An Honor Call

It was just my 2nd Varsity Boy's Volleyball game of the season......IN my 2nd Seasons as a Volleyball Referee.

A ball goes out of bounds. I think it is off the Visiting Team and the Line Judge signals it is off the Visiting Team.

Photo taken by Charles "Andy" Lee via Flickr, under a Public Domain License

Just after I indicated awarding the point to the Home team I heard someone from the Home Team say, "Make the Honor Call, then!" 

Turns out it was the Home Team Head Coach AND Assistant Coach. BOTH fellows who are also Nationally Certified volleyball Referees themselves, talking to their player.

A player from the Home Team trotted over to where I was standing on the platform as the Referee and said, "I touched the ball, Ref!"

I asked if he was sure because both myself and the Line Judge thought it was off the other team.

He insisted he had touched it, so I reversed the point award.

I looked up at the Home Team Assistant & Varsity Coaches, pointing to the player that had made the Honor Call and gave them a "Thumbs Up."

After the game I was talking to the Head Coach, who as I said is also a Nationally Certified Volleyball Referee and complimented his player and Assistant Coach for making the Honor Call.

He replied, "We teach our player's that our team's honor and self-respect is more important than any point!"

Well played Coach!!


Campo Verde @ Westwood 3/5/2015

Brian Hannah Westwood Head Coach

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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."

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Sports Quotes You've Probably Never Heard

"Last year we couldn't win at home and we were losing on the road. My failure as a coach was that I couldn't think of anyplace else to play."
-Harry Neale, Professional Hockey Coach

"Blind people come to the ballpark just to list to him pitch."
- Reggie Jackson commenting on Tom Seaver

"I'm working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time. If I can just die after lunch Tuesday, everything will be perfect."
-Doug Sanders, Professional Golfer

"All the fat guys watch me and say to their wives, 'See, there's a fat guy doing okay. Bring me another beer."
-Mickey Lolich, Detroit Tigers Pitcher

"When it's three and ten, you can have the milk drinkers; I'll take whiskey drinkers every time."
-Max McGee, Green Bay Packers Receiver

"I found out that it's not good to talk about my troubles. Eighty percent of the people who hear them don't care and the other twenty percent are glad you're having them."
-Tommy LaSorda, LA Dogers Manager

"My knees look like they lost a knife fight with a midget."
- E.J. Holub, Kansas City Chief's Linebacker regarding his 12 knee operations

"My theory is that if you buy an ice-cream cone and make it hit your mouth, you can earn to play tennis. If you stick it on forehead, our chances aren't as good."
-Vic Braden. Tennis Instructor

"When they operated, I told them to add in a Koufax fastball. They did but unfortunately it was Mrs. Koufax's."
- Tommy John, N.Y. Yankees, recalling his 1974 arm surgery

"I don't know. I only played there for nine years."
-Walt Garrison, Dallas Cowboys fullback when asked if Tom Laundry ever smiles

"We were tipping off our plays. Whenever we broke from the huddles, three running-backs were laughing and one was as pale as a ghost."
-John Breen, Houston Oilers

"This film looks suspiciously like the game itself."
-Bum Phillips, New Orleans Saints, after view a lopsided loss to the Atlanta Falcons

"When I'm on the road, my greatest ambition is to get a standing boo."
-Al Hrabosky, Major League Relief Pitcher

"I have discovered in 20 years of moving around the ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse to the price of the seats."
-Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox Owner

"Because if it didn't work out, I didn't want to blow the whole day."
-Paul Horning, Green Bay Packers running Back on why his marriage ceremony was before noon.

"I have a lifetime contract. That means I can't be fired during the third quarter if we're ahead and moving the ball."
-Lou Holtz, Arkansas Football Coach

"I won't know until my barber tells me on Monday."
-Knute Rockne, when asked why Notre Dame had lost a game

"I tell him 'Attaway to hit, George."
-Jim Frey, K.C. Royals Manager when asked what advice he gives George Brett on hitting

"I learned a long time ago that 'minor surgery' is when they do the operation on someone else, not you."
-Bill Walton, Portland Trailblazers

"Our biggest concern this season will be diaper rash."
-George Macintyre, Vanderbilt Football coach surveying the team roster that included 26 Freshman and 25 Sophomores

"The only difference between me and General Custer is that I have to watch the films on Sunday."
-Rick Venturi, Northwestern Football Coach

And the best of all...... Tampa Bay Bucs coach John Mckay when asked what he thought about his team's execution, replied, "I think it's a great idea"......

What's your favorite quote?

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3 Reasons Why Fans aren't Allowed to Referee Games

There are reasons why the Fans are not allowed to Referee the game:

1.  Don't know the rule as well as they think. High School Rules are NOT the same as College & NBA Rules. 

2.  Personal bias towards their team clouds their perception of what is or is not a Foul/Violation committed by the other team or their team. 

3. Despite their plaintive cries to "Call it BOTH ways," fans do not see the game "both" ways....

My Ref partner ejected a fan in the First Half. The fan, evidently proud of his antics, took a deep bow to the crowd just before he walked out the door which was met with a loud cheer from his little group of fellow agitator fans. Remarkably, THAT group was conspicuously quite the rest of the game......

