Any youth BB refs/coaches here? (1 Viewer)

[SHIZNITTTT]

Our 4th grade team played a basketball game today where one of my players was bitten by the opposing team. My player who was bitten goes directly to the ref and shows him the teeth marks. Ref stops the game, and speaks with the other Ref. (during this whole ordeal I thought my player had scrapped his arm the way the Refs were holding up the player's arm) So, one of the Refs come to me and tells me that my player was bitten. I ask WTF!!! ... What is the penalty on the other team? Ref says, well nothing I can do I didn't see who bite your player, but I will talk to them. The Ref did talk to the other team and that was it. No problem I thought, but as time went on the bite was pretty bad, you can see at least 10 teeth marks (or a whole impression) on the kids inner arm. At the end of the game the parent's of the kid who was bitten are PISSED! They want to speak to one of the BB reps and file a complaint. I told the parents that I would speak with the refs and find out what we can do. Here is where it goes kinda weird:

Me: Hey guys can I speak to you for minute .

Refs : Sure what's up?

Me: Hey who do I file a complaint with about the bite marks on my kid? Do we have a BB rep here in the Gym?

Ref#1: Come on man quit making such a big deal about this situation!

Me: Huh? I want to make sure that the league office has a record of this occurrence, in case something like this happens again. You guys don't call all of the games for our age group so I would like someone to keep a record of this situation.

Ref# 2: Yeah, I would call the office on Monday and let them know what happened. Maybe you can take a picture with your cell phone to show them as well. My name is Chris ... and tell them they can speak with me if they have and qquestions.

Ref#1: Seriously? Guys quit making such big deal about this? Just let it go...I spoke with their team.

Ref#2: Call the office.

Question: 1 What could/should the REF do about the biting?

Quesiton: 2 Is this something that I should just let go since it is 4th grade boys just being boys?

During the timeout the player who was bitten said it was #14 who was a hothead he had been giving several warning about his overly aggressive play. We were winning by about 5 with 14 seconds to go when the smallest kid on our team intercepts a pass and #14 leaves his feet and draws a flagrant foul. When 14 was getting up he stood over my player and was mouthing something. Ref1 calls a foul, but REF2 comes in and call an intentional foul. It was pretty chippy after the bite incident.

I can't imagine how mad I would be at my team if one of them resorted to biting.

 

[belljr]

no big deal, imo

 

[Controller]

I was a CYO BB coach for several years, and there were a few incidents like this during that time. At the time, I just told my players to take the high road and no complaints were ever filed. In retrospect, what I should have done is taught my players that we'll do our talking on the court, and have them especially motivated for teams that taunt, bite, etc. It's amazing how fast these kids grow up---these kinds of situations are opportunities to teach the kids how to deal with life.

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

I was a CYO BB coach for several years, and there were a few incidents like this during that time. At the time, I just told my players to take the high road and no complaints were ever filed. In retrospect, what I should have done is taught my players that we'll do our talking on the court, and have them especially motivated for teams that taunt, bite, etc. It's amazing how fast these kids grow up---these kinds of situations are opportunities to teach the kids how to deal with life.

Yeah that is pretty much what I told the boys at the end of the game. Thank goodness we won.

 

[Short Corner]

I would file a report and insist that the player not be allowed to play against us again and the ref not be allowed to work any more games. If a league rep contacted me I would let them know that I don't think the kid should continue in the league. I probably would have pulled my team off the court after the incident. There is a grey area for rough play in youth sports but this type of action is not in it.

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

I would file a report and insist that the player not be allowed to play against us again and the ref not be allowed to work any more games. If a league rep contacted me I would let them know that I don't think the kid should continue in the league. I probably would have pulled my team off the court after the incident. There is a grey area for rough play in youth sports but this type of action is not in it.

Well the problem was neither of the Refs saw the kid who did the biting. They know that our player was bitten, and their were bodies on the floor for a loose ball. My player and several of theirs.

 

[Zegras11]

Had an experience with this with a girl that landed three wicked elbows on purpose on our team.

Three other coaches had reported similar problems with the same girl during the season.

In our game 5, one of our girls was nailed by this girl at mid-court trailing the main play. Nose bloodied. Nothing done.

In the Championship game, she nailed another of our players with six minutes left. I had to take the girl out of the game she was crying so badly. Nothing was done.

And then with two minutes left, she nailed another with the ball all the way at the other end of the court. I guess she was thinking it was so far away from the ball, no one would notice. Refs did nothing again, so down by 9, I walked over to their coach and congratulated them on their win and we walked off the court. No one could ever understand why this girl did this so often.

 

[Eraser]

Licensed official and youth basketball league Vice-President

1. As an official, we call what we see. There are many things we miss during a game. It's unfortunate the kid was bit, but nothing can be done from a foul/tech standpoint if it was not seen by an official.

