Student Scorekeepers: Disaster awaits!

The Home Team is responsible for providing the Official Scorekeeper. A Scoreboard is an optional item but almost every High School has one and so a Scoreboard Operator is always on hand for games.

Recently, working a Varsity Basketball Game at a smaller school, our Official Scorekeeper was 16 years old & the Scoreboard Operator was 17.

"Fair-play Controller product" photo by David Fulmer via Flickr

When I learned that while checking the Score book Pre-Game I asked the school AD (Athletic Director) if they had any adults available to handle the scorekeeper, etc. The answer was NO, but that the students were "experienced."

I commented to my Referee Partner, "Disaster awaits us!"

Sure enough-

A wrong score was posted on the scoreboard in the 1st Quarter. Referees do not just look for Fouls & Violation in a game. We also keep an eye on the Scoreboard to be sure the correcte score & number of Team Fouls is posted. So when I saw 9 points for the Home Team stay at 9 points after a made basket I had to correct the score.

Then, after a Technical Foul was called, which counts toward the Team Fouls for One & One/Double Bonus Free Throws, the Scoreboard Operator did not change the Team Fouls. We corrected that. This was in the 2nd Quarter.

In the 4th Quarter the clock did not start after a ball was in-bounded, so I had to correct that, too.

By this time the 2 students were feeling quite chagrined.

I smiled to them, and said, "Don't worry about the mistakes. The fans will blame the Refs! You're OK."

0

Winning VS Student Athlete's Health

Winning IS important. Don't get me wrong. But there has to be some reasonable balance between the Coach or the Parent's desire for victory and the student athlete's health.

Recently I was Refereeing an OFF Seasons High School ages league......

A defensive player lost balance and fell backward, thumping her head on the court.

Following the National Federation of High School and the Arizona Interscholastic Association CONCUSSION Protocol Guidelines I instructed the Coach to remove the player from the game.

The PLAYER protested saying, "I hit my elbow, not my head."

The Coach protested saying, "She hit her Elbow and not her head."

I told them both I SAW her head bounce off the floor. She was out of the game until an authorized Medical practitioner could clear her to renter the game.

She stayed out the rest of the game....

I reported the possible Concussion to the Referee Coordinator and the League Director right after the game. BUT, she had another game immediately following and, as fate would have it, I was Refereeing that game, too......

Just prior to the start of the game the Referee Coordinator, League Director, Coach AND the Player's mother asked to speak with me.

"She says she did not hit her head. Only her elbow," was the claim, again.

I reminded the Coordinator & Director of our current National and State Concussion Protocol, saying, "A player will say anything to stay in a game, even that they did not injure something that they DID injure. I am not gonna risk her health for a Summer League Game OR my family's financial status by letting her play without proper Medical release and getting sued later by an attorney for letting her play if it turns out she did have a concussion."

The Mother, WHO  SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE MOST INTERESTED IN HER DAUGHTER'S HEALTH, was not happy at all, but the girl was not allowed to play the next game.

Why, oh why, would a parent or Coach risk a kid's health for a measly Summer League game?

Image "ouch." by Beth Rankin via Flickr, available and modified  under a Creative Commons Attribution License

0