Summer Ball

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by grunewar

I know we have talked about this before.......

Sometimes I get critiqued for stopping the game when I shouldn't - a quick whistle if you will or a game interrupter as told to me (maybe better game management, patient whistle, discretion, or experience are better terms).

An example of one I have done several times and need to be better at (as told to me by my evaluators). A1 has the ball in his backcourt and is defended by B1. A1 does a crossover dribble and goes by B1. B1 fouls A1 by bumping him off his mark on the way by changing A1's speed, rhtyhm, and direction. But, after a second or so, A1 has "played through" the contact and is going down court. Me - TWEEET!

As asked to me - "why?" I have "interrupted the game" or penalized A's ability to play through the contact (even though at the time B's contact caused B an advantage) and now I have brought the ball back to the spot to inbound, therefore taking away A's advantage.

I've gotta be more patient!

Sooooo....a "game interrrupter" is really calling illegal contact for something that was incidental contact? Seeing that incidental contact versus a foul for illegal contact is always a judgment call, what are they really teaching you here?

Why not just say "Hey you, read the rule book and follow NFHS rule 4-27". For instance re: for the red-highlighted part above, replace that with R4-27-3--"Similarly, contact which does not hinder the opponent from participating in normal defensive or offensive movements should be considered incidental." That concept would seem to be a helluva lot easier to teach someone imo.

You're right that the key is being more patient. But all your evaluators are really telling you is to just take a second longer to decide whether the contact was incidental or illegal. Why not just say that to the person being evaluated? Iow, KIFSS!