Letter to all- great read and so true!

[clevelandbrowns#1]

Open letter to: Fans, parents; players, coaches and AD’s.

Keep It Positive!

You may or may not know we are having a shortage of officials. Veteran officials are leaving the game and younger officials are hard to recruit.

There are many reasons but one of the biggest concerns is, in game behavior towards officials.

As a reminder, this is not our job. We do it for the game, we do it for the players; we do it for your children. Yes, we get paid, but for $45 to $70 would you leave work at 5PM, drive an hour away, do a 7:30 game and get home between 9:00 and 10:30, 4 to 5 nights a week? And, have people you never met, yell when you make a call or don’t make a call. Did I mention we have to pay annual fees and dues to the state and local associations? Did I mention we must also attend a number of on-line and local association meetings? And of course, buy uniforms. Would you give up your Friday and Saturday nights for four months for my child?

Yes, some officials are not the most fleet of foot, some are still learning, and some are just not that good, but they are still out there so your children can play. You’re not going to get NCAA officials for your junior high school game. What you get, is a dedicated; passionate person who loves the game.

Shooters don’t make every shot. Football players miss tackles and hold. In MLB baseball the three statistics always shown are Runs, Hits and ERRORS. Yes Errors. The best athletes in the world make mistakes. And so do officials, we are human. The world will not end because of a missed travel.

Imagine doing your job and every 3 minutes, a stranger looks over your shoulder and tells you “You’re horrible”. “You’re doing it wrong”. They may be right, but could you work under those conditions? Would you want to? And it’s become more physical. Just last week alone, there were two incidents where parent fans attacked officials. One was a Tennessee senator!

What makes it worse, is when those people yelling at you have no idea what your job is.

The reason for this letter is to ask for a commitment. If we don’t make changes, youth sports may be in serious trouble. The average high school official is 58 years old. Many games had to be cancelled the last two years due to shortage of officials.

If you’re a parent or a fan, support the players, cheer for them. Just because you paid your $6.00 doesn’t give you the right to scream and yell obscenities to the officials. Cheer for your team. Keep it positive.

If you’re a player, ask your parents to behave, have better social skills. It’s embarrassing to the child when we have to remove a player’s parent. If you want to make a difference, when you’re done with school, become an official we need them.

If you’re a coach or AD, lead by example. Respect the officials, give feedback to your assignors we will work on improving their skills. Demand your parents sign a Code of Conduct at your parent’s meetings. As simple as, “We understand if anyone is anything but positive, to opposing teams, fans or officials, they will be removed from the event. The second time they will be banned for the season”. Remind them every pre-game. Then please enforce it. Zero tolerance.

We hear all the time, “the gym and athletics are an extension of the classroom”. Would you let these things happen in “your” class? We can’t allow it to continue. We have 15 minutes of warm up, make the announcement. AT EVERY GAME. I know no one wants to be the bad guy but their behavior is what caused it. By letting this behavior continue it’s only going to get worse. Set the example.

I am committed to you, to continue to educate officials. I am asking you to commit to helping us keep them on the court.

One of the many reasons fans and even coaches yell and scream, is that they don’t understand NFHS rules.

What you see on TV is not National Federation High School rules. There are at least 5 sets of different rules, between the pro and high school levels. So let me start with a few simple top 10 rules that many people don’t understand, and we hear them every night. Feel free to share these at your parent meetings or send home or give to your players.



1) Over the Back- There is no foul for “over the back”. Over the back means a taller player reached over and secured the ball. Over the back is legal. On the back or pushing through the back to get a ball is illegal. It’s a push.

2) A player, while dribbling can fumble the ball all the way down the court legally. As long as it’s not intentional. It is impossible to travel if you don’t have control of the ball. It’s ugly but we have no call for ugly.

3) A dribbler who lets the ball bounce high, even over their head has not “carried” the ball. It is a high dribble. As long as the hand doesn’t go under to “carry” or come to rest in the hand, the dribble is legal.

4) Three seconds in the key. This only applies while the ball is in the front court. “If a player has been in for less than three seconds and dribbles in or attempts a goal no call should be made”.

The three second count restarts on every shot attempt and doesn’t start until the team has control of the rebound. So yes, a player could be in the key for 10 or more seconds if attempts are being made to score.

5) A player diving for a lose-ball, even once securing the ball, can slide any distance without traveling. It is only if the player rolls over to avoid a defender or attempts to get up without dribbling that a violation occurs.

6) A “box out” is securing a position on the floor. Displacement is pushing somebody off a position and is illegal. A player can not crash into an opponent as a box out. That is a foul.

7) A kick violation was changed to an intentional act, so if a player throws the ball off a foot or a leg it is not a violation. Only an intentional kick is a violation.

8) The definition of a foul is: Illegal contact, on an opponent, during a live ball, that hinders their ability to make an offensive or defensive play.

Therefore:

1) A moving screen with no contact is not illegal. An illegal screen is when a player does not set a legal screen and makes contact or once contact is made, then makes illegal contact.

2) Not all contact is a foul. There can be contact that doesn’t “hinder” a player’s ability to make the play. High school athletes can play through some contact.

9) A player does not have to be “set” to take a charge. Once “legal guarding position” is established, the defender can move sideways, backwards and even jump and still be legal. (Legal Guarding Position = both feet on the floor facing their opponent)

10) All four sides of the backboard are in bounds (on a square backboard). The ball can legally bounce on the top of the backboard, roll on the top and fall into the basket and be a good goal. Over the backboard from either side or touching any of the support straps, springs or cables cause the ball to be out of bounds

These are the top 10 rules that are misunderstood. There are plenty more, but this is a good start

Let’s all make an effort to keep the kids playing. We need your help.

Keep It Positive! Please.



Gregg Becker

Wood County Basketball Officials Association

Rules Interpreter

[Fletchlives]

Great Post Greg!

In a personal note. I have a good friend who was an Athletic Director in Southeast Ohio. During a home even, a highly respected official stopped the game and come over to the AD and Principal. He said he was visibly shaken and stated he wanted a man on the front row removed. He had been verbally attacking him. Of course the fan said he didnt do anything and his buddies backed him up. The fan was removed by the police. The next day the Board president visited the AD and said, "But it's a tradition here to give the officials a hard time." The AD told the BOE president that its not right and he can't be part a tradition that berates other human beings. He resigned as AD at the end of the year.

Being negative others is a sickness. And there is a cancer of entitlement that eating at our society. Lou Hotz always said, "Do What's Right, Do the Best you Can and Treat Others Like you want to be treated>"

[Ironman92]

Great Post Greg!

In a personal note. I have a good friend who was an Athletic Director in Southeast Ohio. During a home even, a highly respected official stopped the game and come over to the AD and Principal. He said he was visibly shaken and stated he wanted a man on the front row removed. He had been verbally attacking him. Of course the fan said he didnt do anything and his buddies backed him up. The fan was removed by the police. The next day the Board president visited the AD and said, "But it's a tradition here to give the officials a hard time." The AD told the BOE president that its not right and he can't be part a tradition that berates other human beings. He resigned as AD at the end of the year.

Being negative others is a sickness. And there is a cancer of entitlement that eating at our society. Lou Hotz always said, "Do What's Right, Do the Best you Can and Treat Others Like you want to be treated>"

Having people like that in charge is quite dated. You can’t berate or intimidate an official.

Would love to see a stat of the average # of whistle blows during a girls game compared to a boys game.

[VetteMan]

Very Good Post.

[alabama mike]

Excellent post. Keep working hard my friend, you done this a long time.