2. You should contact whoever is in charge of the league and discuss. If the league is anything like ours, the officials are brought in to officiate.......they are not representing the league. I don't fault ref #2, he said exactly what I would have........ref #1 should have taken the same stance and obviously doesn't take the youth league seriously.

 

[BeTheMatch]

I was a CYO BB coach for several years, and there were a few incidents like this during that time. At the time, I just told my players to take the high road and no complaints were ever filed. In retrospect, what I should have done is taught my players that we'll do our talking on the court, and have them especially motivated for teams that taunt, bite, etc. It's amazing how fast these kids grow up---these kinds of situations are opportunities to teach the kids how to deal with life.

Yeah that is pretty much what I told the boys at the end of the game. Thank goodness we won.

Yeah, because that's what matters most.

 

[tikigods]

Licensed official and youth basketball league Vice-President

1. As an official, we call what we see. There are many things we miss during a game. It's unfortunate the kid was bit, but nothing can be done from a foul/tech standpoint if it was not seen by an official.

2. You should contact whoever is in charge of the league and discuss. If the league is anything like ours, the officials are brought in to officiate.......they are not representing the league. I don't fault ref #2, he said exactly what I would have........ref #1 should have taken the same stance and obviously doesn't take the youth league seriously.

Ditto. I have many, many years of officiating experience and this would have been my response to the OP.

 

[tikigods]

Yeah that is pretty much what I told the boys at the end of the game. Thank goodness we won.

Yeah, because that's what matters most.

No kidding, huh? I'll never forget having to get the police to remove an unruly parent from a 3rd-4th grade basketball game because he didn't like a call. Good to see people have their priorities in line with 8 year old kids.

 

[Patriotsfatboy1]

Deal with the league. Not much can be done unless you have video, but they can have the refs watch this kid moving forward.

I used to have one of my worst players bite his own arm and then tell the ref that the other team's best player bit him. Oldest trick in the book, but effective.

 

[Short Corner]

Deal with the league. Not much can be done unless you have video, but they can have the refs watch this kid moving forward.

I used to have one of my worst players bite his own arm and then tell the ref that the other team's best player bit him. Oldest trick in the book, but effective.

The oldest trick in the book is slapping your own forearm as you go up for a lay up, followed by the ball between the knees on the pump fake. My personal favorite is finger whipping the sack as you break to get open.

 

[Patriotsfatboy1]

Deal with the league. Not much can be done unless you have video, but they can have the refs watch this kid moving forward.

I used to have one of my worst players bite his own arm and then tell the ref that the other team's best player bit him. Oldest trick in the book, but effective.

The oldest trick in the book is slapping your own forearm as you go up for a lay up, followed by the ball between the knees on the pump fake. My personal favorite is finger whipping the sack as you break to get open.

I used to guard a guy real tight and then use his jersey to pull him on top of me to get an offensive foul. Worked more than it should have.

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

I was a CYO BB coach for several years, and there were a few incidents like this during that time. At the time, I just told my players to take the high road and no complaints were ever filed. In retrospect, what I should have done is taught my players that we'll do our talking on the court, and have them especially motivated for teams that taunt, bite, etc. It's amazing how fast these kids grow up---these kinds of situations are opportunities to teach the kids how to deal with life.

Yeah that is pretty much what I told the boys at the end of the game. Thank goodness we won.

Yeah, because that's what matters most.

My point was I would have hated to lose the game and been on the receiving end of a biting. GL

 

[Instinctive]

I ref like 2nd-8th grade and I think ref #2 did about what I'd have done. There's nothing I can do foul-wise if I don't see it. So I can stop the game, talk to the coach of the other team, and tell the parents/coach of the bitten team to talk to the league

 

[Instinctive]

Yeah that is pretty much what I told the boys at the end of the game. Thank goodness we won.

Yeah, because that's what matters most.

No kidding, huh? I'll never forget having to get the police to remove an unruly parent from a 3rd-4th grade basketball game because he didn't like a call. Good to see people have their priorities in line with 8 year old kids.

In 4 years of reffing we had one gam where we warned a stands twice and then threw out the entire audience. Game was played with only players and coaches for the last 12 minutes or so. Unbelievable. People threw #### on the court, language…for ####### 6th graders!!!

 

[tikigods]

Yeah that is pretty much what I told the boys at the end of the game. Thank goodness we won.

Yeah, because that's what matters most.

No kidding, huh? I'll never forget having to get the police to remove an unruly parent from a 3rd-4th grade basketball game because he didn't like a call. Good to see people have their priorities in line with 8 year old kids.

In 4 years of reffing we had one gam where we warned a stands twice and then threw out the entire audience. Game was played with only players and coaches for the last 12 minutes or so. Unbelievable. People threw #### on the court, language…for ####### 6th graders!!!

Good for you. More officials need to take a hardline against this kind of behavior. It's amazing to me that I see more civility officiating at the NCAA level than I do giving my time to the local recreation leagues.