How's this for a pre-game meeting?
 

Went to work three HS games for spring league today. Prior to my games, there was a meeting of all the refs with a coordinator from the league. He went over the rules which, at first, were the same as the past few years there, i.e.: 22 minute running halves, two 30s per half, extra two points plus shots and possession for unsportsmanlike technicals. However, he surprised the group when he got to the point of discussing uniforms. We were directed to allow virtually anything except something that would be a safety issue.

He told us to ignore non-compliant T-shirts, illegal numbers and other similar items. In fact, he said he knew some of the teams might not ever have numbers and we were just to ask players for their names when we called fouls. He also said he didn't even care if a team's jerseys all matched, as long as one team was wearing "generally dark and the other generally light" - and that's a direct quote. He said kids could wear wrist bands anywhere on their arm and also shooting sleeves.

He was certainly right about the jerseys. One team I had displayed about half of their shirts with numbers on the front only and half with numbers on the back only. Another team had three players with white T-shirts and no numbers. Another wore varying shades of green ranging from forest to lime. One kid didn't have a number but had the words "Robby Stopper" written with marker on the back of his T-shirt. Apparently, he knew some kid named Robby on the other team. In my first game, one of the teams started three kids with red jerseys, one with purple and one with black.

The good news was that we didn't care if we had to take extra time to identify who committed a foul, because we had a running clock.

BTW - one team had a kid who was 6'11" (the scorer was his dad and he told us how tall the kid was) and his team didn't run even one post play for him the entire game. He wound up with 8 points, almost all on offensive rebounds and his team lost by 15.

MS games tomorrow. I wonder what those kids will be wearing?

Hmmmm....I hope that means sweatbands and not those rubber-support whatever cause-bands popularized by Lance Armstrong a few years ago.

Oh, thos pesky uniforms.....
 

This weekend, JUSTACOACH, two of his boys, and I were one of many officials who reffed in the 2010 THINK PINK Tournament of Champions Girls Tournament here in NVA. 132 Teams from all over the northeast. Some pretty good ball and some not so much.....

But, uniforms? Pink scrunchies, hair restraint devices, socks, headbands, wristbands, shoe laces, and even sneakers! One girl even had pink drawers on under her uniform - funny story!

"Just the facts, ma'am"
 

I normally don't officiate AAU games unless they're associated with a camp, however, our local IAABO board, as well as all the other local IAABO boards in the state of Connecticut, have recently started assigning AAU games (a major story in itself which will probably show up on a "fictional" Law and Order episode ripped from the headlines), so I thought I'd give it a shot; get a little running in, have some fun with some of my buddies, stay on top of my game in the off season, pick up some extra cash, etc.

I show up in the gym a few minutes before my partner. I'm observing the layup lines. One team has more than half its girls wearing orange undershirts under a white jersey. Both teams have girls wearing headbands of multiple colors, with only a few being white, black, beige, or the predominate color of the jersey. These are not typical recreation team "T-shirt" uniforms, but real uniforms that would make many high school varsity teams in these parts envious. I speak to assistant coaches from both teams pointing out the equipment problems. They both get together and decide to switch their reversible jerseys so that the team with the orange undershirts are now wearing orange jerseys. Our local board has instructed us to ignore the changing of uniforms near the bench area unless it's done in an unsporting manner, even for our high school varsity games, so that's not an issue for me.

At this point the head coach of the orange team walks up to me and says, "Why are you making eleven year olds obey equipment rules? Back home, I'm a high school varsity coach and I can see the purpose of the rules on that level, but these are eleven year olds. You're not being evaluated, or anything, so why bother?". I reply that this is my first game of the weekend, that I was was aware of a few timing, timeouts, and bonus free throw rule changes, but was not aware of any other changes from NFHS rules. I continued that if anyone from the AAU organization sponsoring the tournament advised me to ignore some uniform, or equipment, rules, I would be pleased to oblige.

Not a good way to start the game. I'm pissed at him. He's pissed at me. And we haven't even tossed the ball yet.

I would have loved to have taken a sarcastic tone with him but I took the high road and just walked away from the situation. I could have asked him for a list of all the NFHS rules that he would like me to ignore during his game? I could have asked him why, since he was a high school varsity coach and knew the rules, didn't he tell his players to pack a white undershirt and and orange undershirt for all games, and explain how to wear them? Why didn't he tell all his players to decide on a "legal" color headband, and all wear the same color headband for the entire AAU "season"? I could have told him that I always put in my best effort, even when I'm not being evaluated (which is true).

I hate being the "Fashion Police". Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

And You Know This, How ???
 

Moving Down In The World ...
 

