Flat Game Balls

[refnrev]

My partner and I checked everything before the game tonight.... except for the balls. 35 seconds left in final warm up and I pick up game balls. They were flatter than a pancake. Checked the pressure. 1 1/4 lbs in each. Told the timer to stop the clock while home coach goes and airs them up. Those little details...... Geez.

[BigToe]

I worked a 7th grade regional game last night and that ball was flat as well. What's up with that :-)

As far as details, my partner is the official for the first match and checks the line up in the scorers book from her card which she wrote down from the lineups the coaches turned in. This is something I generally don't do. Of course, she finds that the scorer wrote the lineup incorrectly in the book. I guess that is something I should check more closely.

[MCBear]

Ref, prior to the match ALWAYS check the pressure in the game ball. I have had them be anywhere from 2-1/2 p.s.i. to 9 p.s.i. Also, you should have a handy ball pump in your reffing kit. That way you don't have to wait while someone else takes that ball to the PE office to put more air in it.

bigtoe, one of the requirements this year is that the umpire verify that the line-up is written correctly on the scoresheet. The bible for each team's line-up is the line-up sheet that each coach submitted. Currently, what the coach writes down on the line-up sheet is the gospel as far as each player's location on the court for the first serve goes. So you can either copy the lineup onto your umpire's line-up card from the line-up sheet submitted by each coach or use the line-up sheets to check the players' positions on the court at the start of each game.

[refnrev]

What I always do is to have the scorekeeper read me the lineup, then after writing it down I get the official and visiting scorekeepers to verify with me that we are all on the same page. I read them aloud and they double check. For instance, last night I had 22 written down in the 4 postion but for some reason I said 20 by mistake. They both caught it. This process works EVERY time.

[refnrev]

[QUOTE=MCBear]Ref, prior to the match ALWAYS check the pressure in the game ball. I have had them be anywhere from 2-1/2 p.s.i. to 9 p.s.i. Also, you should have a handy ball pump in your reffing kit. That way you don't have to wait while someone else takes that ball to the PE office to put more air in it.

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Even if I had a small ball pump with me, with 35 seconds left, I'm letting the coach run to the coaches room 55 feet away where there is an electric pump with an automatic gauge to air up two balls.

[FMadera]

Originally Posted by refnrev

My partner and I checked everything before the game tonight.... except for the balls. 35 seconds left in final warm up and I pick up game balls. They were flatter than a pancake. Checked the pressure. 1 1/4 lbs in each. Told the timer to stop the clock while home coach goes and airs them up. Those little details...... Geez.

Devil's advocate here...if they were "flatter than a pancake," why did you waste time checking the pressure? Seems to me you could have inflated at least one of them within that 35 seconds...

[refnrev]

Because.

[blueump]

This thread brings up an interesting situation:

I "lost" two volleyballs during one match a while ago and we had to wait for the AD to get two new ones out of the bags and inflate them. The reason we lost the original balls was the nails in the ceiling of the old gym. Both times (game 1 and game 3) the ball was hit into the ceiling. As soon as the ball hit a nail (multiple nails were protruding from the ceiling) the ball popped and went flat.

The question I had was this: How would you call this if the team that hit the ball still could legally play the ball and the ball went flat, making it unhittable?

This was the case only once of these two hits. I called a replay, which only seemed fair. The first time the ball popped, we said, "that's a first, it'll never happen again!". We were wrong!

[BigToe]

I would have also called this a replay.

[MCBear]

posted by blueump:
The question I had was this: How would you call this if the team that hit the ball still could legally play the ball and the ball went flat, making it unhittable?

If the ball went up on the first or second team hit and then went "POP" because of those wacky nails, it would be a replay as soon as another game ball is available. If it happerns on the third team contact, the ball is dead (DOHHHH!) and the rally is awarded to the opponent just as though the ball hit a normal ceiling following the third contact. Sounds like the receiving team needs to learn to pass without hitting that particular ceiling!!!!