Delay to the nth degree
 

Usual Saturday morning kids rec league schedule. First game (at 8:15, no less) of four was 7th grade boys. Team A got a delay warning for interfering with the ball after it went through the basket about 2 minutes into the game. A minute later, they got their second call for a boundary violation. This was right after my partner reminded them not to reach over the line. All in all, they got nine, count 'em nine, delay warnings that resulted in eight technicals. Five warnings were for interfering with the ball after a made basket, four were for boundary violations. The weird thing was that they never reached over the boundary and slapped the ball.

After one of the calls in the 3rd quarter, their assistant coach yelled at my partner that we were "being ridiculous". Mind you, not that their situation was ridiculous, but that we were. My partner teed him up, so we had four free throws that time. My partner wasn't overreacting - this league has a zero tolerance policy for coaches yelling at officials.

Oh yeah - they lost by 7. Gee, I wonder what cost them the game? :confused:

IMO the referees did. Why, after the first technical (2 delay violations), didn't you use some game management and pull the coaches together and give them a few seconds to instruct their kids? These were 7th grade rec kids that MAYBE practice one a week and play 12 games a year (if they are like rec kids in my area).

Are you nuts? :mad: We warned them over and over. The coaches yelled at them before every OOB play not to reach over. They yelled at them in their huddles numerous times not to touch the ball after it went through the net. These kids practice twice a week and this league starts at 3rd grade. Most of these kids are in their 5th year of playing. Their behavior in this game is just something I can't explain. This is the 15th year I've worked this league and I've never seen anything like it before. And, if it was our "fault", why didn't the other team have even a single warning the entire game?

Ya' know, sometimes kids just don't listen and/or learn. That doesn't mean it's the fault of the officials and I resent your implication that we were negligent.

Well, even given what you said, I would NEVER call 9 delays in a 7th grade rec game when no advantage was gained. I think you were negligent in game management techniques, not rules enforcement. For the reach through I would back the defender up a couple feet and educate the inbounder that he can go back as far as he wanted. For slight reach throughs - I wouldn't even worry. For the touching the ball after the basket I would simply start the 5 second count after the team secured the ball unless you are telling me they swatted it far away. If they kept swatting it far away and completely went over the line on reach throughs to the point of obstructing the inbounder's view, etc., then you just have a team full of rejects. But if other refs don;t have this problem with them then I would look in the mirror.

Wow... :eek:

JMO=Old School=Ralph=KSref=[whatever the most recent one is]

So your answer, as an official, is to instruct the OTHER team how to work around the violations instead of penalizing the offenders? Then maybe you should coach instead of officiate.

Isn't ralph the guy you call after your 14th beer? rrrrrrrrraaaaaaaallllph!!

Kinda fits here.

He was a college acquaintance, but not necessarily a friend.

Who the hell are you to tell me to "look in the mirror"? I've worked more kid's rec games than probably anyone else on this forum. I've served on the Board of this league for almost 15 years. Do you think I would call "petty" violations?

I look in the mirror every day. What I see is a guy who pulled this organization out of the red during my first year as Board president and who got his local newspaper to appeal to the community to get more volunteers when we didn't have enough to continue. I have never been anything but helpful and instructive to these kids. My philosophy in a league like this is to make the call, tell the kid what he/she did wrong, and keep calling it until they correct their wrong behavior. That's how they learn and that position is an official Board policy.

Gee - I guess you can sum it up by saying I truly believe in teaching kids to be responsible for the consequences of their own actions and not blame others. What a concept.

In what universe is this a good idea???:D :D

Don't hold back Mark, tell us how you really feel! :D :D :D

Seriously, I agree with you 100%.

And Ralph, I've seen Mark work, and he does an outstanding job of game management, which isn't easy with the mix of kids & coaches you get at this level. This is the age where they need to learn these things if they want a chance at playing at the high school level, and experience is often the best teacher.

The delays were called because they were giving that team an advantage. That advantage was delaying the game.

You really should look in the mirror. You're blaming an official for poor <b>coaching</b>.

Btw, are you an official?

Thanks for all the support, guys. If I have a sore spot, it's being attacked on my attitude toward my local kids rec league, since I have been involved with it for so long.

Actually, I have another sore spot, but no matter how much I beg her, Juulie won't rub it for me. :(

Oh, and Mark, when one team is fouling a lot, you should not call so many fouls. Just tell the team that is getting fouled to shoot long range jumpers before the defense can get close enough to foul. Calling too many fouls is just how horrible officials cause kids to lose games. I am so disappointed in you.