Scoreboard bonus light timing
 

First time poster here.

I run the scoreboard for our local youth league and I'm confused about something. Should the bonus light on the scoreboard be illuminated when the 7th foul is reported to the table, or does it turn on after the ball goes live following the 6th foul? I know it's a fine point, but since I'm also in charge of training folks on the board, I want to make sure we do it right.

I've tried to watch for it at the college games I attend, but I always get caught up in the game and forget to check.

I don't know if this written anywhere, but turn it on after the 6th.

From an official's standpoint, I'd rather have it on after the 6th foul. Of course, if the numbe of fouls is listed, I never look at the light.

And, a "heads up" from the scorer is always nice "next one will be bonus for white"

I like this.

FWIW, our scoreboard does show the number of fouls and I always make sure to give them a heads-up after 6 (and 9).

Thanks for the comments. I'll start turning it on at 6. We don't have a double-bonus light, but once they hit ten fouls (happens very rarely), I have them just leave the light on but have the number of fouls set to "0" (the number of fouls is only a single-digit)

As an aside, our league is very new (only the 2nd year) and most of our refs and scorers are still learning, so I'm trying to get everyone trained right the first time. The possession arrow is the thing that confuses most of them -- they tend to forget that the inbound pass at the beginning of the quarter is actually a jump ball and it needs to be swapped.

Funny story: I had person that I thought had it down well enough that I could afford to run to the bathroom. But when I came back, the possession arrow was flipping back and forth wildly! It turns out they thought the arrow was supposed to point to whoever had possession of the ball at that moment! :p

Great first post. And second. btw there is a section of the rulebook devoted to timer's duties and scorer's duties. Might not be a bad idea to include that in your training and maybe even to distribute a handout with the verbatim duties.

That's hilarious! :D

First off, welcome to the boards. Stick around, and you're bound to learn a thing or two.

Like bob suggested, I'd prefer the light to be on at 6, but if the number of team fouls is on the board, I'll look to that first.

Welcome to the forum! Out of curiosity, do you work crowd control as well?

Hey, he's new: spare him the inside jokes for a week or two. :p

I'm actually surprised our resident scorekeeper/timer/shot clock operator/crowd control expert hasn't chimed in yet. ;)

When I worked the scoreboard for my local tournaments, over 20 years ago, I would change the number to 6, and light the bonus light as soon as the throw-in or free-throw was live.

I would also signal to the crew that "the next one is bonus".

Edit: Just read the rest. OP, you clearly think outside the box and know how "it all works". Keep it up and please do train as many as you can! The on-court officials will appreciate not having to worry about your table crews.

He may have be a lurker though. :D

Heh-heh -- no, I truly am new. I almost replied to the crowd control question with "no, that's my wife's job as League Director." Now, I see it's something I was missing...

In any case, thanks, everyone!

Right Time for Old Idea
 

This is a sign!
Someone contact the grand poobah administrator and have him open up a new discussion board exclusively for "table officials".
All it takes is two, and now that we've got at least that many, I think this would be a great time to get this idea going.
The time is right. Let's get on it!

Missed one. ;)