"B" Games

[Rick Vietti]

I did 2 MS girls games yesterday and they were horrible games.

I go back to my earlier post that backcourt guarding and pressing should be disallowed at this level. We had between 25 and 30 jump balls each game and I would bet 98% of them were off of the defensive rebound. I tend to call jump balls quickly at this level because they tend to lead to 2 people ending up on the floor and rough play further on. If this was higher level ball I would not be so quick on the whistle. We called 35 fouls the first game and 40 fouls the second game(In which a parent yelled at us when her daughter went down that we were letting the game get out of hand).

Why so many fouls, because the kids do not have the skills to break the press or guard on a press. Girls sticking their knee out to try and stop the advancing dribbler, guarding people like they wanted to hug them, etc...

Sorry to vent but I felt bad for the kids and parents expecting to see a basketball game and they end up participating in a rugby match.