Explaining a foul to a player
 

Had this situation tonight. Keep in mind this was a girls' sophomore game.

A1 shoots a jumper. B2 is boxing out A2, and doing a nice job of it considering the size difference between the two of them.

The ball caroms off the back of the rim, resulting in a long rebound. A2 jumps straight up to catch the ball. She lands, and then immediately jumps straight up again and shoots. Problem is, B2 is still in box out mode, and moves A2 backwards after she left the ground. I called a shooting foul.

B2 clearly doesn't understand the call. I was debating explaining why I called the foul so she didn't do it again, but never got the chance as she was subbed out after the first free throw.

Do you ever explain fouls, unprovoked, to players if they clearly don't understand what they did wrong? If so, at what level don't you do that anymore?

If not asked I don't explain anything. If asked a quick "you can't move her off that spot" or something similar is usally all I will give them. I have found that quick comments like that work better than "you can't displace her from a position that she has obtained legally on the floor" - that just gets them to look at you funny.

Hey, Slow, how about you're calling too many for one team(inside joke):D

"you displaced her" or "you moved her from her path" and only if asked. I'm with you "Slow".

Come on you know I'm just a Devil fan at heart!

I do not make a habit of it. I do not feel it is my obligation to explain much and I am not explaining much to a high school kid that is for sure. I might explain if the kid comes to me in a very quite manner, but if they have their arms up and they start coming my way, I have been known to tell them to walk away from me.

Peace

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'm not her basketball coach/teacher...... :rolleyes:

Moving on. Nothing to see here. Ball in bounds - going thata way!

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

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

I like it. Short and sweet.

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

Thanks.

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."

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.