Explaining a foul to a player

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by grunewar

GV last week. I call a Player Control Foul on A1. She hands me the ball and says, "Cmon ref, she was moving. She's gotta be set." I certainly wasn't going to go into it with her.

I answer: "That's not the rule."

Let the coach explain it (or, if necessary, look it up).

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I answer: "That's not the rule."

I like it. Short and sweet.

I'm not leaving it to the coach to explain.....

Thanks.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by grunewar

I like it. Short and sweet.

Exactly. Ideally, all official -> coach communication should be kept to 5 words or fewer.

"I'll look for it, coach."

"I saw no contact, coach."

and, of course, "That's not the rule, coach."

[jdw3018]

I've got no problem answering questions for players who come to me during dead balls and are polite about it. It has always been positive for the game when I communicate with players who ask legitimate questions.

Had one the other night. At L, called a holding foul on the post defender B1. He was fronting A1 while facing the ball and reaching behind him with both arms to keep A1 from getting around him. Easy call.

After reporting and before shooting free throws (in the double-bonus) captain B2 walks to me and asks, very politely, "I know both of those guys have been playing pretty tough tonight. Can you tell me what he did?" Explained exactly why I called the hold. He said, "Okay, I'll tell him to knock it off."

All that said, I don't seek players out to explain anything to them very often. Every once in a while, if the call is odd and it's obvious a player is unaware of why a foul is called I might mention it very quickly. Depends on how the game has gone to that point and how convinced I am the player really doesn't understand.