Length of non-varsity quarters

[JoeT]

In Illinois high school basketball, all the non-varsity games I've been involved with have had 7 minute quarters. A few questions:

1. Where does this rule come from? I see in the NFHS rules that times for quarters could be limited by consent of both coaches, but the 7 minutes for non-varsity seems very consistent.

2. How long should halftime be? The NFHS rule is 10 minutes; there is not provision (that I see) where non-varsity would be different.

3. How long should an overtime be?

Thanks!

Joe

[tjones1]

1. Most non-varsity quarter lengths are set by the conference. 7 minutes seems to be the standard around my area too.

2. 10 minutes up to 15. For non-varsity, 10 is plenty.

3. For non-varsity contests, overtime is half a regulation quarter. 5-7-3
So, if you are playing 7 minutes, 3:30.

[representing]

in my area, JV and Varsity are 8 minute halves. 7/8 grade games are either 6 or 7 minutes, upon agreement between coaches usually, Freshmen games are 7 minutes.

Halftime, always 10 minutes around here. Most players won't see 15 until they get to play at the college level, if they do.

OT is ALWAYS half of regular period duration.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by JoeT

In Illinois high school basketball, all the non-varsity games I've been involved with have had 7 minute quarters. A few questions:

1. Where does this rule come from? I see in the NFHS rules that times for quarters could be limited by consent of both coaches, but the 7 minutes for non-varsity seems very consistent.

2. How long should halftime be? The NFHS rule is 10 minutes; there is not provision (that I see) where non-varsity would be different.

3. How long should an overtime be?

Thanks!

Joe

1. There is no set standard as lower level games and many procedures are dictated by the conferences or the teams playing. I worked a JV/Varsity double header last night and we played 8 minute quarters for both games. Many to 7 minutes, but that is if there is not a conference rule that dictates the time.

2. Whatever time the teams decide. Many lower level games involve double headers and if the coaches want to have 5 minute halftime, that is fine with me.

3. Overtime is always half of the time you play in quarters. So if you play 7 minute quarters, half is 3:30. That is why a varsity game has 4 minute quarters.

Peace

[representing]

Originally Posted by representing

in my area, JV and Varsity are 8 minute halves. 7/8 grade games are either 6 or 7 minutes, upon agreement between coaches usually, Freshmen games are 7 minutes.

Halftime, always 10 minutes around here. Most players won't see 15 until they get to play at the college level, if they do.

OT is ALWAYS half of regular period duration.

Let me correct something that I said. Just like JRutledge says, JH games' halftimes are usually agreed upon the coaches. Around here, we may get triple-headers, which is usually the case in all of the games (7th grade, 8th grade and Freshmen games) in this area. I did a double-header on Friday and we had 5 minute halftime in both games. JV and V are always 10 minutes around here.

[chseagle]

WIAA has all high school level games at 8 minute quarters. Halftime is generally 10 minutes, but can be extended to 15 minutes maximum. However there's been a few exceptions where the coaches & officials agree to a 5 minute halftime for Non-Varsity contests. As of yet, I had not seen the running clock regulation put into use.

If there's a mutual agreement between the coaches & the officials the time can be changed.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by chseagle

If there's a mutual agreement between the coaches & the officials the time can be changed.

Depends... if you are talking about time as in the length of the quarter then...

If it's a varsity contest, the coaches and the Referee must agree.

If it's a non-varsity contest, only the coaches must agree.

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by tjones1

Depends... if you are talking about time as in the length of the quarter then...

If it's a varsity contest, the coaches and the Referee must agree.

If it's a non-varsity contest, only the coaches must agree.

All the times I've seen a change in length of quarters or halftime, the officials have been involved in the decision as well, even in the non-varsity contests.

The only time I haven't seen an official involved in clock decisions was for pregame warmups, where the home coach has asked that instead of 20 minutes, the time be reduced to 15 minutes (the visitor coach agreed to the change). However, after the change was made the officials were notified of the change.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by chseagle

All the times I've seen a change in length of quarters or halftime, the officials have been involved in the decision as well, even in the non-varsity contests.

I'm just saying that by rule in non-varsity they may be part of the discussion but their agreement/disagreement doesn't count. In varsity, the Referee must agree.

5-5-3
A quarter(s) may be shortened in an emergency or at any time by mutual agreement of the opposing coaches and referee. Playing time and number of quarters for nonvarsity games quarters may ne reduced by mutual agreement of opposing coaches.

[JRutledge]

Guys, JH and lower level high school games are dictated by the organizations that run those levels. In Illinois there is a major Junior High Organization that dictates playing rules for a good portion of the state. This organization is called the Illinois Elementary Sports Association and if you belong to this organization, they have rules that must be followed no different than if you belong to the IHSA. Not everyone belongs to this organization and does not play under their rules. Game times are going to usually be dictated by some governing body if there is one. If there is no governing body or conference, then you play whatever is accepted. We must keep in mind that the rules may or may not cover how these rules are specifically dictated. Even our state does not dictate what lower levels do with game times and how they are reduced. Many conferences do not have a "champion" they crown for lower level teams. These levels are to give kids a chance to play, not make up ridged rules when some schools may not even enough players to field a team on a regular basis.

Peace

[Adam]

I just did some JV games with 6 minute quarters. Apparently, this league does that. Was I notified? Nope, not until I looked up a few seconds into the first quarter and noticed the clock said 5:53.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by representing

in my area, JV and Varsity are 8 minute halves. 7/8 grade games are either 6 or 7 minutes, upon agreement between coaches usually, Freshmen games are 7 minutes.

Halftime, always 10 minutes around here. Most players won't see 15 until they get to play at the college level, if they do.

OT is ALWAYS half of regular period duration.

Originally Posted by representing

Let me correct something that I said. Just like JRutledge says, JH games' halftimes are usually agreed upon the coaches. Around here, we may get triple-headers, which is usually the case in all of the games (7th grade, 8th grade and Freshmen games) in this area. I did a double-header on Friday and we had 5 minute halftime in both games. JV and V are always 10 minutes around here.

Really? You guys play some very short games back there in PA, or do you wish to correct that as well.

[zm1283]

In Missouri, Varsity games are 8 minute quarters.

JV can be up to 8. I've seen some schools play 6 minute quarters before. Most play 7 or 8.

Freshman can be 6 or 7. Most play 7.

JH can be 6 only.

Any game played with anything under 8 minute quarters uses a 2 minute overtime period, not half of the quarter length. Padgett should like that one.

10 minutes at halftime. I've never seen anything longer, but subvarsity games are shortened sometimes.

[grunewar]

In NVA:

V games are 8 minute quarters.

JV are 7.

Freshman are 6.

MS can be 7 and 6 minute quarters (they just seem longer! ).

I do one Rec League where they have 9 minute quarters for the 16/18 yr olds and 8 minutes for the 13/15. They said they do this for the infamous "player participation rule." Causes parades to the free-throw line, numerous foulouts and long, long games!

[JoeT]

Thank you all....

Had a ref tell my JV coach once (a couple years ago) that you couldn't put half-minutes up (like 3:30) to start a quarter.

Had another JV ref (this year) ask the game manager how many minutes to put up for halftime. He was told 10, and immediately went to the timer and said, "put up seven minutes."

Great info (as usual!)