Last night at my local district meeting, I was tasked to cover rules 1 and 2 to my fellow officials. I consider this a great honor being able to stand in front of your peers and talk basketball. If anyone ever have the chance to do so, I highly recommend you taking advantage of the experience. The one thing most officials will agree on with rules 1 and 2 is that they can be extemely boring and overlooked when it comes to studying for the high school exam. I knew this coming in, so I wanted to try to mix things up a little bit to help my listeners retain the information and to think about the rules better. When I get to Rule 2, and how I came up with a way to remember the 5 correctable errors, will give you a better understanding. What I'm asking from any of my fellow bloggers and occasional passer byers is to interact with me and tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions or questions you want to add to the conversation to share with me and other officials. This makes us all better officials.
In my presentation of Rules 1 and 2, I created a powerpoint presentation through Microsoft Powerpoint to present my information on an overhead viewer that was about as big as a 60 inch wide-screen television. My goal was not to cover every word verbatim, but to touch on alot of information that you would normally see on the high school league exam. If anyone who follows my blog and are listed as a follower and is interested in receiving a copy of my powerpoint presentation, send me your personal email address and I will email it to you at NO Charge. I'm not in this for the money, I'm trying to be the best basketball official I can be at each level of ball I call. Unfortunately, I didn't get picked up in the women's MEAC or Peach Belt conferences for this coming season, but I am still with USA South. I guess the opportunity for me wasn't there and that is the outcome for the majority of college officials every year, but I plan on giving it another shot next year.
Some interesting tidbits that I discussed about Rule 1 is knowing what the ideal measurements of a high school basketball court is:
84 X 50 and the max is 94 X 50. New rule on the center restraining circle for this year, a mimimum of 1/4 inch wide single line is permitted on the outer edges of the restraining circle, but no wider than 2 inches. There is a 36 inches or 3 feet radius outside circle where non-jumpers can position themselves during a jumpball.
Understand the terminology of the lines on the court. We have a Division line, although coaches and fans call it a half court line. We don't play baseball in this game, so why do we call them baselines? They are End Lines.
The 28 foot lines that are off the court on both ends of the court at both side lines, the division line, the sidelines themselves, and the 3 point lines are all a minimum of 2 inches.
You should ensure you understand the difference between a free throw line extended and a free throw lane line extended. This diagrahm is available on the presentation as a good visual aid.
There are only 3 lanes spaces on each boundary line during a free throw.
The Backboards will be the same size at both ends of the court. The front suface of the backboard shall be flat and, unless transparent, it shall be white. No logo, markings or lettering is permitted on the backboard, the backboard padding or the basket
There are 3 types of backboards....2 rectangle which ranges in length of 6 feet horizontally by either 3 1/2 to 4 feet vertically. A fan shaped backboard, which is rarely seen anymore are 54 inches wide. The white rectangle target shall be 3 inches or less in width. The padding must cover the bottom surface of the board and the side surface to a distance of 15 inches up from the bottom. One inch thick on front/back surfaces. Two inches from the bottom edge. Shall be a single, solid color on both boards.
The Basket and Ring: The basket is 18 inches inside diameter and the ring is 5/8 inch in diameter. The flange and braces and ring shall be bright orange in color. The net shall be 15-18 inches in length. One important note to remember: The Basket itself is made up of The Ring, The Flange and braces and The Net. All three makes up the basket as a whole. This will come in handy when it comes to basket interference and goaltending situations later.
The Ball: solid color approved orange shade or neutral color, shall be spherical, have a deeply pebbled cover with horizontally shaped panels. Circumferences: Girls 28 1/2 to 29 inches max, Boys: 29 1/2 to 30 inches max. Weight: Girls: 18 to 20 oz. max and Boys: 20 - 22 oz. max
Understand and recognize where the team bench locations, the coaching box and time out areas are on the floor. My presentation list these perfectly for you.
A red light behind each backboard or an LED light on each backboard is permitted to signal that time has expired for a quarter or extra period. Facilities that do not have the red light or LED light on each backboard, the audible timer's signal (horn) shall indicate that time has expired.
(((((If both are available, the light would be the first choice, because light is faster than sound))))))
A visible display shall be located at the scorer's and timer's table to indicate team possession for the alternating-possession procedure. Just because the school has brand new score clock that has the display on it, doesn't mean you are not required to have the visible display at the table.
A 12 inch X shall be placed in the front of the scorer's table on the floor out of bounds to help substitutes with proper location.
Artificial Noise makers are Prohibited at anytime during a contest; Examples of artificial noise makers are cowbells, or someone placing loose change in plastic jugs and shaking them. When you think of artificial noisemakers, imagine Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live beating on the Cowbell and Christopher Walken saying, "I Got a Fever and the only cure is more CowBell"....LOL
Music and sound effects shall only be permitted during pregame, time-outs, intermission and post-game. Examples of this would be live bands, or music played by DJs, or the sound of a roaring tiger or lion over the sound system.
This covers about 90 percent of rule 1. If any one would like to contribute more to this rule or maybe some examples of good test questions that you have seen on a state exam you want to share with the blog, please do so. I plan on adding a separate blog post that will consist of all questions and answers for each rule. This would be an excellent test preparation tool that you can learn from and add to. Again, hope this helps you in your knowledge of the game. Get ready for Rule two next time.
BBallRef Out
