How to Run the Desk

GAME CLOCK

Start

At the beginning of each quarter, the game clock starts when one of the sprinters touches (not possesses) the ball.

Stop

Thereafter, the clock will stop every time the referee blows the whistle.

Restart

The clock starts when a player puts the ball in play. This is signified by the ball leaving the hand of the player taking the free throw. Examples: 1) intentionally tossing the ball into the air or dropping the ball into the water. 2) Swimming with the ball. 3) Switching the ball from hand to band. NOTE: Sometimes a player retrieving the ball for a free throw will pick up the ball with their off-band and switch the ball to their more dominant hand. This is NOT considered putting the ball into play

Seven-Meter Fouls: If the player with the ball is fouled outside his/her offensive seven-meter line, the player may elect to ‘shoot the ball’. The clock would begin upon the shooting of the ball, (when the ball leaves the hand of the shooter)

Neutral Throws: (similar to the jump ball in basketball) A neutral throw is treated like the sprint at the beginning of each quarter when the clock begins upon the touching of the ball.

Penalty Shot: If a player is taking a 4-meter penalty shot, start the clock upon the sound of the whistle. If the shot is missed,the ball is live and can be played by any player. If the player scores, stop the clock.

The Spot of the Foul: The old rule was when a foul occurred; the ball had to be put into play at the very spot of the foul. There are three parts to the new rule:

1. When a foul is called and the ball is closer to the offensive goal than the spot of the foul, the ball must go out at least as far as the foul was to the offensive cage, but it does not have to go out to the very spot of the foul. Example: If the holeset is fouled and the ball is knocked closer to the goal but not inside the 2-meter line, the free throw can be taken by anyone on or outside the line of the foul, (offensive goal: the goal in which the offensive team is trying to score.)

2. If the ball gets knocked into the 2-meter area after a foul, the free throw must be taken at the very spot of the foul.

3. If the ball is farther away from the offensive goal at the time of the foul, the free throw is taken from where the ball is at the time of the foul. Example: If the ball is out at 7 meters and the referee call a foul at the 2 meter position, the free throw is taken by the player at 7 meters.

NOTE: When the desk throws a ball to the goalie after a missed shot, inexperienced timers have a tendency to start the clock when the goalie receives the ball. Start the clock when the goalie puts the ball into play.

PROBLEM: Very often, the player with the ball does not put the ball in play and the referee does not signal (by blowing the whistle) for a failure to put the ball into play (a technical foul resulting in a turn-over.) A player has to put the ball into play “within a reasonable amount of time.” The old rule was that the player had three seconds. The old rule is a good guide as to what a “reasonable amount of time” means. Give the referee three seconds to call the technical foul, if the technical foul is not called, begin the clock. DO NOT rely on the referee to drop his/her arm to signify that the ball has been put into play. The referee is not required to leave his/her arm up and then drop it when the player does actually put the ball into play.

End of a Period

Let the buzzer sound for approximately 2 seconds, but do not stop the buzzer until the referee acknowledges the end of the period by blowing the whistle.

Synchronizing Game Clock & Shot Clock

When to stop the clocks is easy, on the whistle. It is important that both clocks start simultaneously. On the Colorado system, this is not a problem. One button starts and stops both clocks simultaneously. On the Maric system, either the shot or game clock operator will say “go” or “start” or to signify the simultaneous beginning of the two separate clocks.

Responsibility to Scorekeeper

The timer in charge of the game clock is responsible to tell the scorekeeper the time of any ejection/penalty, goal or time-out and to which team (blue/white) the goal ejection/penalty, goal is charged. Example of what you should say: “Ejection at 3:23, 12 Blue.” You may have to repeat this a few times for the scorekeeper.

SHOT CLOCK

It is helpful to think of the shot clock as a possession clock. The team with the ball should have a full 35 seconds to attempt a goal.

Start

At the beginning of each quarter, the game clock starts, when one of the players possesses, not touches, the ball.

Stop

Thereafter, the clock will stop every time the referee blows the whistle.

Restart

The clock starts when a player puts the ball in play. This is signified by the ball leaving the hand of the player taking the free throw. Examples: 1) intentionally tossing the ball into the air or dropping the ball into the water. 2) Swimming with the ball. 3) Switching the ball from hand to hand. NOTE: Sometimes a player retrieving the ball for & free throw will pick up the ball with their off-hand and switch the ball to their more dominant hand. This is NOT considered putting the ball into play.

