some kids just aren't going to make shots with or with out contact. If there's borderline contact, that really didn't affect a really bad shot, well, that's not illegal. On the other hand, if there's really nasty contact that was just because of a defender's clumsiness, well, it's illegal, even though it wasn't an attitude problem.

Protect the shooter. That's a standard judgemnt standard. Call it pretty tight on shooting, especially at the lower levels. On everything else, watch for displacement. That's a good standard for most fouls.

Third, with regard to violations, you have to be strict, so that they learn, but not so strict that the game never ends. I try to loosen the definitions a little and then call that line pretty tightly. It's not really A/D, it's "pragmatic rule-bending".

Fourth, you don't let the coaches whine you down. They may affect your judgment in certain ways, such as when they both come to you together and ask you to crack down (I've had that happen). Or they may actually ask you to call things a little tighter on their own players to teach them a lesson. But don't let their whining or complaining adjust your balance point.

Develop some phrases you can say to coaches if necessary: "Coach, hard contact like that is always a foul" "Coach, there was no advantage" "She had legal guarding position". Whatever, to let them know that you're using an objective standard, not selling the game to the squeakiest wheel.

Keep things consistent throughout a single game, but adjust your balance for each game as necessary. DOn't hesitate to discuss with partner. Don't give up doing the best you can.