New Situation
 

I was working a 9th grade game with a new official last night. He calls a foul and reports to the table, but instead of giving the player number for who committed the fuoul, he gives the player number for who was fouled. Well, a minute later the dreaded horn sounds. He talks to the table and then comes to me, he doesn't know/remember who comitted the foul, neither do I.

How do we handle?

Well, one thing you could do is ask the table if they saw. Hopefully they were paying close enough attention.

They are part of the officiating crew, after all.

Tell the star player you are charging the foul to him/her. He/she will let you know who actually committed the foul. :D

You actually might be onto something there.

An older, very successful college crew gave me this tidbit of knowledge last year if there is a question about who the foul was on:

1. Ask your partner(s)
2. Ask the table if they have information
3. Still nothing, get the captains together and figure it out
(Run out of the gym if you haven't already)
4. Plead for mercy from the coaches and ask for their help
(Find a new hobby)

They said they never want to go past 2 but if it's absolutely necessary, go further.

-Josh

I done that! "Who fouled?" Blank stares "OK, 34 red" Wait, it was him!:D"

Don't Even Ask About Double Fouls ...
 

That's why, as the calling official, I only remember the fouler. In pregame I tell my partner that I expect him, or her, to pick up my foulee, in case we're going to shoot free throws. Hey, we all have our limits. I have mine, and that's one way that I deal with them.

That's well and good until you call an off-ball foul where your partners have no idea what you called until you tell them. If you don't get the shooter yourself there, who will?

Somewhere I can't recall where, the last resort, if not clear who the foul was on was to just chalk up one more team foul and forget about crediting the foul to any one individual. Am I right?

I have BillyMac's problem (well, ok, maybe only this particular one...:)) where if I verbalize a number, more than likey that's going to be the number I verbalize at the table due to short-term memory. In an off-ball situation, or even in the middle of a gaggle of players, where I'm not sure if my partners can pick out the shooter, I will point at that player and tell them, "There's my shooter", while still verbalizing the number of the player who fouled.

I verbalize it, when needed, as "Blue 12 fouled 53".

I've actually done that too.

I know in the beginning it was hard for my (somewhat) meager brain to process so many things at once, and I found myself reporting the last number I spoke out loud, which was usually who got fouled. As I've gained experience, it has become easier to process more than one thing at once. (But I still don't chew gum while I officiate...)

If the problem is only remembering the last number verbalized then change the statement to "53 fouled by blue 12".

The problem with that is in a lot of instances players, coaches and fans only hear the first thing said, and react based on that. It is that same reason an official shouldn't say "Off blue, white ball" on an OOB call. Perhaps in a quiet gym this would not be an issue, but when there's any noise level at all, usually players and coaches only hear the first color and/or number verbalized.

If you saw this "somewhere", it was probably on a coach/parent discussion board, right under the discussions about reaches and over the backs. You must assign the foul to a player if you called a foul on a player.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself ...
 

You read my mind. Are you that handsome Australian guy on The Mentalist?

I call the foul- then as I'm going to the table I try to give my partner the # of the shooter. It's one of the things I've been working on this season to improve on.

There's an easier solution to the problem... just don't call fouls. ;) :D

Absolutely brilliant! Lets hope he never rises above Jr High:D

There was a guy who retired from our association a few years back, one of those who still wore the collared shirt right up until the end. Once I saw him call a foul, green 25 clobbered white 30 on a rebound, obvious foul to everybody in the gym. He walked to the table, then turned to look back at the two players, who were still standing next to each other. Maybe the problem was that the foul occurred under green's basket, because he turned back to the table and reported the foul on white 30. Everybody kinda froze momentarily, then green's coach grasped what had happened. "Hey, our ball. Take it out, _____."

They ran their play while white's coach stood speechless.

My son played in the state intramural championships this weekend. The officials were students from the colleges represented who reffed at their respective schools during the intramural season. They were even running 3-person crews. At every quarter break and between games the officials would get together with site officials and discuss calls, etc (at least that's what it looked like they were doing). It was pretty cool, and a good way to train the next generation of officials.

On one particular play, an official called a foul, and while the official reported the foul there was some milling about by the players. When the officials administered the free-throws the wrong player was at the line. Since it was my son's team, and the player standing at the line was the best shooter on the team, I figured they were trying to pull a fast one. To the officials' credit, they caught the problem and put the correct player at the line.

That's a bit harsh; I'd rather hope he improves. I've made this mistake before.

I made it a habit about 4-5 years ago to remember both numbers - i do it in double digits sets so like 05 and 23. first number is always fouler and second is foulee.

i do the same when i glance at the clock i remember seconds so like 45 and 24 - first one is game clock and second is shot clock.

at first it was a bit to get used to but now its second nature.

...you know what's brilliant?

A bbcoach coming on an official's site, giving us nothing but sarcasm.:rolleyes: