Jump Ball Administration
 

Thoughts to ponder for this season given recent events:

Name the only time that a referee is surrounded by the players.

Name the time that a referee has the greatest chance for injury from contact by a player or players.

Name a time that a referee would be in the way of a player dribbling or passing the ball (there are instances when you would be in the way on a steal or change of direction depending on your position on the court or speed to get out of the way).

Name the only time in a game where a referee physically affects the play on the ball. (think about this one at lower level and grade school games where younger referees are learning how to referee)

Other major team sports don't have these direct issues:
Football, Soccer and Volleyball have a coin flip to see who has control of the ball first and most officials are outside of the playing area.

Hockey has a faceoff, but the referees drop the puck and also wear protective gear. Hockey also has 4 referees on the rink that are never outside of the playing area so they might be part of any play.

Baseball/Softball is based on Visitor/Home to determine who is up first, but in the case of tourneys, would usually be a coin flip.

Is it time to reduce the chance of referee injury and liability and move to a coin flip to determine who gets the ball first?

Should we simplify the rules by eliminating the jump ball and focus on correctly judging the fouls and violations (as well as being the fashion police)?

No

The umpire in football (situated in the defensive backfield) often has those scenarios that you presented occur to him...and he's in that position for the vast majority of the plays in a game. Only the NFL has addressed this by placing the umpire in the offensive backfield, but even then, they have the umpire go back in certain scenarios and situations.

In 24 years of officiating where on average I call 100 games a year at the Rec, HS V, JUCO level I have been hit once on an opening jump ball.

That's 0.04% folks.

Is the incident scary and unfortunate for those officials that went down injured. Absolutely, yes. I hope and wish them a speedy recovery. Do these examples remind us all to be aware and have the radar up while throwing the jump ball. I would say yes.

Do those 2 (isolated) incidents warrant a fundamental rule change? No. Unequivocally No.

soccer has a dropped ball that involves two players kicking at a ball dropped by the referee from waist height . . . but it is very rare at real levels of soccer . . .

I think we should drop the possession arrow and bring back jump balls on tie ups (we can make an exception for pre-HS girls games:rolleyes:). . . . but I've never seen (and until this thread never heard of) a refeee get hurt during a jump. If we aren't going to do the right thing and bring back the jump ball the way God intended, really the only reason to retain to start the game is a nod to history as it is so insignificant -- except, perhaps, at the start of an OT with less time for the arrow to even things out. (And since it is so insignificant, referees have (it appears to me) become worse at throwing the ball, and teams less effective at challenging them -- why practice for or design plays for something so insignifcant. I'm not sure whether I think it will survive -- I suspect it will, mostly because of OT.

I have yet to be hit like shown in this video either. It almost never happens. I am in bigger danger on a football field. They have pads and we are surrounded by players in many situations, not just the umpire. It is unfortunate, but let us not overreact to what took place.

Peace

The importance of the opening jump is overrated.

I've been to a few camps where they say that the quality of toss sets the tone for the game and I simply don't believe it. The other team will get 2 of the next 3 alternating possession scenarios. And a poor toss rarely is remembered seconds later. Except by the non-tossers on the crew who may be laughing still minutes later.

Let the visiting team have the ball first and eliminate a completely unnecessary event. Just cause it's rare that a tosser gets hurt doesn't mean it's an entirely stupid way to start a game - rewarding someone officially for being taller.

In 44 years of officiating I have only been hit once by a player.

I was the R in a men's college JV game and the visitors were a jr. college team. The jumper for the visitors was 7'-01"; he was by far the tallest jumper I had ever had take part in a Jump Ball in which I was the tosser. He hit me in my stomach with his foot. It was a little bit harder than a glancing blow but it did cause me to wince and he was very apologetic about it and I told him he had not done anything wrong. It was a great toss by the way too.

I have taken harder shots to the face and chest while umpiring baseball. I have always wear all of the necessary protection equipment required for umpires therefore, my face has always been this ugly, :D.

MTD, Sr.

Hey, my U9 games are real soccer too! :D

What kind of camps were these?

I've started standing back away from the jumpers a little when I toss the last couple of days just to try it out. Not as far back as the NBA official in that video posted on here, but a good 2-3 feet from where their feet are. I used to get right up next to them, but I can just as easily toss it at an angle and make it a good toss.

Proper tosses is a pet peeve of the SEC supervisor.