Coach's leash

[Adam]

I've only tossed one coach, and assistant in a summer game last summer. He earned the second T before I could finish reporting the first T so called and reported both.

I did get some good feedback from a partner following a player T in another summer game. I apparently looked pretty pissed when I called it, and my partner told me as much. The main point was, we're the only ones out there who are able to maintain order in a tense situation, and we can't do that if we aren't calm.

Telling the coach to "sit down and be quiet" is only going to fuel the fire. It probably would have exploded anyway, but I'd rather be able to look back and say I didn't push any unnecessary buttons.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Adam

I apparently looked pretty pissed when I called it, and my partner told me as much.

Did your partner seem to think that this was a bad thing or not necessarily so?
Around here, we have had numerous conversation about demeanor on the court. It is, like most things, a case of you can't win.

We have one guy who frowns all the time. People don't like that.

"He's mad at us."

We have another guy who smiles all the time. People don't like that.

"He's laughing at us."

I, personally, find the smile to be much worse, particularly when directed at the coach on the short end of the last call, even though in this case I know that it is not done with evil intent.

So, having studied all this at length, in a serious game situation I try to remain expressionless on the court. But people don't like that either.

"Look at him, he doesn't even care."

[Adam]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Did your partner seem to think that this was a bad thing or not necessarily so?
Around here, we have had numerous conversation about demeanor on the court. It is, like most things, a case of you can't win.

We have one guy who frowns all the time. People don't like that.

"He's mad at us."

We have another guy who smiles all the time. People don't like that.

"He's laughing at us."

I, personally, find the smile to be much worse, particularly when directed at the coach on the short end of the last call, even though in this case I know that it is not done with evil intent.

So, having studied all this at length, in a serious game situation I try to remain expressionless on the court. But people don't like that either.

"Look at him, he doesn't even care."

In this case, it was a negative. He had just called a T on their coach for getting a bit too expressive while demanding a traveling call with less than a minute and his team down by a handful. Mine came shortly after that, when his player essentially did the same thing while yelling me instead of playing defense on a transition play. B2 then decided to roll the ball away. Rather than let my partner deal with that particular aspect, I delayed the reporting of the T to tell him it was in his best interest to retrieve the ball.

Tourney director came up afterwards and informed us that he loved the way we handled the end of that game, including the Ts and making the kid get the ball. But I think, in the end, my Sergeant face could have inflamed things a bit further. I need to work on keeping my face calm there.