A new rule for our games, starting tomorrow morning
Jeff Kimmelman
I have read the recent email chain about acceptable rec basketball and had a few discussions with people about it. I agree with the concept expressed by Ian that, for our games in Stow, the foremost concern is player safety. There are a variety of reasons that we all play, but nobody wants to get hurt. These games are for fun.
To make this explicit, I'm imposing the principle that all players have the responsibility to mitigate an impact.
For example, if I am running into the lane and I see another player moving to the same spot, I should slow down or divert. Most importantly, I should make every attempt to avoid driving into a player and knocking them to the ground. This is true whether I am on defense, thus committing what an NBA referee calls a blocking foul, or on offense, thus committing a charge. Of course, accidents happen, but this principle is about intent and we all must keep ourselves in line.
To make this principle work for us, we will add a rule to our games: When an offensive infraction is called, e.g., a charge or traveling, play will halt. The team on offense will retain possession and inbound the ball from the foul line unless the offensive player agrees with the call. (If a player knows that they charged or traveled, they should give up possession to the team playing defense.) Hopefully, this rule will alleviate some of the impetus to play hard or initiate contact.
As always, the rule of "respect the call" holds. Let's not get into arguments or waste time analyzing the play. Furthermore, all discussion must stay with the current play and about basketball. Nobody should engage in a personal attack, accuse another player of intentional wrongdoing, or refer to incidents that occurred at other times or venues. We need to give others the space to apologize rather than putting them on the defensive. Nobody comes to our games with an eye to hurting others.
I know that these thoughts may not satisfy everyone. But, basketball is an active sport and sometimes there is contact. Some people need to reign in their enthusiasm and others their indignation. We're all responsible for helping each other become better and safer players.
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning,
-Jeff