Injury sub for lost contact lens?
 

Girls varsity. A1 is fouled while shooting. Before administering the free throws, she tells the officials that she lost a contact lens. After hunting, it is not found. She stays in the game. First free throw hits the backboard with a thud, not even close to the rim. Second hits the rim...but not close.

Team B gets the rebound, starts a fast break and scores. On next possession, A1 is again fouled in the act of shooting. Before she shoots the free throws, head coach of A asks to replace A1 because she has lost a contact lens and cannot see. We allowed the substitution and before administering, tell B coach of the decision. He had no problem. (Sub missed both free throws).

The allowance for a sub to replace an injured player before a free throw (8-2) makes no mention of not being able to see the basket. Did we handle it properly?

Three Blind Mice ...
 

For liability reasons, if the coach says that she can't see, then she can't see. However, she's not coming back into my game until she gets a contact lens into her eye.

That's a good question, and I think that you have to allow the sub. There is something wrong with the player. IMO that permits the coach to sub.

I don't see poor vision as a reason for the sub. I also think the argument would have more merit if it was made immediately instead of after the player had already missed her first 2 free throws.

Yes; allow the sub.

I had a frosh game about 10 days ago, and the 3rd quarter ended with a hard foul on a player shooting outside the circle (dumb foul). The kid went down in a heap and was obviously in some pain.

When he was up off the floor, the coach asked whether a sub could shoot the free throws. I said yes, but it could not be one of the other 4 who were on the floor when the foul occurred. So he sent somebody in.

Immediately the other coach starts whining about allowing a sub to shoot. I explained that the player who was fouled was injured, and by rule his sub must shoot the FT's.

After we shot them, he was whining about whether the kid who had been fouled was done for the rest of the game.

Oh, did I mention that the whining coach lost by about 30 points? Probably thought it was my fault... :rolleyes:

I would let her sub out, however, I would make sure she had her contacts in if she returned.

Gonna do an eye exam on the court?

If the coach says the player is unable to play due to being disabled, I am going to take their word for it. It is too big of a liability if I "require" the player to stay in the game. However, if the player sits down for two seconds and then wants to report as a substitute directly after the freethrows (and of course once they sit a tick), the coach and I probably will has a heart-to-heart about my suspicions of unsportsmanlike acts committed by him.

-Josh

Wait!
 

That would set a dangerous precedent. Officials should never be seen in the same room with an eye chart.

Thanks for the humor. Just brightened my morning!

-Josh

What eye chart?

If she tells me that I'm good looking, she going back to the bench.

Good call Josh. I had a case last season where a coach was clearly trying to influence the game not intended by the rules via the table crew, and the table crew didn't know how to handle the situation. I had a heart-to-heart with him. I had previously learned (from him) that he is also an official in his home board. He didn't say boo when I was done with him. He also didn't say anything after that either. He got the point very loud and clear. The heart-to-heart approach definitely works!

Can you give more details? This seems interesting.

That's the thig that has a big E on the top... so they say... we, of course can't see well enough to prove it.

[QUOTE=Indianref; Gonna do an eye exam on the court?
If she tells me that I'm good looking, she going back to the bench.

If she tells me I'm good looking, she won't commit another foul the rest of the night and is going to get fouled every time anyone comes anywhere near her!!! :D

Anyone see the Georgetown/UConn game tonight?

Late in the second half with Georgetown up the entire game and UConn making a run, a Georgetown player had a contact lens malfunction that went on for an extended period of time. I saw this incident late in the game stoppage (flipping channels ya know), and don't know if a TO was called. But the announcers said if this "game stoppage" went on any longer Jim Calhoun was going to go nuts. The player managed to fix his lens and stay in the game. Coincidence or not, the UConn run ended and Georgetown pulled away for an easy eleven point victory.....

A timely post on the subject!

Yep, watched the whole game from start to finish. The contact lens situation occurred early in the second half. Monroe, G'town's big man, caught a stray finger in the eye from a UConn player which dislodged his lens. There wasn't a foul on the play, so perhaps both teams got a little something from the situation. The officials were correctly patient with Monroe and a trainer trying to get his lens back in. Probably took about two minutes. No time-out was taken or charged.
Play resumed with Monroe in the game, but his contact lens still wasn't right, and he came out shortly thereafter to clean it up and reinsert it while on the bench.

