3 person closely guarded
 

Who do you do? 3 person. You are center. Trail has a closely guarded count going on A1. A1 comes into center's primary area. Does center start a closely guarded count as well?

Thanks,

If trail has a closely guarded count, he should stay with the match up and continue the count until it's broken.

+1 Correct.

This is also true in 2-person. There is no way that the other official knows the count of the other official, nor could a transition be done accurately.

It might look weird, but it's the only way to do it properly.

Thanks APG, but wanted to know if center official starts a closely guarded count along with trails (which I know he continues), even though the counts are going to be different. I've been told center should start a count and not to. What's the correct procedure or rather the consensus. Thanks

Or you can do like I saw in the game last night. Don't start the count until they are 2' apart and then stop it when it moves to 3'. That way you never get to a 5 count or have to worry about them getting into another PCA.

If your partner has a count going, you probably should not be looking at that matchup. Once your partner "releases" the play to you, then you can start a count as you pick up the coverage. So no - you shouldn't have a count going at the same time.

Well I'm not going to be picking up the match up if my partner has a count. Therefore, I won't be having a count. If the mechanic is being performed properly, there's no need for two officials to have a count. If the count isn't broken, there will be a violation. If it isn't, you have to start a new count anyhow, at which point you'll be picking up the match up.