Should the coach have known this?
 

Last night, watching my son's team play its home finale. (He manages.) I sit behind the table, to observe the veterans, and enjoy the banter from both contingents.

H has the ball on its own endline. The throw-in is tipped by H1, who chases it into the backcourt. I brace for the inevitable cries of "backcourt" from the visiting contingent as H1 chases it down and starts to dribble.

The expected cries happen, but at the same time, the V HC (and most of the bench) is making a tipping signal at the 2-man crew, as if to say, "H1 tipped it! How could you not see that?!"

Call me naïve, but shouldn't a Class A (our state's highest level) varsity head coach know the team control requirement in a backcourt violation? How does someone get to that level without knowing this?

Few things make our jobs tougher than ignorance. I have to wonder if this coach should be clued in, for the sake of his knowledge, and the next crew who will have to deal with this again.

The coach may have known, (doubt the bench did), they will do what it takes to win, I guess. Early this year, I was C tableside, during a throw-in, the V coach wanted a 3 second violation, I turned told him "not on a throw in coach", he turned and smiled and said he was just testing me.

Should the coach know the rule? Of course. Does he actually know it? Of course not. He's a coach.

Years ago, this scenario occurred in my game. Throw-in team tips the ball, which goes into the backcourt and is retrieved by the throw-in team.

Coach: Backcourt! He touched it!
Me: No team control, Coach.
Coach: I don't care!!
Me: Yes you do, Coach.

Not sure why that worked, but he stopped complaining about it immediately.

Yesterday doing an 8th grade tournament game, B1 knocks the ball away from A1 and towards the division line. Before the ball or A1 reaches the backcourt, A1 touches the ball and then secures the ball but is now standing on the division line. Tweet. Everyone in the gym accept my partner and B are screaming "He touched it! How can you not see he touched it!"

I think the only rule less well understood than backcourt violation is offside for soccer.

Two weeks ago in a boys varsity game, my partner calls a team control foul. Varsity coach of 20 years asks partner why aren't we shooting free throws? Partner says, "team control foul, no shots" Coach says I thought that was only on a charge.:eek:

Last night, Girls V. Girl loses control of her dribble, chases it down and picks it up.
Coach " Double dribble"
Me - " She can recover a loose ball, coach"
Coach " Then that's a travel"
Me " How can she travel without control of the ball?"
Coach - " Well, it had to be something!"
Me - thanking my partner who initiated a rotation to get me out of there...

"Well, let me know when you figure out what it should have been. Til then, it's legal."

Easy!
 

It's over the back! Everyone knows that! Come on Snaqwells!

Surprised it was a crew of two heading into the tournament. Does Class A still finish a week later?

Negative. That changed about five years ago; it's all done in the same week. Eastern A tourney moved to Augusta, too.

There was a crew of three last week at home. Perhaps my kid's school asks the visiting team for their input. I really don't know.

Well, those guys and Massabesic [always confused the two of them] were Class C Western schools when I lived there. Still haven't grasped the fact that they are now a large school.

Much has changed. Northernmost A school is Bangor. Brunswick, Morse, and Edward Little are Eastern Maine. The state's shift to a southern-heavy population (notice how I avoided "bottom heavy" around here), plus Loring AFB's closing, has had a mighty effect on classification.

And my alma mater is back down to Class D after being back up in C for several years.

+ how do you get to be a starting QB in the NFL and NOT know that the first team to score wins in OT?

+ how do you get to be the Vice-Presidential candidate and NOT know what the role of the Vice-President is? (I know...cheap shot, but that was just TOO EASY!).

+ how you do get assigned to the most prestigous boys X-Mas tourney in Chicago and call a 5-second/closely guard violation against a dribbler...in the backcourt! (believe it or not, it actually happened)

ultimately, these things happen and life goes on...the sun will still come up tomorrow and we'll all still get yelled at by everyone watching the game we're officiating...:)

Well, hopefully our partner[s] are the exception here.

If by charge, he meant player control foul (which is most typical), then he would have been correct up until about 5 years ago. There was a recent rule change that changed all TC fouls to no shots.