Scorekeeper training.
 

I am the director of what has become a fairly large basketball program (grades K-8, along with a travel team division). One of the issues I am facing next year is training enough scorekeepers and clock operators for our games.

My questions for all of you:
1.) Are there any pet peeves regarding the behavior/knowledge/skills/etc of table crews that make your job more difficult?
2.) What gaps in the knowledge of table staff do you encounter?

And in general, any think that strikes you as beneficial in the training that could possibly be overlooked.

By far the most annoying thing to me is to try to report a foul and the scorer is not looking at me but already writing in the book, because "I saw it." Quite possibly you did, but take nothing for granted.

Here are a list of things I look for when teaching and watching basketball scorkeepers:
A. Introduce yourself to the officiating crew- This sets the tone for your game together as friendly and professional!
B. NO DISTRACTIONS DURING YOUR GAME- This could mean anything from cell phones and I-PODS to significant others hanging around near the table. If you have to be on your phone please wait either until halftime or your game is over.
C. Signal- You have got to signal for 1 & 1, Double Bonus, and 5 fouls! I also signal the type of time out if it is not reported to floor officials (especially when they are down to one type) and # remaining (Think volleyball but instead of counting up I go down).
D. Bench Interaction- Make sure you notify coaches when kids reach the following foul benchmarks: 2 quick fouls in first half, 3 fouls, 4 fouls, and 5 fouls. When you notify coaches of foul trouble make sure they are not talking with their players.
E. Book-
1. Fill in all pertinent pre-game information (Teams, Date, Site, Officials Names, Scorekeeper's Name, Timer's Name,Head Coach's Names-Both Teams,Players Names & Jersey Numbers)!Once this is logged get the starters immediately.
2. Put 3 full timeouts and 2 30's at the top of your book!
3. Write timeouts in correctly! (Find the period then write in the time remaining and separate it from type used by a dash.)
4. Running Score is marked and filled out correctly!
5. Quarters are totaled!
6. Fouls are marked correctly and any questions are asked immediately!

In my experience when student assistants know they are being watched the quality of their work is exemplary!

Also go over the signal chart with everybody so they know what they're looking at! If you have any further questions PM me or email me at [email protected].

NFHS Instructions
 

The NFHS has instructions to scorers and timers posted online:

http://www.nfhs.org/core/contentmana...rerstimers.pdf

This is a great document. I have a few copies of this in my bag, and on a couple of occasions have provided them to the table crew.

Thanks! Both of you gave me some great info.

In the past, each indvidual league was in charge of training their own scorekeepers, but I had noticed some inconsistencies and some that simply do a poor job. One of my (many) offseason projects is putting together a full training package.

In the running score, just mark the points actually scored, and NOT cross out every point. This way, you can see where the three point plays were made, and the free throw points scored....too many cross out every point in the running score line