Tripping

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

A few years ago on the NF Manual and in the Rulebook, the NF changed the picture to an "Illegal use of Hands" to an open hand chop, to a closed fist chop. People were using the closed fist chop for years and only the ultra technical cared. This change from what I remember was not made public or included in any changes the NF made that year in the Manual.

You're right. The 2003-04 manual shows the open hand chop. The 2004-05 manual shows the closed fist chop. I don't remember the change. I believe that when I started twenty-eight years ago (really twenty-nine, our first year on IAABO is considered a probationary year, and we don't become full members until the end of that probationary year) I was taught, by my partners (that's how we learned mechanics back then, no clinics, no camps, no mechanics exams; the rules, and calls, were emphasized back then, not mechanics), the open hand chop. Somewhere along the line, I don't remember exactly when, but it was a lot earlier than 2004-05, a lot of officials, including me, went to the closed fist chop. Same thing with the open hand block. That's what I was taught, but so many well respected veterans were doing the fist block, that I started doing it that way too, even though I knew it was wrong.

Bottom line. My schedule, including the level of games, and the number of games, is based on my ranking, which is based, among other things, on my ratings. Mechanics seem to be stressed a lot more now, then when I started. So, "When In Connecticut, Do What Connecticut Evaluators Do".