NFHS Rule Changes for 2009-10

Some notes from the May/June 2009 edition of Sportorials, the IAABO newsletter. I'll try to find a link to a PDF of the whole edition and post that to the Board 23 Web site for your reference.

The biggest news is obviously the rule changes enacted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Basketball Rules Committee for the 2009-10 season. But before I get to that, parts of IAABO Executive Director Tom Lopes' "Director's Court" column struck me.

Certainly not groundbreaking as we're all aware of the time demands of sports officials, but Tom shared some thoughts on the fact that sports officials have a very high divorce rate. Tom writes, "The higher up you go in the officiating ladder, the higher chance you have for divorce. ... The official that can find the happy medium and can balance [a spouse, kids, family commitments, officiating, etc.] will maintain a good relationship. You cannot referee a great number of games without the support of your spouse. It just cannot happen. Therefore you must work out the details on sharing responsibilities, share your monetary rewards from officiating, and more important find a way to share your time."

Tom goes on to suggest making officiating a family affair when possible. Take everyone to the game and then out to dinner afterwards. If you've got a game on a weekend that's a decent drive away, consider renting a room at a hotel that offers a pool for the family. Then do dinner in or out and maybe a movie as part of a family getaway.

Just some thoughts. Balance is very important in life. OK, onto the rules changes for 2009-10.

The NFHS Board of Directors approved the changes authored by the NFHS Rules Committee last month. Scorers' table personnel should get their TiVos ready, so to speak...

State high school associations are now permitted to use a replay monitor to review field-goal attempts at the expiration of time in the fourth quarter or any overtime period, but only in games when the last-second attempt would affect the outcome of the game. Replay or game officials will be able to determine if the attempt occurred before time expired (0:00 on the clock) and whether the shot was a two-point or three-point attempt.

The NFHS changed this rule in reponse to end-of-game situations in three state championships during the 2007-08 season (Michigan, Ohio and South Carolina). I have reached out to Bill Burroughs, coordinator of officials for the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA), to get the association's position on enactment of the new rule, but I would guess the MPSSAA would allow the use of replay, at least in MPSSAA tournament games. I'll update the Board 23 Blog when I hear from Bill.

The other rule change the NFHS enacted was to allow a red light on the backboard to signal the expiration of time in the quarter/extra period in schools so equipped. Many schools still don't have a red light, so the audible timer's signal would continue to signal the expiration of time.

The NFHS Rules Committee also made some editorial changes to the rule book on these topics: players occupying the marked lane spaces during free throws, the imaginary rectangle used for team timeouts, the 20-second interval for replacing an injured player and items that may be a safety hazard.

Finally, the points of emphasis for 2009-10 are: traveling, closely guarded, three seconds, block/charge and free-throw administration.

Members who are parent to Board 23 will receive the IAABO handbook in the fall, inclusive of the NFHS rule book.