I feel your pain.
 

Kevin W, I coached a 5th grade CYO team last year, and our ability to get set on throw-in situations was horrible. Our most eager player ran to the spot and got the ball, and my knuckleheads were still trying to remember our simple box plays and what they were supposed to do.

Fortunately as an official, I got some insight into how to control the timing here -- simply substitute on every out-of-bounds play under your basket. Designate one position that will be your 'hot seat' position. Say, Joe and Pete are going to share that spot.

When the out-of bounds situation occurs, just turn and say "Joe get Pete", or "Pete get Joe". They make a move to the table to report, they sub in and you've just bought 15 seconds. This will slow the game down to a level where you can get your players set and run your inbounds play. Also, really work on getting them to 'snap to' when you want them to. Set 'em up in different configurations on the floor. One is out of bounds, one is on the floor, 2 are by the division line, and one is near the sideline. Challenge them to get into their formation as quickly as possible. Time 'em. Make a game out of it... you know, one of those games with suicides in it.;)

Another suggestion, here. DESIGNATE a TRIGGER for inbounds plays. This could be the "messenger guards" (old Cleveland Browns term) that referee99 mentions or one of your other players. I was also VERY DEMANDING that the same player inbounded the ball -- this is a VERY IMPORTANT job. This player had to be a fairly smart (relative to the rest of my team) player. We, too, would practice inbounds plays like referee99 suggests -- with the players randomly positioned on the court. I would relay the play in to the players THE MOMENT I KNEW we had possession of the ball. This would get the four "on court" players moving in to position. The trigger would also repeat my play call -- all the while moving in the direction of the spot, BUT NOT running to the spot.

Inbounds plays -- especially under your own basket -- provide a GREAT SCORING OPPORTUNITY (especially at the younger ages, but even at the college level and everywhere in between)!!! You want to take advantage of these opportunities by either utilizing a sub (as JRut and referee99 suggests), having a very repeatable process as I suggest, or a combination of the two.

From the 2007-09 NFHS Officials Manual on pages 20 & 51:

"The throw-in team should make a player available to attempt the throw-in. No appreciable delay should be allowed before placing the ball at the disposal of the thrower and beginning the five-second count."

[QUOTE=CMHCoachNRef;567163]Ok, we have reached an agreement NOT all veteran officials have this mind set.

"Good Night, Mrs. Calabash, Wherever You Are!" ...
 

Thanks Nevadaref. Now that should settle it. Be sure to turn out the light.

Kevin,
Nevadaref's rule quotation in this case is what prevents an official from waiting say "a 5 second count" (as this would be a measured amount of time) before handing the ball to the inbounder.

However, that part of the manual also states that the proper and specific spot is to be designated by the administering official, the administering official should always make eye contact with his partner(s) to insure that his partner is ready for play to resume (which includes determining if there are substitutes at the table, insuring that there are exactly five players from each team on the court, neither coach is requesting time out, etc.).

I think you should now have an understanding of why the official was getting the ball in play when he was yesterday. Was he really rushing at times? Well, perhaps, you had to be there. But, as a coach, you have to adjust your team's play to the official for that game. JRutledge, referee99 and I have given you some options that can be employed to legally give your young team some additional time to get set for inbounds plays.

One of the interesting points of officiating sports is that there are many situations that one official can interpret (and justify that interpretation) one way while another official can interpret (and just that interpretation) another way. In this case, the term "appreciable" can be interpreted to be VIRTUALLY NO TIME as was the case in your game yesterday or it can be interpreted as NO SPECIFIC AMOUNT OF TIME (not five seconds or any other specified amount of time each time) as is the case in most instances.

Good luck next week....and be sure to spend some time getting the "cats" herded to their inbound spots quickly (except for the thrower) during practice......

OP never mentions his problem with official is due to extended huddle. In a kids game, survey the floor quickly and calmly hand ball to inbounder. I've had experience with guys who can't wait for game to end for a variety of reasons, just a stupid kid's game, cutting it too close for next games etc. who jam it in some 12 year old girl's hands the split second she steps out of bounds. I'm not saying this happened but that's my take on what poster is trying to convey.

Based on the number of times the situation happened during the game, I surmised the same.

Whether he mentioned the feelings of the official or not, it not the point to what I posted. The teams by rule are supposed to get out of the timeout huddle at an appropriate time. That is a fact whether he knew to mention it or not.

Secondly, you are only surmising whether the officials were in a hurry or not. I have seen officials give the ball to the player because they do not wait to make sure their partners are ready. I did not read anything that said why this happen other than the OPer did not know the rule. I was just giving a reason why this might have happen. I have no idea the motives and would not speculate on something like that just reading a play on the board. It does not matter if it is a kid's game or the state championship for high school. The bottom line is getting your kids out of the huddle and you will not have to worry about someone not being ready.

Peace

The coach's situation was NOT caused by his team coming out of time outs slowly. The situations were just normal designated spot throw-ins during the game. Official calls "Blue" and points to spot outside lane line. Blue players are scrambled in various positions in the front court when the ball went out of play. The Blue team inbounder got to the spot quicker than other Blue players got to their spots for the inbounds play. The official quickly handed the ball to the Blue team inbounder. By the time the Blue team players got to their positions, either 5-second calls or rushed passes were the result.

This is the inbounding team's problem, then. I'll make sure the defense is in position if the teams are out or coming out, but once someone is in position to receive the ball, I'm blowing the whistle and handing or bouncing it to the thrower-in.

It is still not our responsibility to make sure everyone is in place before we hand the ball. And if a coach has a problem with this fact, then they need to teach their players to hurry up.

I was not there (and neither were you) and I have no idea if this was because of what the coach expects or the official was too fast. Either way it goes, when the throw-in team is ready, that means I am ready if my partners are also ready. I might wait a second or two, but not waiting for everyone to run around and try to figure it out. Sounds like the coach needs to tell their players to get into position quicker. The official did not throw the ball away. And for God's sake, what else do you expect to happen at the 4th and 5th grade levels? Those games are not void of turnovers.

I still have not read anything that suggests the official did anything wrong.


Peace

Sounds pretty simple to me. Coach should either tell the inbounder to slow down or the other players to speed up in getting to their spots. Sure doesn't sound like the official did anything wrong.

Don't misunderstand, I am NOT saying that the official necessarily did anything wrong. The coach has been given multiple options to fix this situation: delay the inbounder getting to the "spot" slightly while the other players get in position or put a sub at the table.

At the same time, I have seen officials in such a rush to get the game finished that they do not allow a reasonable amount of time for the team to prepare for the inbounds (NOTE: not an "appreciable" amount of time).

Once again a big assumption on your part.

Where I am from, most experienced officials would not be doing these games at all. The officials that would be doing these games do not have enough experience to work much else or they are not going to be a lot of other kinds of games afterwards. So if we just took what I have experienced, the official probably did not have enough seasoning to either wait or they were doing what they always did and it was never a problem before. That is why to assume anything else, outside of what the coach told us is really silly a futile. We were not there, we do not know what the officials was about or the situations.

But considering this is a coach at this level and asked us "if there was a rule" that tells me that likely the official was not largely at fault, but the coach did not understand what is going on (as what usually takes place with coaches at this level). And that is really the case when you are not expecting 4th and 5th graders (the basketball is bigger than they are) to not turnover the ball or to not make mistakes and you are blaming it on the official who simply gave the ball to the thrower. I do not know about you, but I have not seen a lot of well played basketball at that level. ;)

Peace