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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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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The DEAF and DUMB Referee Last Nite....

There was a deaf and dumb referee last night.

My partner last night literally was deaf and dumb. He had only about 15% hearing and 15% speech capabilities. And he was on the court refereeing a girls varsity basketball game!!

"Blind Ref" by Nathan Rupert via Flickr

And he did a mighty fine job of it, too! The referee mechanics have to be adjusted a bit since he cannot call out team colors for foul calls or out of bounds plays, etc. And the coaches could not yak at him as he ran up and down the sidelines. (Actually that's a real blessing for him!!)

I explained his situation to the Coaches, Score Keeper and Clock operator before the game started so they were all set to accommodate some unorthodox communications from him for foul reporting and we had no problems there.

Though the most common complaint from fans usually is us Refs are blind rather than our hearing and speech capabilities.

Anytime a coach has a question about a call my partner made, the coach had to holler at me, expresses concern to me and then I had to try to communicate the coaches concern to my partner and he had to try and describe what he saw. It took a little while to accomplish that and pretty soon the coaches just quit asking!! Return next line.  Delete that?

The most interesting thing about it was that I do not think the fans even realized he was deaf and dumb!! And that is a real accomplishment!!

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If You Had Kept Your Mouth Shut......

I was Refereeing an 8th Grade Girl's Basketball Tournament.

At Game Time the other Referee had not shown up, but the Game, like the "The Show," must go on, right?

Coaches, Fans, ect, think TWO Refs miss a lot of calls, so what is the chance ONE Ref can see everything?

We were barley 3 minutes into the FIRST Quarter and the Visiting Coach had been hollering at me for every little thing he thought I was not calling. Naturally ONLY things that would have benefited HIS team......

One of his girls stole the ball and off they raced to the opposite end of the floor. I was well behind the play trying to catch up when his player, who could barley dribble the ball while running and NOT being defended, lost control of the ball and stumbled into 2 defensive players. While stumbling, she tried to push up a feeble shot and the ball went out of bounds.

I blew my whistle and awarded the ball to the other team for having gone out of bounds.

At that moment, the Coach comes stomping onto the court, nearly to the Half Court Line, hollering about how I should have called a Foul. It was quite and most definitely unsportsmanship behavior, so I "whacked" him with a "T".

Not satisfied, and apparently accustomed to Referees cowering to his bellows, he took another step towards me and yelled even louder, "That was a HORRIBLE Call. You are an awful Ref!!"

I replied, "You might be right on both accounts, but you are now a coach that has been ejected from the game!" And pointed to the Exit.

Evidently the Home Team had been witness to this Coach's intimidating antics in a previous game - which the other Referees had allowed to go on without any "T's" on the Coach -  and cheered loudly when they knew he had been ejected.

A few minutes later the other Referee showed up - there had been a traffic accident along the way that had delayed his arrival.

He asked if he had missed anything interesting.

Photo by Paul and Cathy (Becker1999) via Flickr

When I responded, "Only my ejecting the Visiting Head Coach 3 1/2 minutes into the game." He commented, "That explains the fellow who confronted me on the way in."

As I looked quizzically at him he continued, "As I walked up to the door to the gym some guy came up and complained he had been ejected from the game. He was rather agitated and seemed like a real jerk, so I said, 'Well, if you had just kept your mouth shut you would still be inside, wouldn't you?' and walked thru the door."

Coaches & fans rarely get ejected for something they do NOT say.

(If you want to find out if this Coach was better behaved then NEXT time I officiated a game for his school you can read about that here. You Decide the Call, Coach!!! )

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