Coach Apology

[chartrusepengui]

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. 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!