Spot Throw-in

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by rhhudson

Team A throwing the ball in with just over 3 seconds remaining. It is on the baseline but is a spot throw in. B defender playing very agressively on the thrower but not crossing the vertical line in anyway. Ball is thrown away, game over. Coach is going nuts at me about the thrower being given 2 feet to throw the ball in?? What is he talking about. I know the defender can guard the baseline without crossing it. I guess he means I should have told his offensive player that he can back up (plenty of room behind him).

Could somebody pass on some help on spot throw in regarding the thrower and defensive player? Thank you.

Okay, so we've given you the sarcastic replies (most of which are a result of just hearing the coach's remark and were not really aimed at you). I guess we owe you a serious answer.

If I've got a spot throw-in I'm indicating the spot to the thrower, and if there's defensive pressure, especially if it's a "pressure situation", I will often remind the defender not to reach through the boundary. I'll illustrate that point by waving my hand up and down in front of the defender along the plane. That is all preventative officiating; I'm trying to prevent what I can prevent.

Saying anything to the thrower about how he can back up...? That's going beyond preventative officiating and into the realm of coaching. I just got back from an association meeting tonight where the guest speaker was the president of the coaches association. He says it irritates him when officials try to coach players. Don't go there. If the coach is trying to pin the kid's blunder on you and saying you should be coaching his kid for him, you should probably negotiate part of his salary. (Just kidding, another point he made was that coaches hate sarcastic banter from officials).

I had a freshman boys game last year where the thrower, on the end line, actually reached through and pushed the defender back because he couldn't deal with the defensive pressure. The ironic part was that the kid had at least 40 feet he could have moved back. A player's stupidity is not our responsibility.