Fire Alarms & Volleyball Do Not Mix

Smack in the middle of the third set of tonight's Girls Varsity Volleyball game the smoke alarms started going off and lights flashing!!

Image by matteson.norman via Flickr

The gym was cleared until it was learned that students in the auditorium prepping and practicing for a Halloween thing of some sort had let off too much smoke "Special Effect” which set off the alarms throughout the school.

As everyone started rushing to filter back in through the only unlocked double door a parent asked if we wanted to get in the line. My referee partner said, "No, you folks go ahead and reclaim your good seat before someone else snags them. We have reserved seating and the match won't restart until we’re back on the court!”

Leaving the gym after the match a fan of the winning team commented, "That was the best called game we've had so far this season!”

We were probably appreciative, but know it is easier for a fan to say that when their team won 3 straight sets easily………

That the calls that were deemed good was primarily because I had the opportunity to work with one of Arizona's premier Volleyballl Referees. Not only in AZ, he also works NCAA Division 1 and USA Volleyballl National Tournaments. He'd just smile and corrected any bad calls I made and kept the match rolling on.

His parting comment to me in the parking lot was, "Vic, for someone who doesn't know the rules or what he is supposed to be doing, you did OK!”

I'll accept that……

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Push It

You know it's gonna be a LONG nite..........

Image by USAG Livorno PAO via Flickr.com

When you show up to Referee a High School Summer League- 4 games over 4 hours- and you know the Coachs' favorite thing to holler at their players in Summer League is "Push it!!" Meaning RUN DANG IT!!

Just as you pull the elastic "sleeves" on over your knees, lace up your "Runnin' Ref" shoes and take your first step to loosen up you feel a tweak in your left knee!

And the tweak doesn't go away after stretching.

So you pop down 2 Tylenol- 500 mg each and cross your fingers.

The tweak finally goes away in the 1st quarter of the LAST game........

But that might be because you're so tired you stopped running in the 4th quarter of the 3rd game!

But the last game is the 2 best teams you've had all nite and therefore the best game of the nite.

So now YOU "Push It" to keep up with the kids and give them the game they deserve.

Yep, it WAS a long nite......

And now that I'm home, showered, had some of my favorite Birthday German Chocolate Cake & Vanilla Ice Cream and sitting at the computer typing this missive, that tweak has come back to say "Hello, remember me?"

Better go find my Ref Bag and dig out some more Tylenol to sleep?

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YOU DECIDE THE CALL, COACH!!!

Some might recall a post a few weeks ago title If You Had Kept Your Mouth Shut, when I ejected a Coach before the 1st Quarter had ended in a Girl's 8th Grade Basketball game.  

Well, that coach was back tonite coaching an 8th Grade Boys team, as the Visiting Team at the same school he'd been at when I ejected him....

No he dd NOT get ejected tonite. It seems he learned his lesson 4 weeks ago......

Tonight we had a play where my partner and I BOTH had simultaneous whistle calls (also called "Double Whistles"), but for DIFFERENT calls.

Most fans, even coaches, do not realize the Refs are NOT looking at the same thing all the time. With 2 Referees, One Ref looks at action around the ball-dribbler, defender(s), ect. That we call "On Ball."

The other Ref is watching everything else- "Off Ball".

My whistle was a Foul for an Illegal Screen on the Visiting Team.

My partner was calling "3 Seconds" on the Visiting Team.

My partner did not notice my whistle OR my fist in the air signaling a Foul, hollered "3 Seconds" and pointed to a spot for the In-bounds Play.

I figure the Home Team was gonna get the ball on either call and decided not to make an issue of my Foul Call. Play On!!

BUT, as I trotted by the Visiting Team Bench, the Coach hollers out, "How can that be 3 Seconds? His heels were out of the Key!"

I turned to him and said, "Coach, you'll have to ask my partner that since he made the call. I was not watching Off Ball. I was looking On Ball and was calling a Foul on your #30 for an Illegal Screen. If you feel strongly my partner made a bad call, I will void his 3 Seconds Call and Replace it with the Foul Call. You decide! Which call do you want......?"

He stammered a bit and I said, "So you're saying 3 Seconds Call was a Good Call after all, then Coach?" He nodded a meek "Yes" and sat down,

I couldn't help but smile as I continued down the court.......

Image by Russ Ferriday via Flickr.com

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Assistant Coaches Say the Darndest Things…

Some of you "older" folks will remember Art Linkletter’s show segment "Kids Say The Darndest Things"…

Sometimes when I Referee Basketball I get to see my own private version of that show called "Assistant Coaches Say The Darndest Things" on a pretty regular basis!!

In Arizona we have a very simple rule for Coaches and Assistant Coaches STANDING

and Coaching in front of the bench while a game is in progress. ONLY the Head Coach can stand and coach. The Assistants have to remain seated, except to cheer a specific play, greet a player coming out of the game or during Time Out, and between Quarters/ Half Time.

When my Partner and I go to briefly meet the Coaches before the game starts I point to the lines that mark the Coaches Box Area in front of the Team bench and ask the Head Coach if their Assistants are familiar with the Coaches Box Rule. They always say "Yes".

Tonight, we were barely 2 minutes into the game and I see an Assistant Coach for the Home Team standing up shouting instructions to the players since the ball had gone Out Of Bounds and I was near the bench area, I could quickly step to the Head Coach and say, "Coach, may I offer a quick reminder that Assistant Coaches must remain seated during game time?”

Image by Kevin Coles via Flickr

He nodded yes but I got a perplexed look from the Assistant Coach.

A few minutes later I see the same Assistant standing, again!! Fortunately I was in front of their bench area again with the clock stopped and stepped back to remind the Coach about the Assistant not standing to Coach rule.

He again acknowledge he knew that and then the Assistant Coach says to me, "But our Head Coach was sitting down, so the rule is that I can stand up, right?”

It is my practice in this situation to always address ONLY the Head Coach. I'm not being arrogant or showing disrespect for the Assistant, but since the only Coach that is supposed to be communicating with the Referees is the Head Coach, that’s who I talk with.

However, in this situation, I was so amused with the Assistant attempted rebuttal (he is not the first Assistant to try it out this "rule") that I looked first at the Head Coach and smiled, then I looked at and spoke directly to the Assistant Coach saying, “No, I'm sorry Coach, that is not the rule. Only the Head Coach can stand. As far as I am concerned, Assistant Coaches do not exist, and since they do not exist they cannot stand and Coach the players. Now if you want to test that theory you can, but the consequence is a Technical Foul and I suspect if your team loses this game because of a "T" on you for standing, you're existing as an Assistant Coach in the figurative sense might become quite literal……"

The Assistant looked at me, then at his Head Coach who sort of nodded his head towards the bench as if to say to his Assistant, "Go ahead and just sit down, son." And he stayed seated the rest of the game

………

The Home Team won by 4 points. An untimely "T" could have turned the game the other way, so I hope it was a lesson well learned by the Assistant!

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