But THAT'S His Shooting Style!

Had a close Basketball game in progress in the late 4th Quarter. A player for the team that was behind by 5 points fired off a Jump Shot from 3 Point range that missed. Just after his feet touched back down on the floor a Defensive Player bumped him hard & the "shooter" fell down.

Image by John Feinberg via Flickr.com

I called the Foul. it was the 7th Foul against the Defense so I awarded the "shooter" a "1 & 1" Free Throw Bonus.

The "shooter's" Coach went livid- "That Foul was on a 3 Point Shot!! He should get 3 Free Throws!!"

"Not so Coach. When the shooter returned to the floor the shot ended and the bump was a Common Foul on a player. The Player was no longer a shooter," I explained. 

Not satisfied, the coach vented, "But that's his shooting style!"

Shooting style? After he touches the floor?

Sometimes I hear a coach or player make such a ribald & spurious claim I have to chuckle to myself and wonder what that person would think if he saw & hear what a ridiculous thing they just said!

I replied, "Coach, whatever "shooting style" he has ended when his feet hit the floor!"

It's really a simple rule and I'm sure the coach knew it. At least I hope he did. Sometimes it's hard to tell if a coach really just does not know a Rule or if he/she is just playing dumb hoping to talk the referee into making a call that favors his / her team......Either way it is unfortunate when a coach tried to argue a call with a Referee when the Coach's claim is so easily seen to be bogus.

Certainly us Referees do blow calls from time to time. Just look at all the new reports last year about blown calls by NFL Referees- guys that are being paid $100,000 - $200,000 per season make mistakes. How can coaches and fans expect a Referee getting paid $55 per game to make perfect calls every time?

And when a Coach improperly argues a good call it just incites players & fans that likely do not even know it was a good call against a Referee that did his / her job correctly.

I will not be sending out any letters complimenting Good Sportsmanship to either school from this game.

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Leave the Kids Who are Helping ALONE!

I Refereed my first Matches of the season last nite and I am quite happy to be mailing out letters to the Principal's of BOTH schools complimenting their JV and Varsity Coaches for excellent sportsmanship!

Do THE fans have the guts to Referee?

Despite EXCELLENT sportsmanship from the players and the coaches in most Girl's Varsity Volleyball Matches there are occasionally parents who want to Referee the game...... from their safe perch in the stands. I doubt many of them have the guts to actually be on the floor and Referee! Few people do.

Oh, it's pretty easy to Ref from the stands, but when you put on a Referee shirt & hang a whistle around the neck and realize there are numerous half crazed fans ready to challenge every call you make there are few folks willing to take on that responsibility.

In one Match a parent was hollering at one of the High School aged Line Judges when he disagreed with some of her calls.

Look folks, the AIA (Arizona Interscholastic Association) sends 2 Referees to each match. As a cost saving measure preferred by the schools who pay for the Referees, the AIA does NOT send paid Line Judges to Regular Season Matches.

So High School kids end up volunteering, or more likely, BEING volunteered by their Coaches, to do the Line Judging.

(My Grand Daughter all dressed out to Ref a Volleyball Match)

In a Varsity Match the Line Judges are usually JV Players, Freshman or Sophomores. many of which do not really want to be the Line Judge!!

It is NOT as easy as it looks from the stands. I know! I have done some line Judging in Post Seasons Play Off Matches.

This particular parent thought that he was being funny to holler, "Are you blind!?" at a Line Judge who had called a ball "IN" that, in his over inflated judgement, he thought was "OUT." From my perspective on the Referee Stand the ball was "IN."

Fans can holler at us adult Referees, up to a limit, if they want. But I ain't gonna let fans holler at the kids who do Line Judging.

So I asked the attending Athletic Director to speak to the fan with 3 choices-

1. Cheer for his team and stop yelling at the Line Judges.

2. Step onto the floor and take the Line Judge spot.

3. Yell one more time at the Line Judge and he would be ejected from the gym.

Since he was with the Visiting Team, and had traveled almost 3 hours to the game, he wisely decided to focus on cheering and not take the Line Judge spot.

So, come and cheer for your schools as loud and raucously as your want. You can take your chances and yell at the Ref's, too. Some Refs have less tolerance for that than others and you never know walking in the door if the Ref for that Match has a short fuse or not......

But leave the kids who are helping do Line Judging alone!

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