When working trail I try to stay near the ball, which has me working out in the middle of the court a lot of the time. One problem I haven't found a solution for is how to NOT get trapped in traffic during a sudden transition. I've been thinking tonight that perhaps if I made an immediate beeline for the sideline that might help. Does anyone else have this problem? What do you suggest?

No magic bullet.
 

I think you just have to learn to read the play and the situation. If there is a lot of ball pressure, learn to figure out what the defense is doing and know when staying away or getting close to the play will help. But when you do seem to get caught up in the play, just try to stand still and let all the players go around you. If you move, you are more likely to run into one of them and someone might get hurt. If you stand still, they are more likely to see you and go around you and miss you all together.

Hope that helps or is what you are looking for.

Peace

Jit happens...
 

(To the tune of the FOX series "Cops")
Whatchya gonna do when the ball comes at you... Bad place, bad place...

Seriously, like Rut says... Get a feel for when to "bail", sometimes it is just unavoidable.

One suggestion I would make is to keep some extra distance between you and the ball. It sounds like you may be too close to the play, so that when it changes direction, you're already in the middle of it.

You say you "try to stay near the ball". There's nothing wrong with working the middle of the floor to get a good angle; but you don't necessarily have to be "near" the ball to get a good look.

When I work towards the middle of the floor (and just to be clear, these are 2-whistle games) as Trail, I never get lower than the bottom of the jump circle. If you're in the middle of the floor and between the circle and the 3-point arc, I'd say you're in a bad place. Just my opinion. Hope some of that is useful :)

Chuck

Let me add:

When working out onto the floor, you should be heading over there on an angle AWAY FROM the offensive team's basket. You are sacrificing a bit of distance to gain a better angle.

Most time when I'm forced over so that I can officiate a ball handler on the other side of the court (just above the FT line, which is still in the trail's primary), I will work deeper and will frequently step into the backcourt to do so.

Still, you do get trapped every once in a while. In that case, the best thing is to stand still until the players pass and then follow the play, buttonhooking in at the free throw line if you need to officiate a drive from behind.

The worst thing you can do is continue to the baseline in that situation, because you will have the worst possible angle -- getting straightlined right out of any foul.

And in that situation, the old lead/new trail will need to hustle back and help with the fouls coming from his side.

2-whistle is hard :)

Rich

This is what I do. In my mind, I have a line on the floor from the intersection of the free throw line extended and my sideline, to the point of the jump circle that is closest to the defenders' basket. On trail, I try to stay on the line. Of course, there are times that I stray for some specific reason, and to some extent, it doesn't matter so much at some of the lower levels of play. "Cheating" out this far is helpful because I don't have a lot of acceleration. If I'm closer to the sideline, I'm definitely beat, but I am in position to buttonhook into the play behind the dribbler.

What I haven't mastered is how to get out from behind the play onto the baseline when the shot is missed, and there are several players now down into the lead's primary. It can get awkward.

One more opinion. I agree with several from above. The farther you go from the sideline, the farther you stay from
the players. When you do get caught in the traffic, freeze.
Better for a player to run into you, than for you to run into a player.

Thank you...
 

everybody for your suggestions. I worked two games yesterday and tried to stay on the line that Juulie described. Things went great! The first game was a 5th grade boys, and it was kind of a non-issue. But the second game was 8th grade boys and it really kept me out of trouble. Didn't have to work so hard either :D