Coach Apology
 

JVB game last night. About 12 seconds to half. A1 and B1 go for a board. Both come down with ball facing each other with simultaenous possession. I whistle a jump ball. When the whistle goes off, A1 releases ball and B1 pivots and starts to dribble up court. Whistle goes off again. He sees my signal and wham, slams ball down so it bounces up about 10 feet in the air. Whack! Coach and bench start to go ballistic and I give stop sign. Half ends and coach is jawing on the way out about how can an official make a call like that.

We come out for second half and coach approaches me. I'm waiting for a few "kind" words and was surprised when that's exactly what I got. He apologized for losing temper and his comments leaving the gym. Said he was in locker room talking to kid saying he knows it was "out of character" for him to act that way. Said the rest of the team said BS - he does it all the time in practice whenever he gets pi$$ed. Coach said he never really noticed it but the rest of the team said it was a daily occurence. He told me it wouldn't be from now on.:D Told me it was a good call and thanked me calling it because he could now work with the kid on handling his anger/frustration. It must be Christmas!

Frame that one

It must be Christmas.......

You sure you got the right forum? Fiction writing is on that other site. :D

Yep. It must be Christmas.

I didn't hear any voices saying "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home," and I had patent black shoes not red sequined heels so it REALLY must be Christmas. It did make for a pleasant evening

Tournament doubleheader last night. Between games, I'm watching visitors warm-up. A fan approaches me. His daughter's team had lost but he decided to stick around and watch two boys' teams he hadn't seen this year.

He asked me if all offensive fouls now result in a turnover but no shots. I explained team control fouls and the rationale behind it and congratulated him and picking it up on his own.

Boys game went to OT. I've got the ball on the endline, waiting for a timeout. I see the same guy walk the 15 feet between us to approach me. In case I don't see you after the game, I just wanted you to know you're the best I've seen this year." Wow. It must be Christmas!

Of course, before I left the gym, I had several others who thought I was the worst they've EVER seen. :D

I think it's a fact that you can please 50% of the people 90% of the time on any given call. It's only 90% of the time because there are no absolutes on this forum!! :D

That's not always true ;)

I stand humbly corrected! :)

Good call here. I've issued a couple of Ts for this exact same behavior this year and never had partners or coaches question it. If they slam the ball down and then catch it, I don't generally say anything...but if the ball doesn't get stopped and goes "sky high," I don't hesitate.

Wow that was pretty cool.......I got the "Hey, we lost and it wasn't because of you but I've seen you do better....I don't think you guys were on your game tonight".

I've had the coach several times and I'll see him again so I just told him to have a great holiday....For the record, his team could have played better as well...7th grade team that got beat by 6th grade!

End of regulation of a game heading to overtime, and V1 bounces the ball after the horn. Ball went maybe 6 feet high on the bounce. H coach looks at me, smiling and silently pleading for the call. I smiled back and shook my head. As I walked by his bench on the way to the table to discuss OT, he quietly whispered, "I had to try."

An apology is fine but the crowd saw a coach lose it and the big bad official pull out his magic T! They probably didn't hear the apology from the coach unless the coach shook hands with the official and made it appear to be a mea culpa.

Wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Game still would go to overtime. ;)

Not in Padgett's world. :D