10U Boys
 

Worked a 10U Boys Rec. League playoff doubleheader last Friday. Final combined scores of the two games?

112-5.

That's right, 112-5.

It was awful. Coaches were arguing with each others, fans getting into it with each other. A complete nightmare. It wasn't like they were violating the rules or anything, the only specific rule was no press except the final 2 minutes of each half, and only with a lead less than 20. Other than that, everything is normal NFHS rules. Both winning teams just ran the fast break constantly and with no slow down. I was pretty disgusted with the coaches of the winning teams. The rationale they gave for running up the score like that? "We're from a disadvantaged environment and have to prove ourselves this way."

Just a horrible display of sportsmanship IMO.

My daughter's team has been on the end of blowouts like that. They played up in a tournament against a 6th grade team last fall, and the opponents did the press/fast break thing all game long. Not pretty.

It can be hard to hold the score down sometimes. In my daughter's 2 tournament games yesterday, they won by a combined 106-11 (58-5 and 48-6). By local rule, no press when up by more than 15. Coach had them fall back to a loose zone, no fast break, swing the ball multiple times on offense, only take perimeter shots. Even with that the score kept climbing, since they were hitting the longer shots (of course, those are the shots that won't drop when you need them :))

You could see the girls consciously fighting the urge to fast break on a steal (hard habit to break).

Not unusual I suppose.

I did five B13U Rec games this weekend. Last games of the season for this league. While the league doesn't have a "Championship Game", they do have two division and they do 1st vs 1st, 2nd vs 2nd, etc. the last weekend of the season.

Game one was 3rd vs 3rd and an absolute blowout. The one team only had five players (one was injured and the other was at a funeral). Unfortunately, the five remaining players weren’t the right five. None were shooters and only one was a ball handler. Tough game. Score was 21-0 before the other team scored. I kept thinking of our thread on the 100-0 game and thought I might have something like that.

To his credit, the winning coach pulled off the press and went into a light 2-1-2 defense. Final score was 62-5.

That was just the first game! I also had:

- One forfeit.
- Did one game by myself
- I got to call the infamous violation for the player being intentionally out of bounds (never thought i'd call it). He was running out of bounds on the side of the court on a fast break trying to avoid defnders.
- I also go to call out of bounds when the players hair (long corn rows) touched out of bounds when he was inbounds.
- Lastly, in the 2nd vs 2nd final game, I T'd up a coach for calling a timeout he didn't have.....and I had told him moments before he was out of timeouts. His team was down by one with 7 seconds remaining.....and ended up losing by two.

Thanks to the Forum, I knew what to do in all cases.... Crazy final weekend that's for sure!

I hope that you charged the T to his TEAM and not the HC directly. ;)

7 years ago. First game back in coaching after a 15 year hiatus. Brand new team - 5/6 grade, small school, my point guard was a 2nd grader. Played a well coached, experienced team, lost 50-2. Parents were fine, players were fine, opposite coach was fine, I felt like puking - I thought our team would never want to play again.

Not these kids (or kids in general I think). They were happy to practice the next time and I think we wone 3-4 games out of 12 that year.

This is one of the reasons I tell my local AAU assignors that I will not work anything below the 13U age group.

We have this same rule in our local kids rec league (HS level is 20 points). A few weeks ago, in an 8th grade boys game, one team got up by 13. I reminded the coach who was ahead that if it got to 15, then no back court guarding. He nodded. Then I told him that if the lead got to 25, no front court guarding either. He said, "OK - huh, what? How do we do that?" He turned to his assistant for help. The assistant was just laughing and said, "Hey - it's Mark. Get it?" The head coach then said, "Oh yeah."

That's a lousy excuse, IMO. Just plain BS. They proved themselves at 50-5. Now they can do some building work. Put in the scrubs, give them a chance to develop their skills (saving the first string from accidental injury), make the kids play everthing with their non-dominant hand. Make them all play every position. Make a no dribble rule. No shots from the paint. This way they get a chance to work on some other skills, and to give the opponent some dignity. That's a great way to "prove themselves".

All the coach, "proved," is that he's a dumb@ss.

I remeber a CYO game where our mostly 4th and 5th grade boys team was put in a division made up almost entirely of all 6th grade boys. The opening game was a 46-0 defeat. Oddly, the kids didn't seem to mind. Although the team went winless that year, the boys never gave up regardless of what was on the scoreboard; that's one of the reasons I like being involved on that level.

This is just one more reason to avoid these kinds of games all together. Thank you for affirming my decision. ;)

Peace

I don't agree with these viewpoints. Sure, I'd rather work good ball all the time. However, if everyone had the attitude of not working lower levels games, then many people are losing out. Your skills can be noticed by lower quality officials to see how proper mechanics and game management can be mastered and executed. It's all part of the skills succession.

It has nothing to do with good ball. It has to do with the attitude of the participants. And you do not have to agree with the viewpoint. And if you have to babysit to officiating, be my guest and work that ball. I will pass. And this is just like AAU ball, which by the way is often very good talent and games, but not fun to work because the participants think they are above following certain rules or standards.

Peace

We each have to choose what we are willing to work in the off-season. I choose not to do anything below 13U because the level of play doesn't keep me engaged and all I seem to do is watch the clock in hopes that the game(s) will be over. It's just not worth the $23/game we get paid around here. I'd rather be somewhere else enjoying myself, my kids, and/or my girlfriend.

Or your wife............;)