A real scream...
 

Working a Junior High girls championship game last night. A real barn-burner. Team "A" had been taught to unleash blood-curdling screams every time they trapped an opposing player, or every time "team B" took a shot. Not only did all 5 team A players on the court scream, but all 10 girls on the bench did as well. I'm sure you can imagine the noise level of 15 junior high girls screaming at the top of their lungs. Fans were complaining, opposing coach was not impressed.

Any rule out there to stop this situation?

Thanks

Bush league coaching. If it's that loud, I might just tell the coach it's unsporting and he needs to put a stop to it. It's a bit of a stretch, but I've got no desire to listen to screaming girls for an entire game.

I'm interested to see how others would address this, if at all.

Junior High, I think I'd be inclined to do the same. That's just horrible.

Around here, I imagine if they did that the wrong opponent, one of them would end up with a basketball and maybe an elbow in the face.

I'd be inclined for 1 warning and then a whack for unsporting behavior as well. What is the difference of opinion between junior high and varsity? I think I would treat it the same.

Probably because at the varsity level, the opponent is far more likely to deal with it themselves (which may be a reason to stop it, to be honest.)

Three words: Let. It. Go.

Irritating does not equal illegal.

I don't see a lot of difference between this and "ball, ball, ball" or "dead, dead, dead". As distasteful as I find it, I don't see a lot I can do about it.

Pretty much guaranteed to have a fight if you let it continue imo.

If it's a blood curtling scream, I'm inclined to see it as unsporting, which is illegal. If it's less than blood curtling, I'm inclined to let it go. The problem is, I'd rather deal with it more quickly rather than let the unsporting behavior escalate until it generates an even more unsporting response.

I would be inclined to agree with Mr. Jenkins that letting it go is the right call. However, in the interest of discussion:

1. Saying something during an intermission is completely legit in my opinion. Chances are if you have an adult conversation it ends. If this is something they do regularly this won't be the first time he/she has been approached about this.

2. In the interest of game management. We all know that when parent’s, fans, coaches, and teammates are at a high level of anxiety the play on the court will get more physical. Once that happens your will hear the inevitable “you need to get control before someone gets hurt”.

unsporting...
 

This is unsporting behavior, IMO.

I had a similar situation once where girls one the same team would say 'I've got the shooter...you've got the shooter' repeatedly during the final free throw attempt of an opposing player.

I told the girls and coach to stop, they didn't, and I called a disconcerting violation on Team B. Things stopped right after that!

Have to agree with BNR. Annoying doesn’t equal illegal and JAR is correct – “ball, ball, ball” is just as annoying and distracting. As long as they don’t do it when the other team is shooting FTs there’s nothing in the rule book to stop it.

Now, I would think the parents of the screamers might chat with the coach because that gets old quick but that’s not our problem.

I am probably letting it go by the five on the court, but not the bench personal.

When a team starts doing this, at the next stoppage I'll take the ball, hold it up over my head and in a loud voice say, "YES - IT IS A BALL - OK?" It actually works most of the time. :)