That's what I meant by "taking time". My bad, should have worded that differently.

I still remember back in 6th grade cyo my friend's shoe kept coming untied. After about the fifth time the ref bent down and tied it. really funny

And my bad for misinterpreting your words also, I guess.

I won't stop the game for someone to tie or replace a shoe. I will hold up the game if time was already out for someone to do so though. That's what we train our officials to do and it's pretty much standard practice with the other associations in our general area afaik.

Had a guy last night get hit in his package as he was making an attempt. As he was still trying to remember how to breathe before his first free throw, I looked at his teammate and told him to tie both his shoes. He looked down and saw they were tied very tightly. Then he looked at his teammate and figured out why he needed to retie them. :)

That's consistent with what I do. I've never been told one way or the other, but it just seems like common sense to me.

Good advice as to how to handle for us newer guys.

And You're mentioning "consistent" brings up another good point imo.

If the officials in an area are taught to stop the game for shoes, and all of the officials are consistent in doing so..with the result that the players and coaches know what to expect...I don't have any problem at all with that.

It ain't that big a deal and you do have consistency in application.

Problems arise in some of these situations when some of our people do things one way and others do it a different way.

"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."(John Wooden)
 

Didn't John Wooden teach his UCLA players how to tie their shoes?

I'm not sure about tying their shoes, but he did teach them how to put on their socks.

If I see someone who during a deadball has a shoe that is untied I will mention it to them.

I'd rather hold up the game for 6 seconds after letting someone know their shoes are untied than hold up that persons life for 6 months while they are in the hospital after tripping on a loose shoe lace.

I am from his area and I am a clinician for the state. I have never heard a single clinician or person that does any training to suggest stopping the game to have someone tie a shoe. If I observed someone doing so, I would wonder why. Players are responsible for their equipment to be on properly and stopping the game is not out job to make sure a player has things together. Of course I would give a player an opportunity to tie their shoe during a dead ball and before I put the ball in play, but I would not go looking to make sure someone had their shoes tied either.

Peace