Tracking down a wayward ball
 

HS freshman game, A1 goes up for a shot and B2 blocks it out of bounds, no foul. Ball rolls, bounces along out of bounds and into corner of gym. Who is responsible to get the ball for the throw in to be administered? The officials? B2 or a member of his team? Someone from Team A?

Race
 

First one there wins!!!

:D

I'm not going to track it down. This is one of the things we address in the pre-game captains meeting...that they please chase down loose balls and get it to the officials.

What is the penalty and the rule if niether team seems interested in tracking it down?

I wait for about 3 seconds, then I'll get it.
If it comes back, I say, "Thank you."

I will <b>slowly</b>, very <b>slowly</b> walk over and get the ball. I will then <b>slowly</b>, very <b> slowly</b>, walk back. I may stop in the middle of my <b>slow</b> walk and re-tie my shoelace. When I get back, I may re-tie the other shoelace. I will then verbally check with <b>both</b> teams to make sure that they are ready for me to administer the throw-in.

Repeat as needed.

The message sent is usually taken.

No. Uh-uh. I don't believe that.
Yer a barker, not a biter.
...And your shoes don't come untied after your wife ties 'em for you.

So I take that there is no authority to administer any penalty (and I have been unable to find any) such as a technical foul, violation, etc.

I ask because my daughter plays and is usually happy to run down a ball for the official (especially if her team is getting the ball :cool: ), but gets frustrated when the ball is sitting 6-8 feet from an official and he tells the girls on the court "someone needs to get me the ball" :( . Obviously the officials shouldn't have to chase the ball all over the gym, but a few seem to take it to the extreme then indirectly threaten some penalty if the girls don't run it down for them every time. :confused:

It's true, it's true......

I've used that a few times in big gyms with a lot of room at an end. They usually get the message very quickly when they have to stand around waiting for me to go get the ball.

Yeah, in a multi-court team camp with a running clock....:)

Somewhere in one of the books, the referee talks to game administration (or table) about ball chasers. I couldn't find it.
If I recall correctly, there is no penalty.

This is too much trouble. Just stand there. It accomplishes the same thing. Everybody waits until they realize the ref's not gonna get it. Then somebody will get it.

Personally, I usually just ask the closest kid to "help me out". Rarely do I have a problem with that approach.

Well, I'll ask a player to get it, but they usually do without being asked. I used to cover this in my captain's meeting, but it raised my total captain's meeting time over a minute. :D

It's not that I don't want to chase loose balls, but I believe my time is better served keeping my eyes on the players.

I also think it looks somewhat undignified having an official chase down a ball while everyone else watches. Of course, I haven't worked anything but varsity games for quite a while, so this probably doesn't apply to the 3rd grade game at the Y on Saturday morning.

Yup, that works too.

This is how I was taught too.

I usually just say - "someone needs to go get the ball."....then I just wait. Never had a problem with it yet. Of course, I don't work too many cavernous gyms either.