Last Week…Regular Season This is the last week of the regular season for school ball. Recreation ball will continue for a few more weeks before travel ball will start. The number of games for school ball will diminish quickly during this week. Stay alert in your games. Sometimes players can lash out when they see their dreams dying. Thank you… Read more »
Trail Positioning and Responsibilities…Free Throws…Crew of Three When the ball will remain dead after the current free throw (1st of 2 or 1st 2 of 3), the Trail takes a position at the division line next to the center circle. This position makes the Trail available to the table crew and helps the Trail to identify potential substitutes who may… Read more »
Mimicking A Gun It has been noticed recently that some players, after scoring a successful three-point goal, have been imitating with their hand having a gun and shooting it. This is unsporting conduct. It does not matter where the imitation gun is pointed. If this occurs in your game, it should result in a technical foul being issued against the… Read more »
Questions…Some questions that I received recently… Overtime Protocols… We all work games in various scenarios and organizations. In some the emphasis is on keeping to a schedule. This is true of almost all the travel ball that we are involved in. However, school ball is different. For School Ball… Timeouts…Unused timeouts carry over. One 60 second timeout is added for… Read more »
End of Quarter Whistles…I have received a number of questions regarding the sounding of a whistle at the end of quarters. The only time an official should sound a whistle at the end of a quarter or overtime period is to indicate that a try was not released in time or when a violation (e.g. traveling) occurred before the ball… Read more »
The following is from Sarah Hayes, the associate commissioner in charge of basketball. Please take the time to read it all and to incorporate this into your game management skills. Rule 10-5 (Bench Decorum), Rule 10-6 (Head Coach’s Rule), Rule 4-48 (Warning for Coach/Team Conduct), and 2025 POE: Bench Decorum and Sportsmanship Purpose: The purpose of this Point of Emphasis… Read more »
Shooter Coverage One of the things that we do many times in every game is to judge the activities of a potential shooter and any defenders who engage with that shooter. We need to do this from the beginning of any attempt through the end of any activity associated with that attempt. There are four words that can help us… Read more »
Concussions…One of our responsibilities as officials is the safety of the children who are participating. Under Rule 2-8-5, it is our responsibility to remove from the game any player who exhibits the signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a possible concussion. During the last couple of weeks, I have witnessed several instances where players needed to be checked because they… Read more »
Pass/Crash One of the plays that all officials face from time to time is pass/crash. This is the situation where a ball handler makes a pass and then subsequent to this collides with a defensive player. Sometimes the passer may be airborne but that is not always the case. How do we handle these plays?
Continuous Motion… The rule exists to allow an offensive player to complete a legitimate try or tap for goal when any defensive foul occurs during the shooting attempt. When a defensive foul occurs after the habitual throwing motion has started, the rule permits the shooter to complete the normal shooting motion, including customary arm, foot, and body movements. It is… Read more »