Counting
 

I am trying to be more consistent and accurate on my 10 count and 5 count. I practiced the other night using a timer, as some of you have suggested, as well as timed myself against the clock in a few rec games this week. My arm swing is slow compared to actual time, by an average of 2 seconds. So, the 10 second count turns into 12 seconds and the five second turns into 6-7 seconds. I also monitored refs the other night in a BV HS game and they seem to be off by about 2-3 seconds as well. My five count is off 1-2 seconds. If I correct my timing to be more accurate, I believe I will be faster than my partners' and create inconsistency during the game. Any suggestions or comments on proper count mechanics. Thanks!

Your count should be as close to the real time as possible. You cannot worry about what your partners do in this case. If they are a little slow that is on them. I know when I am giving the 10 second count; I take a peak at the clock if I can to see if I am with the time on the clock.

Peace

The fact that you are practicing and trying to be as accurate as you can, is enough. Trust your count during a game and don't second guess any of it. Your count is the official count and what matters anyway,

Since most of us (I am guessing) count on the out swing, remember that your first count is only half of a cycle. In my case, I always finish my final count (arm swing in) then instead of going out, I go up and whistle.

Sounds like you take it serious enough to be good at it. I wouldn't fret it much. :)

given the chance, I too peek at the clock.

I force myself to look at the clock when TC starts in back court to know the time and to help with my count. When there is no pressure, I use the change in seconds with my peripheral vision to coordinate my arm swing to keep an accurate time. When the individual is guarded, my focus is on the action but my count has become more accurate.

By knowing the time on the clock at the beginning of the possession, the coach has little argument about a quick count when I say, "Coach you gained possession at 5:46 and I blew my whistle at 5:35. That's 10 seconds."

With our short court, I rarely have 10-second violations (only 40' from division line to each end line).

Watch the pre-game clock as seconds tick off, all the while swinging your arm as you would during the game. This will get your count to be accurate.

As for consistency, would you rather be consistenly with your P (whose count will vary from person to person), or to 10 seconds, which is what the rule says?

I would rather be consistent with 10 or 5 than anything else.

find a metronome and set it at 60. Each tic should be another count.

Whooda thunk?
 

Another Wisconsinite going "Metric"?:D

so practice on being done in 8-9 seconds -- that way your fast count and your partners slow counts will even things out.

5:46 . 5:45 . 5:44 . 5:43 . 5:42 . 5:41 . 5:40 . 5:39 . 5:38 . 5:37 . 5:36 . 5:35 - I think thats at least 10 seconds, maybe more. :D

My wife says there's a certain activity of mine I could use to time my 3-second count. :o

But it's a FULL 10 seconds. If you start at 5:46 and end at 5:36, it might be a tad quick if the actual time was 5:46.1 and 5:36.9!

jesus -- just be as close to 10 as humanly possible.

Hey, it worked for Lawrence Welk........

"Much of the show's appeal was Welk himself. His unusual accent appealed to the audience. (On one 1955 show, he mentioned Danny Thomas's series, "Mek Room fur Deddy.") While Welk's English was passable, he never did grasp the English "idiom" completely, and was thus famous for his "Welk-isms," such as "George, I want to see you when you have a minute, right now," and "Now for my accordion solo, Myron, will you join me?" . Another famous "Welk-ism" was his trademark count-off, "A one and a two..." which was immortalized on his California automobile license plate that read "A1ANA2".

Unfortunately you're alone at the time.

I can't resist and I apologize for addressing this. :p

If you start a count when the clock reads 5:46 and you call a violation when the clock reads 5:36, you will have allowed between :10.0 and :10.9

Well, since you know your count is slow then you can just call the violation when you hit 5/10 on your count. A lot of officials will an extra count after hitting 5/10, in your case you know that extra count is already built in.

Thank you all for your input. I will continue to work on my count. Appreciate the humor as well. I will date myself here, but we used to watch Lawerence Welk as a kid, Saturday nights, on our one Zenith Black & White rotary channel TV and then we had to watch Mitch Miller, Jackie Gleason and Red Skelton.

Now where else are you going to go to get this kind of information in this day and age?! Makes it worth the price of admission alone. (But, seriously, I thought when you gave your credit card number to sign up for this discussion board they were only going to charge $9.99, not $99.99.)

I try to calibrate my count to the scoreboard everytinme up the floor if I am trail. I've even counted an extra second or two after the ball crosses the time line just to make sure I'm in cinq with the scoreboard clock.

:D LOL...beaten this one to death, huh?

5:46 could be:

• as little as 5:46.0 (S1)
• as much as 5:46.9 (S2)

5:36 could be:

• as little as 5:36.0 (E1)
• as much as 5:36.9 (E2)

S1 - E1 = 10 seconds, right on the money
S1 - E2 = 9.1 seconds

S2 - E1 = 10.9 seconds
S2 - E2 = 10 seconds, right on the money

Average: 10 seconds. :D

I think 5:46.0 could be as much as 5:46.0 and as little as 5:45.1; and 5:36 could be as much as 5:36.0 and as little as 5:35.1 :)

It depends on the clock / system.

Most, in my experience, are of the type JugglingRef described and NOT of the type you describe.

So when the game starts with 8:00 on the clock, after 1/10th of a second it goes to 7:59? Actually, I don't have any idea how they work and was only speculating. The math is the same either way.

Yes. The 1/10s are always there, they are just not displayed until there's less than a minute to play.

So, the clock is really 7:59.9 with the part in red not displayed

oh jesus not this road again....

deecee, I am starting to feel sorry that I mentioned this. I think all the walnuts have been shaken from the tree.

Speaking of which, where is my remote control ???
 

My family watched these shows as well. We had to watch as a family, because we only had the one set, as you mention. No cable TV back then. We got just a few stations, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS (called "educational television" back then), WPIX (NY Yankees), WOR (NY Knicks), and WNEW (Wonderama (cartoons)). Great reference to the rotary dial to change channels. I don't know if I could live without my remote control today, although I would probably drop a few pounds by getting up and down from my recliner changing channels.