I forgot to share one event that stood out in last night's games-- a "NO CALL". A "no call" is when an official makes a judgement that the contact made between players A1 and B1 was incidental and legal. This is the hardest call to make because many coaches and almost all parents believe that any contact constitutes a foul. "No calls" draw jeers and boos by onlookers especially when the contact involves a shooter.
In last night's game, I was positioned at lead right near the basket and had a very clear view of player A1 dribbling towards the basket and defender B1 trying to prevent the basket. B1 tried to establish legal guarding position in A1's path. A1 jumped towards the basket and B1 fell backwards -"before" A1 could make contact- hoping to "draw a charge" or offensive foul, which would have nullified a made basket and given possession to B1. Feigning contact, or flopping as it is called is common for players, by the way, to overly dramatize the contact in an effort to gain the sympathy of unsuspecting officials. I decided to hold my whistle-- "no-call" because there was NO CONTACT. The basket was made, A1 returned to the ground and proceeded to return to the back court with his team. The evaluators disagreed with my "no call" and felt I should have called a defensive foul, or "block". I have pondered the event for hours and conferred with a mentor official on the situation. His advice was sound and that was:
To come out strong with a block call even though the defender faked or "flopped" the contact. Report the foul as a flop, and do so in a manner that the coach of the offending team understands that I, the official chose NOT to issue a technical foul for a flop, which would have been the correct penalty, per National Federation of High School rules. In this manner, I would have put the coach "on notice" to not flop again,in the future, or risk a technical foul. This is classic game management and another skill towards officiating mastery that I have only begun to learn.
