Double whistle, foul or travel

davidw · #1 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 02:24pm

Tue night, 4-A (highest state level) varsity game. 2nd quarter, I'm trail and see slight contact up high as the quard begins to penetrate. I note the slight contact and pass on it as the guard looks to be playing through it and looks to be creating a good scoring opportunity, when suddenly it is evident the contact has now caused him to travel. At that time we have a double whistle with my partner quickly signaling a travel violation and me with my fist in the air for the foul which created it. I close to confer with my partner who listens and says he thinks we should go with the travel since he "sold" it and no one (coaches, players or fans) seem to be complaining. I repeat the foul caused the travel violation and the best call is the right call. My partner doesn't budge from his position (he's the R) and I make the decision to let him resignal the travel call. How would you have handled it? Could I, should I have done something different?

John Schaefferkoetter · #2 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 02:36pm

If in your mind you knew that the foul caused the travel, your call should over-rule his walk. The other official should understand, even though he is the referee. You guys are a team, one does not have more power than the other. Sounds like your partner may have an ego problem? He had to hear your point of view and understand that a disadvantage took place.

Bart Tyson · #3 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 02:56pm

davidw, sounds like it was your primary. You did the right thing to let it go. When it is up high and everyone can see what happened then it should have been a foul. If however in the paint and you have daul coverage and the Key word is SLIGHT contact, then i wouldn't have a problem with the travel.

davidw · #4 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 03:19pm

I guess I classified the contact as "slight" because I thought he could play thru it and that this was an opportunity to allow the game to flow. The resultant travel obviously proved I was wrong on the degree to which I assigned the original contact. I believe I was right on passing on the contact but what still bothers me, is I wasn't sure how to handle my partners position since I was confidant the right call was the foul. As I have thought about it more, I guess the only thing I might do differently is to restate--one more time--my feeling that we should have a foul and say to my partner with that, he can go with travel if he still thinks that's the right call.

Bart Tyson · #5 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 03:30pm

davidw, i disagree, don't restate. these situations are best settled quickly and get to clock running. I wouldn't even bring it up after the game because he has already said why he wanted the travel. You and I disagree with your partners call but just let it go.

davidw · #6 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 03:43pm

Bart,
Thanks for the advice. Based on feedback so far, it looks like I may have handled each part the best way possible at the time, as I also did not bother to mention it after our game, though I thought about doing so. But, as you can tell, it has caused a certain amount of rethinking since.

JRutledge · #7 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 07, 2002, 04:08pm

You cannot blow your whistle and not be aware of things around you. Officials many times call something and get their head so focused on the foul, they forget what else is around them. You have to be aware of your partners and when they blow their whistle too.

And you have to discuss these situations in the pregame too. Because you have to discuss what might happen if a travel happens before some contact or whether the contact caused the travel and both of you have blown your whistle. And you should be able to discuss what happens when one official is calling in their primary and another official is calling out. There is not always a right and wrong, but you need to be prepared for when these situations happen to you.

Peace