2 Handed Report of Foul
 

We see it all the time with college and NBA and now high school officials (wanna be NCAA/NBA maybe?) using the same 2 handed signal for reporting players number to the table There was once a good reason for changing the number requirements on uniforms and I suspect it's where the One-Hand, one digit at a time signals began.

I remember the days of uniform numbers with 6,7,8,9 in basketball. I was a kid then.. So I'm curious when and why the numbering on uniforms changed to only digits 0-5? And now 00 is excluded as a legal number. Is it for the one-handed reporter?

How serious an issue is it here? Two groups of 36 officials selected to do boys and girls high school playoffs have been warned that the Evaluating Committee will not select officials who use the 2 hand method of reporting of fouls to call the State Playoffs. Is this going too far? or does the televised games for the state championships desire clear division between college and high school mechanics? I don't know, but appreciate sincere responses and information. Thanks again.

We have a good many of our college/HS officials do it during thier HS games. I've never seen anyone say anything to them and doubt it would affect their state tourney participation.

"Walking and talking" and using 2 hands for reporting is encouraged here. It may not be "by the book", but I think it is one of those migrations of the game that hasn't been edited in the mechanics book. (Remember the "Birddog")
Personally, I think it looks better and speeds things up a bit, but I have no problem with reporting "the old fashioned way". :)

First, 00 is still a legal number.

Second, if your state want all HS mechanics, then it's a big deal. Here, they really want a prelimnary signal. I've been working hard to try to give one every time.

Could be worse. If a player's number was pi, you'd need an infinite number of hands! :eek:

Here it's exactly the opposite. Did a JV game on Thursday, was observed by our association's clinician, and his first post-game comment to me was "you need to get to the foul reporting area AND STOP before you report the foul".

He (the clinician) says that 90% of his comments to officials are about slowing down and taking your time with reporting.

I don't do the two-handed reporting because I'm not coordinated enough to do it.

IMHO, stopping in the reporting area and reporting slowly with one hand after making eye contact with the official scorer is very important at the high school level.

At NCAA and NBA games, you are much more likely to have a trained and/or experienced official scorer who can quickly find the calling official and recognize the 2-handed number. At high school games, particularly sub-varsity games, you may be lucky to have a kid who has even seen a scorebook before. This is not the case at every game, of course. But my point is that it's better to ENSURE good communication with a person who may be less experienced than we'd like.

3-4-3d

d. Each team member shall be numbered on the front and back of the team jersey with plain Arabic numerals. The following numbers are legal: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 00, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55. A team member list shall not have both numbers 0 and 00.

Peace

Personally, I love the walk-and-report with 2 hands.

But when in Rome...

First, refiator officiates in Georgia where reporting with two hands, walking and talking is the way the GHSA wants it done. I've seen their training videos and I like it.

Second, telling up and coming officials to slow down is a pretty standard thing. Most less experienced officials are officiating too fast and need to slow down. Your evaluator gave you great advice.

Geek Humor ...
 

C'mon Mark Padgett. Now you're being irrational.

Now?

At least he isn't being radical.

Guys, at least TRY and stay on topic.

Now THAT is funny! (Can you tell I teach math?) :)