Photo by COD Newsroom via Flicker,  available under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Coming back to the court after Half Time Break the Security Person told me another fan in the lobby during Half Time said to him, "Those Ref's ejected my friend and they are going to have to eject me too!"

The Security Person did not identify the fan and I did not ask. I do not need to go looking for trouble...... but I will take care of it if it shows up.

Sure enough, we were barely into the 3rd Quarter when a fan bellows out some inane comment about a call my partner had just made. A very simple and obvious Foul Call, it was.

My partner's back was to the crowds, so he turned and asked, "Who said that?"

The fellow who had made the comment sat silent. Such courage! He can yell when the Ref's back is turned to him but would not own up to his conduct face to face. BUT a woman sitting behind him immediately, and vigorously, pointed to the fellow and with no hesitation said, "He did!"

It seems she was just as tired of his obnoxiousness as we were!

And so my partner ejected that fan, too.

The fan refused to leave, even to take a bow. It was not a stand off he was destined to win......

I trotted over the the Security fellow, who was engrossed in a conversation in the far & other side of the court with some school staff, not seeing the altercation, and told him we had just ejected a fan who refused to leave. Would he please escort the fan out.

"Which fan?" He asked.

I do NOT point to fans. I describe them to the Security folks, so I said, "The one in the back t-shirt next to the guy in the red & white cap."

"Yeah, that's the one who said you Ref's were going to have to eject him, too."

I replied, "Tell him his wish has been granted and make sure he is completely out of the gym,"

I think some fans who delight in being rude and hollering at the Ref's Do not realize:

1.  These are High School Games. Not College or NBA where more outrageous behavior is tolerated, perhaps even encouraged. We abide buy the AIA Motto, "Pursuing Victory with Honor," I believe that standard should apply to the fans as well as players & coaches...... 

2.  Other fans are NOT amused by their outrageous misbehavior. Belligerent fans detract from the other fans enjoyment of the game. 

3.  When ejected, the fan does NOT get to stand in the lobby and watch the rest of the game thru the doors or windows in the doors. They are sent completely out of the building where only a pair of x-ray Vision Glasses from a Cracker jack Box will help them see the rest of the game. 

4.  The game will not restart until the fan is out of the gym.

And the team for which those 2 fans thought we were making such bad calls?

1. Had FEWER Fouls called on them than the other team

2. Won by 20 points

So our "poor Reffing" apparently did not affect the team's ability to win, only a couple fans opportunity to see the whole game. A game they had to drive at least an hour to get to from their school and pay to enter. I hope they felt like they got their money's worth!

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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

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"What are YOU gonna do about that, Ref?"

So queried the Captain of a Men's Recreational League in the 1st Half of a game I was refereeing. 6 Fouls to 0.

"That's not right!" He further protested.

I looked at the Scoreboard and replied, "I agree, it's awful that your team has committed so many Fouls."

"Well, what are you gonna do to FIX it?" He further pushed.

"What am I gonna do to fix it? Well, I'm gonna keep calling fouls on YOUR Team realizes I am not gonna let them get away with all the cheap stuff they've been doing and they stop it!" Was my response.

"But you'll foul us all out!" He complained.

"If that's what it takes for your team to play straight up basketball, then that's OK with me."

By some miracle that team suddenly stopped the cheap stuff and went on to win a close game.

Sometimes you just gots to let folks know where the line is drawn so they know how to behave......

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Thanks For Making My Coach Sit Down

So said the Athletic Director as he ushered my Referee partner & me into the locker room after the game.

High School Rules state that a coach is allowed to STAND and coach the team in 14' wide "Coach's Box" in front of the Team Bench.

But if a Coach gets a Technical Foul, that privilege to stand is taken away.

"ESPN Armed Forces Classic - Game Day - U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, South Korea - 9 Nov. 2013"

 by USAG- Humphreys via Flickr

We recently had a game with a Coach who has a reputation for nagging at Referees. In fact, on our way to the court I overheard the Team Trainer comment to another adult team supporter, "Do you think Coach will get "T'd" Up again tonite?

Well, sure enough I DID "T" Up the Coach.

He did not like it. Few do. But most know the Rule and have enough sense to sit down- even if they do continue to glare at the Refs!

Not THIS Coach......

When the Coach did not take a seat and just stood there glaring at me I motioned with my hand to sit and said, "Coach, Please sit down."

Nothing.

Again I made the hand gesture to sit and said, "Coach, Please sit down!"

A fan hollered out, "What? Is he a dog that you can tell him to 'Sit'?" We ignored the fan. It WAS a rather funny quip.

The reply from the Coach, while pointing to a couple people at the end of the bench near the scorer's table was, "I am waiting for them to move so I can sit down."

"Coach, just go sit at the end of the bench and nobody needs to move. But do it now."

It was quite clear we were not gonna restart the game until that Coach behaved properly.

Finally the Coach SLOWLY moved to the of the Bench and sat down.

"Thanks For Making My Coach Sit Down."

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