Can Refs Help Improve Youth Play (Videos)

[JeffM]

Coach,

You have come to a good place to ask these questions.

Some officials considers themselves "teachers" and want to teach the players how to play. Other officials consider their role to just be an official.

I recommend that you find Billy Mac's list of Most Misunderstood Rules. Most officials know these rules, but some don't know them all.

I agree with your assessment on both of these plays, but I wanted to provide an explanation for why those calls might have been made.

At a 7th grade level, I suspect that the officials aren't getting paid that much money and are relatively low on the totem pole.

In the first play, the key to drawing a charge is to establish Legal Guarding Position. However, that is not what television announcers talk about when they explain the block/charge rule. Announcers spout nonsense for drawing a charge such as "he has to be set" and "he can't already be falling down when he is hit". Many listeners, including some officials, will believe this. Although not required by rule, the defender is much more likely to draw the charge if he doesn't move once he has established Legal Guarding Position.

The defender was falling down, did move laterally, and did appear to protect himself. While he is allowed to do these things, some officials won't call a charge under any of these circumstances.

Officials can also be caught off-guard. If there hasn't been a block/charge call all game, he may not have been ready for it. The official may have been closely watching the offensive player and not seen the defender establish Legal Guarding Position and didn't really notice him until just before contact..

In the second play, the official might have seen the contact and decided that the foul didn't need to be called since the ball handler maintained possession. Some officials might have considered calling that foul a "game interruptor".

From a coaching standpoint, I would teach my players not to even attempt to draw a charge if they are in foul trouble simply because there is no guarantee that it will be called a charge. If you decide to point out the foul in the second play, don't use the term "reaching" (since "reaching" without contacting the opponent is not a foul.)