For IAABO Members's Eyes Only ...

[hoopguy]

At my IAABO interpreters meeting, we were not told to never use the signal and I did not realize it had been taken out of the book until I read your post. The big discussion on the 'not closely guarded' signal was that it was a not working and the closely guarded count was not being enforced correctly and is a POE this year. The guest interpreter who spoke at our meeting, used the example of a mens college game he had watched on tape where the ref was using the not closely guarded signal and the 2 players the ref was signalling for were inside his outstreched arms. Obvioiusly, he was using the signal incorrectly. I would guess that the closely guarded POE and it not being enforced correctly is the reason IAABO took the signal oout of their book this year. What I took away from my meeting was it was okay to use the signal but be very careful and be sure you are accurate. Six feet from toe to toe is a lot farther apart than refs have been calling/counting.