JUSTACOACH's family dog plans to take the test in the fall. After that, JUSTACOACH will be the fourth best official in his house.

Make that five.....
 

JUSTACOACH is already #4 - his oldest son was away at school and didn't do games this weekend....

What league? What assignor? e-mail me.

Were You Ever Interviewed By Chris Hansen Of Dateline NBC ???
 

grunewar: Hey? You never answered my question. Are you on some kind of list? Parents with inquiring minds want to know. Also, if you're working a game, and Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC walks out of the locker room with a camera crew, don't leave the gym, for any reason. The cops are always waiting outside. Always. Every single time. And why do they wait for you to leave? Is there some kind of medieval sanctuary law at work here. Is Quasimodo the legal adviser to the show?

One question I forgot to ask yesterday has to do with timeouts. As I stated in the OP, each team gets two 30s per half and they don't carry over. We all know that if a team is out of timeouts and then requests one during a time in which it may be granted, it's a technical. What if they've used their two in the first half and then request one still in the first half? Should we call a technical?

I know it's kind of a petty question, but what do you guys think? I'll get a definitive answer from the program later today when I go to my games.

Black And White ...
 

NFHS 10-1-7: Team Technical: A team shall not: Request an excess time-out. PENALTY: Penalized when discovered. Two free throws plus ball for division-line throw-in.

It sounds like the league directors changed NFHS 5-12-1 (timeouts), not the rule on technical foul penalties. Just my opinion.

Here's another one I should ask on pretty much the same subject. Is a technical for requesting an excessive timeout considered an administrative or an unsportsmanlike technical? It matters in this league because there's an "extra" penalty if it's unsportsmanlike - the other team gets two shots, possession and two points.

Will send you a PM.

My Guess ???
 

NFHS 10-1-8: Team Technicals: A team shall not: Commit an unsporting foul.

Could that mean that all the other articles under 10-1 (Team Technicals) are not unsporting acts, but are something else, like administrative infractions?

The chart on page 71 of the NFHS rules book lists "excess time-out" in the "Administrative" box.

Good eye, Nevada. Does this mean that you can't T-up a team for an excessive time out if they've already received one for a book violation? That doesn't add up.

As for "fashion police" thing, the toughest thing is getting everyone on the same page in how to enforce these rules. The league coordinator in Mark's case made an effort to do so; we have a hard enough time doing this in regular season, especially in middle school.

When it's a travel league or scrimmage or off-season game, I can take or leave "properly and legally equipped." If the board expects you to follow a rule, however, then I play by the book.

My board made it clear to me that middle schools are expected to play by the same uniform rules (except that the home team must wear white -- that's varsity only) as the high schools. I wonder if they made it clear to everyone else, because I ran into a series of uniform issues this year. I don't mind enforcing these rules, but they become a hardship when others aren't doing their jobs.

Perhaps you are unaware that a team can be charged with a technical foul for either an administrative infraction or an unsporting act. One doesn't know the reason just because a team technical foul is charged. It could even be for delay of game.
Your response didn't answer Mark's question. Mine did.

Doesn't mean that at all. The rule is not that a team can only receive one administrative technical foul following the 10-minute mark prior to the game. The rule is that a team shall only receive one technical foul no matter how many violations of the five specific administrative items listed in 10-1-2 it commits. This is not all-inclusive. Somewhere along the way someone misinformed you.

You are kind of new here. Stick around and your understanding of the rules will greatly improve. There are a lot of really sharp people on this forum.

Are you talking about head shapes? :p

Two things stood out in today's three MS games. In the first, my partner teed up a coach. At the next break, I asked him what happened. He said the guy complained about the lack of a three second call. My partner gave him the stop sign and he still said something. According to my partner, the guy wasn't really bad and never raised his voice but just wouldn't stop talking.

The other thing was somewhat of a pleasant surprise for me. There is a guy I know who holds camps for MS kids at this venue and he has a bunch of teams playing in this spring league. He coaches a few of them himself. He is David Lucas, younger son of "The Enforcer" Maurice Lucas. I've known David since he was in third grade and played in our local kids rec league. His older brother Maurice Jr. (called "Reece") was in the same grade as my son and they went through HS together. Reece also played in our rec league for quite a few years (and yes, Maurice Sr. would come to some of both boys games). I had David coaching a 7th grade team in my second game today. We said hi to each other before the game. He did a great job and his team won by almost 40. He's a terrific young man and I wish him well.

Maybe, maybe not. It could just be me. The crux of this was my understanding of "administrative," which I considered only to be book-related.

That's what threw me off about Mark's question. How could calling an excessive time-out be book-related? I thought. The definition goes well beyond that, I see. Thanks for the heads up.