The situation was well-handled.

NCAA specifically addresses lost/displaced lenses and gives the teams some leeway to get the situation rectified (NCAA 5-14-1b,c).

The only reference in NF is in 5-11-3 Exception a.

NF does not give any protocol for the situation. In any case the time elapsed before resuming play must be minimized.

Once play is resumed the situation is over. If the player/coach decides player can continue without the lenses so be it. The only rule set aside is that no timeout is charged. No other rules can be set aside such as substitution, etc.

I would not let the player substitute under the original sitch.

1. The player voluntarily said she was OK to play without the lenses. A player who chooses voluntarily to not wear his corrective lenses is NOT an injured player and may not use that excuse to circumvent the rules.

2. The player continued to play.
a. She shot free throws.
b. She played defense.
c. She played offense again.
d. She saw well enough to catch the ball.
e. She saw well enough to take another shot and was fouled.

She can see well enough to shoot her own free throws and be subbed according to regular substitution requirements.

A1 twists her ankle going up for a rebound. Ball goes the other way and B1 scores. A1 still down. As we have discussed many times, let the play conclude, etc.

At that point I know the ref "should" call a TO, but, must he? At what point do you say, "Coach, do you want a TO?" At what point do you deem your TO excessive and charge it to Team A? If you call a TO and the coach comes on to the court, the player must come out, do you give the coach a TO then? Just curious.

Call an official time out for the coach to attend to the player. At that point the coach must decide what to do: for the player to continue playing, the coach must take a time out, and the player must be ready to play at the end of it. Otherwise, the coach can put in a sub without calling a team time out.

I would have thought the powers that be would want an injury sub at this point. Two minute delay?

In a high school game, they're giving me a sub and we're playing on.

I also watched the entire UConn/GU game and thought the delay was absurd. It did in fact douse Conn.'s run and created an advantage for GU.

30 seconds or even a minute I can understand, but this seemed inordinate in the amount of time GU was allowed without using a TO.

Not sure of the exact NCAA interp for this situation, but I doubt that it happened as intended.

I watched this game also, fast pace game, both teams were up and down the court. I'm bet the officials appreciating the break.

NFHS
5-11-3 exception a

Georgetown isn't as deliberate as they were last season, but this game was certainly not fast-paced. The final score was 74-63. That's only 137 total points. UConn had been averaging over 80.

I watched several possessions by both teams that went under ten seconds on the shot clock. In the final ten minutes Georgetown was very slow to bring the ball up the court. Several times the Trail official was covering the play while walking.

Where's My Eye? May I Have Some Time To Find It ???
 

This time it's not, "Where's my contact lens?":

Yahoo! Video Detail for Allan Ray gets his eye poked out

This addresses whether a timeout must be charged if a player requests one due to his lense being displaced. It says nothing about allowing time to elapse without a TO.

If you have a rule that says not to charge the team with a time-out EVEN THOUGH ONE WAS REQUESTED because it was due to a displaced lens, then you certainly aren't going to charge them with a time-out when they didn't request one.

It seems to me that this is a true game management situation. In the absence of a clear rule detailing how much time a player gets to remedy the situation, the referee must make a determination of what is a reasonable amount of time to allow before resuming play with or without that player.

Shoe Laces ???
 

There is no NFHS rule that deals specifically with untied shoes, so during a live ball, especially with the clock running, I just let them keep playing until the ball becomes dead, and/or, the clock stops. I guess that the NFHS feels that if a player's shoes become untied, that the player will be smart enough to stop playing, thus preventing an injury. Even so, I'm always anxious to get to a point where I can allow the player some time to get the shoes tied. Which leads me to my question. Is there a NFHS rule that allows me to stop the game, during a dead ball (made basket), or when the clock is stopped, to give some time to a player to get his shoes tied? 2-3? Common sense? Spirit and purpose?

AND is the correct answer.

If it happens with both a dead ball / stopped clock, then delay putting the ball in play until the situation is fixed.

I once sent a girl ouot for re-tying her shoe everytime (well, the first 3 times) the other team was ready to shoot FTs. I told her to tie them so they wouldn't need to be re-tied again. No problems after she came back in.

You are assuming that the player desires his/her shoes to be tied. I've seen a few who want to play with them untied.