I Think They Teach This
 

Opening tip, I'm R, and right after I announce direction and color, I hear the U, "Hold your spots."

:rolleyes:

Who You Gonna Call ??? Not The Mythbusters ...
 

The Mythbusters don't deal with ridiculous myths like this.

Elucidate for me what is wrong with that.

It's like telling everyone to go behind the half court line for technical foul free throws.

Other than it not being a rule?

I got bigger nits to pick with many officials, though.

ART. 2 . . . When the official is ready and until the ball is tossed, nonjumpers
shall not:
a. Move onto the center restraining circle.
b. Change position around the center restraining circle.

So telling everyone to "hold their spots" is not supported by rule. If they are on the circle, they can't move to another spot, but they can move their feet around if they want to...if they aren't, they can wander all over the court if they want to.

I agree. I normally don't think twice when I hear it, but this was the first time I've heard the U say it, as if he thought I had forgotten it.

I wonder what he would've said had you "forgot" to tell the teams which way they were going :D

As you might have noticed, we were taught to say this (but as the R, not the U). I agree that it doesn't apply to those not on the circle but it does to those on the circle and as I've always understood it, they are who we were communicating with.

I guess I'll drop it but at least I got to use elucidate in a sentence.

No, it actually doesn't.

Those on the circle may leave the circle at any time....no restriction.

The ONLY thing that is restricted is a player moving into a new spot around the circle (which is defined as being within 3 feet) and applies whether they come from elsewhere on the circle or from a position off the circle.

Hold Your Spots ???
 

What? They can back off the circle anytime they want.

This is why I believe that the NFHS should do away with all jump balls. Many officials, including myself, don't know the jump ball rules as well as we did back in the olden days when we had several jump balls in a game, at three different circles, with a several different players jumping.

Man, I hope that Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. doesn't read this post. If he does, I'm sure that he'll chastise me for my opinion. Hopefully he's busy moderating over on the Softball Forum and won't see this. Hey Mark T. DeNucci, Sr., if you do read this, and decide to comment, remember that since the Forum merger with Twitter you are limited to 140 characters.

IDK why we interpret "onto" as any & all movement for all players...

Had a partner (U) call a violation during my toss because a player in the b/c walked toward his coach :-(

I used to get (mildly) annoyed by this. Now, i just <strike>assume</strike> pretend that the official who says this is talking to the jumpers -- to whom it does (reasonably) apply.

OK, point made and despite Billy's implication, I do actually know the rule.