Starting the clock mechanic

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

As a matter of fact, the Fla. HS Athletic Assn. REQUIRES the open hand chop as well as open hands on hips for a block signal, the "Jesus" pose, and counting with an open hand. I have personally heard state evaluators insist that deviating from these (or any) FED mechanics or using college mechanics WILL keep you from advancing through the state tournament. Maybe clinicians in your part of the country don't find it critical, but the FHSAA, which has about 20,000 officials under it's influence, most definitely does.

Well I am a clinician in my part of the state (or just one that can work anywhere really). No we do not give a damn about this to that extent. Do we want officials to "stop the clock" or use the proper amount of fingers for directional pointing? Of course we do. But it has never kept someone away from working the State Finals or deep into the playoffs. It might be one of those things certain clinicians might focus on during a camp and usually that is if they have not much else to say. I have also never heard an assignor not hire someone to a game based on these things either. Actually there is some disagreement with certain assignors what is important to work for them.

It must be noted that this is not one of these things that is mentioned by the sports administrators that assign all the playoff games. And in basketball there are over 6000 officials (over 15,000 in all sports). We have two administrators, one for each gender and neither has ever claimed to have held someone back for these issues. Now do they have things that get them upset when we do not do them? Of course they do, but the biggest complaint we heard out of the IHSA office was not giving a preliminary signal at the spot of the foul. And it was claimed by many those assignors or clinicians that this was not something most cared about personally. We wanted people that could officiate and not get caught up in some mechanic that was not followed to the letter.

And personally someone that has worked a State Final in two other sports, I never followed to the letter every mechanic or signal and still got to those levels as an official. A great example is in baseball the signal for a strike is basically the hammer signal. I have never done that and when I was in the State Finals, no one commented once about that I did not follow the mechanic. What they did want is for us to be positioned properly or to call things that were in our area or move to the proper area mechanically (which may have not been what is in the NF books since we do not use their mechanics). And no one commented once about what we did or did not do in football when I worked in the same capacity.

Peace