Dehydration slash Water Breaks

[mcrowder]

How do you guys handle Official-Initiated water breaks?

Saturday, we officiated a quadruple overtime 11-12 year old game (don't comment on the idea of OT at this age ... I didn't write the rules and I agree with you). It was 95 degrees and dead still. We had several kids throw up during this game, and both teams were down to less than what they started with.

After the 2nd OT, we stopped play and told the coaches to pull their kids to the side and make sure everyone got enough water. Just as we're about to pull them back onto the field, the announcer chimes in with, "OK folks, we're going to take a 10 minute intermission before the 3rd overtime!"

This was followed by my crew saying, "Oh no we're not! Get the kids back out here." Followed by, "How would you like it if they were you're kids!!!" and "I'm gonna kick your @$$" (followed by my first fan-ejection ever).

My first thought (after handling the ejection) was that if any of these kids sat down for 10 minutes and tried to play again, we'd be dealing with cramps, pulls, and sprains. I know that if I sat down for 10 at that point, I'd not have gotten back up (this was our 4th game in these conditions).

We were constantly reminding the coaches to get the kids enough water, and making sure they brought some out during any time out, even injuries - we were actually doing this all day for all 4 games. We took the extra break.

Thoughts? Concerns? Ways to handle differently?

Luckily, after OT3, both coaches agreed (contrary to the rules) that if they didn't resolve the tie after OT4, they'd call it a tie. One team was down to just 11 players left - not sure about the other sideline.