It was bound to happen

[just another ref]

Everywhere I go, it seems, the problem of unsupervised kids running around, some very young, gets worse and worse. Tonight I'm lead standing just outside the endline. I am turned to my left, so the court is to my right. I have a whistle, start to raise my right hand to stop the clock for the violation, and whack a little girl right between the eyes. I never saw her, but if she was on my right side she must have been standing/walking pretty much right on the line. It hurt my knuckles, so I expect she might have a mark of some sort. I felt bad, of course, even though I really don't see it as my fault.

[grunewar]

JAR - Happened to me earlier in the yr too.

Girls Freshman game. Two big schools - fairly competitive, low scoring game. I'm T. Late in third quarter A1 passing in front court, knocked away by B1. Ball goes into the back court. Mad dash for the ball. Four girls running HARD after it.....and out of the corner of my eye I see a young boy maybe 18 months old ON THE COURT GOING AFTER THE BALL! Holy crap!!! He might have won the race to the ball too! TWEEEEEET!

Mom comes out of the stands and retrieves her son - and I mean the court is a good 15 feet from the stands! Wow, mom really lost track of where junior was! My heart was racing......

[referee99]

Then, there's always this classic:

[bigdogrunnin]

Several years ago, working LD league for a friend . . .

A player goes off the court to his mom who is IN THE STANDS. He had to blow his nose because of some boogies.

Anyway, I am T, and I don't see him off the court as he had snuck behind me. We have a quick transition and I turn to run down the court as the new lead. I take about 2 steps but never see the 3'6" tike underneath my legs. Down we go. All 220 lbs of me landed right on top of this little guys head. I did the best I could to not land all my weight on him, but I don't think I did a very good job. The ended up with a bad bump on his head, bloody nose, and tooth knocked out. I felt absolutely horrible.

His coach saw it coming, but was paralyzed to do anything about it. He felt bad too. Mom and Dad were very nice, and were quick to point out that they and their son were to blame, as I was just doing my job. Nice gesture by them, but it still didn't make me feel better . . .

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by referee99

Then, there's always this classic:

I LOVE this clip!

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by bigdogrunnin

Mom and Dad were very nice, and were quick to point out that they and their son were to blame, as I was just doing my job.

From which planet did you say you came? This has lawsuit written all over it in the U.S.!

[bigdogrunnin]

Planet United States. Texas to be exact. The kid was OFF the court and then came back ONTO the court. He was BEHIND me and I was looking forward at the play coming to me (while running from T to new L). He wasn't even looking at me, and with him being a little guy, I never saw him until he was underneath me and I was falling down.

The parents watched the entire scenario play out. They honestly felt bad for me, and said as much. As for the lawsuit, well, that never happened, and I am certain that the statute of limitations has long since expired.