5th Quarter
 

Got called on my one night off this week to do 2 MS boys games. At this school they sometimes have a 5th quarter for the non-starters or athletes that don't play much. They even pay you extra for this. Usually this is at the end of the game.

However, last night they told us they were doing a 5th quarter during halftime with a 10 minute running clock and they wanted the score to be added to 1st half totals. They told the official scorer to mark them in the OT area of the book. OK - I'm just calling the game. But - to top it off they wanted team fouls set at zero so we wouldn't be walking doing bonus FT for the entire time - but they didn't want any fouls counted towards team totals the 2nd half and wanted them erased at end of halftime in case they needed certain players at the end of the game.

What do you have for 5th quarter games? Is this the norm? I was glad all I had to worry about was calling the game. :D

Never seen that. Weird.

Never heard of this before.

Only 5th quarters I've ever done were in "pre-season" scrimmages where the scores and fouls are zeroed out at the end of each quarter as coaches were trying different player combinations and using the game for instruction. Other than that, ya got me! :confused:

I really felt sorry for the gal doing the official book. She kept looking back and forth between the coaches. I had never done a game there before so had no clue what the norm was. To top it all off - at half the game was 28-28 with the starters and top bench. At the end of this 5th quarter it 43-28. The one team pressed and had two kids that could do nothing but catch and chuck up 3's. Pure shots - not crap. I would have had them in the game earlier.

Who knows?? If both coaches are okay with what's going on, who cares?

I didn't have a problem with it at that level - just never heard of it before. It was just odd how they wanted to include some things and exclude others.

I've never heard of that. If it's customary in your area and your assignor knows, then I suppose there's no complaint. If it's idiosyncratic even in your area, I would certainly discuss it with my assignor. Among other things liability issues arise in such contexts.

Liability issues? Please elaborate.

This is not a new or totally unusual concept. Many middle schools around here do some form of 5th quarter. Usually these are after the game is over and not apart of the regular game (scores and fouls). And the purpose is to have kids play that normally do not play. This is not a mandated thing and often is something the coaches agree to before the game starts so there are not surprises. I do not do much middle school games anymore, but the director of the Illinois Elementary Athletic Association addressed this issue a few weeks ago at a meeting I attended. So it still goes on somewhere. How much I am not sure.

Peace

I do not know if liability would change if you are contracted to work a game and you are doing the same function in the 5th quarter as you were during any other time of the game.

Peace