Was I wrong

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
I think there's a line between preventative officiating and on-court coaching. IMHO, what you did was over the line. I know you had good intentions, but we can't "coach" kids on fundamentals.

I disagree.

If he had stopped the game, conducted a mini-clinic on proper ball handling, then sent the kid off to run some drills, that would have been coaching.

If he had taken time to talk to the player about the right way to dribble, that would have been coaching.

What he did is to let the kid know that he was getting awfully close to the line on a violation. And he did it to avoid calling a violation that would almost certainly be in the category of "obvious violations" rather than the "violations that matter to the game."

We do the same thing to avoid calling three seconds, throw in violations after a basket when there is no defender, a T on a coach who is getting near the line, etc. etc. etc.

The only thing I would add is: once you've warned them, be ready to call it if the warning goes unheeded.