coach leaves for a few minutes

[beachbum]

Well, the reason I knew the coach was gone during the live ball was that I was the R2, and my job is to look at the bench and see if there are subs or the coach wants a time out. At the moment I noticed the coach gone, the R1 signaled serve, so i went with the play. Most officials should scan the coaches just before signal to serve.

there may not be any violation, but have you considered the liability if one of the players got hurt and there was not a coach on the bench. There may not be anyone available to tend to the injury.

This took 3 minutes, but it wasn't until the end that i knew the coach was in the bathroom.

If this happens again, i would do the same...stop the game until there was someone of responsibility to handle the team.

I have learned over the years that being competent is as important as following the rules.

[MCBear]

By rule, there is no requirement for a coach to be present on the bench during play. Where was your site manager during this situation? I would have stopped the match and gotten site management involved. The site manager could possibly sit on the bench for liability purposes, however since only the head coach attended the pre-match conference, anyone else is relegated to sitting on the bench only - no standing and coaching allowed.