"touch!"
 

Blocker yells this. The problem.....ball was well over her hands. We correctly call the point to the blockers team when it goes out of bounds. The spiking coach says, "she said touch!" I respond with, "We're going to call what we see not what a player says."

So two things.....was my comment out of line? Second, phantom touches.....I was taught to look for change in ball flight or the blockers fingers to move. If a ball grazes a blockers pinky, how are you supposed to see this? What do you all look for?

Pfan

Call what you see-don't let a player lead you into a call.As to what you said to the coach-I'm fine with what you said,short sweet and to the point.Exactly look for change of direction-that's going to be the best indicator.

Once you train your eyes to leave the hitter and get your eyes to the block before the ball does, it makes it a lot easier to detect touches. While you can't get every single call correct, including touches, you can certainly practice correct habits to put yourself in the best position to see them.

As for the comment, I probably wouldn't have been so direct. As a personal style, I like to employ empathy in my conversations with coaches. Depending on the situation, I'll open the door for them to communicate their views, especially on something controversial.

**Coach comes up complaining.**

If they're agitated or upset, I ask this right off the bat. It gives them a chance to speak their mind (within reason) as well as calm down. They usually have to calm down to explain their thoughts coherently. Most of the time, they appreciate the option to be heard, which is half the battle really.

"What did you see from your view?"
- Using this varies greatly. If it's very controversial, and/or I have a heated coach, I tend to use it.

I'll let them explain briefly their views, and then I say something along the lines of what's below. You acknowledge their point of view and empathize with them on the situation at hand:

"Yeah, I can see how it could have looked like that from where you were."

Then I close it by throwing the judgement phrase:

"From where I was, I didn't see a touch and from the looks of it, neither did my partner. Unfortunately, we can only can only call violations that we see."

Give the court back, and go. Handling disgruntled coaches has to be my favorite part about being the second referee. It really tests your communication, de-escalating, and behavior curving skills, and I personally like these types of challenges. I like to try new tactics, phrases to see which has the best result for my style.

So far so good!

You make an excellent point about training your eyes to be ahead of the ball. I've been working on that very technique to improve my ball handling calls. It works.

Now, having said ALL of that...if after you make the call the player says "I touched it," you're taking that call and thanking the player for her honesty.

It happens.

A) Too many words.
B) Why are we talking to a coach on a play like this one? What are captains for?

There's a school in a conference up here that does that -- the honest call. The conference tried to make it conference wide, but that didn't work as well as they'd like.

beware assuming touches due to the ball changing direction. It can change direction due to spin, float or hitting the tape. I look at the blockers hands...or point of potential contact. If you did not see the contact, you can not (should not) call the contact.

And I am going to go Peay Friday night.

Thanks for the pointers everyone. I worked a high level tournament today with better views of touches. I liked anticipating the block and getting my eyes there quicker.

Thanks for the help,

Pfan