The Spot of the Foul: The old rule was, when a foul occurred, the ball had to be put into play at the very spot of the foul. There are three parts to the new rule:

2. If the ball gets knocked into the 2-meter area after a foul, the free throw must be taken at the very spot of the foul.

PROBLEM: Very often, the player with the ball does not put the ball in play and the referee does not signal, by blowing the whistle, for a failure to put the ball into play (a technical foul resulting in a turn-over). A player has to put the ball into play “within a reasonable amount of time.” The old rule was that the player had three seconds. The old rule is a good guide as to what “a reasonable amount of time” means. Give the referee three seconds to call the technical foul, if the technical foul is not called, begin the clock. DO NOT rely on the referee to drop his/her arm to signify that the ball has been put into play The referee is not required to leave his/her arm up and thou drop it when the player does actually put the ball into play.

Reset

The shot clock is reset when:

--A SHOT IS TAKEN

1. reset immediately upon release of the ball, not when the goalie blocks the ball.

2. the ball need not reach the cage to be considered a shot. If in your opinion you believe that the player shot the ball, and then the player shot the ball, reset the referee will correct you if you are wrong. You can be sure that at least one coach will yell at you J

3. After a shot, possession begins when someone on offense or defense obtains the ball. Example: a shot is taken within: 15 seconds remaining on the shot clock, the clock is reset on the shot, the ball hits the cage and lands 5 yards away from the goalie. The goalie takes: 05 seconds to get to the ball, the shot clock would read 30 seconds. Reset the shot clock when the goalie possesses the ball to give the team a full 35 seconds.

--A PLAYER IS EJECTED

1. each time an additional player is ejected, the clock is reset.

2. the scorekeeper is in charge of waving the ejected, player back into play.

--A CLEAR CHANGE OF POSSESSION

1. if a defender knocks the ball from a player’s hand and they are battling to pick up the ball, let the clock run. Wait for a clear change of possession before resetting.

--A “BALL UNDER WATER” CALL

1. this is a clear change of possession.

--THE BALL GOES PAST THE GOAL LINE

1. the ball will be taken at the 2-meter line near the sideline.

2. The clock is NOT reset if the ball is knocked by a defender out of bounds on the side line.

a. If the offensive team throws the ball out of bounds on a side line, this is a change of possession, reset the clock.

--A NEUTRALTHROW IS CALLED

1. The shot clock begins when someone possesses (not touches) the ball.

-Note: DO NOT reset when a time out is called.

Shut Down

The 35 shot clock is shut down when there are fewer than 35 seconds on the game clock at the time of your most recent resetting of the shot clock. The Colorado system shuts down the 35 second clock automatically.

a) Inexperienced timers often do the following: reset the shot clock on a shot taken with: 50 seconds remaining in the game. When the game clock runs down to :35 seconds, the inexperienced timer will then shut down the shot clock thus giving the team with the ball a :50 second shot clock.

End of a 35 Second Possession

Let the buzzer sound for approximately 2 seconds, but do not stop the buzzer until the referee acknowledges the end of the possession by blowing the whistle.

Synchronizing Game Clock & Shot Clock

SCORE SHEET

The score sheet can be divided into two main sections: (1) the top with names and statistics and (2) the more important bottom portion with a time line of events and a small section for quarter by quarter scoring.

The Important Bottom Section

TIME

Record the time of the event, goal, ejection/penalty, time-out. Sometimes you will need to remind the timer to tell you the time of the event. NOTE: The spaces are not grouped together by quarters as you look at the sheet. Finish a column of spaces before going to the next column.

CAP#

Record the cap number of the player.

TEAM

Write “W” or “B” depending on to which team the event is charged. One team will always be white.

REMARKS

Use abbreviations.

“S” for a score

“E” for an ejection

“P” for a penalty (a four meter shot is awarded for a penalty)

“TO” for a timeout (you can write the word timeout in the space if you wish)

If the referee excludes someone from the remainder of the game, write “major E”

W-B

This section is for a running score. The first goal by the white team will be 1-0. If white scores again, write 2-0. When you are recording an ejection, do not repeat the score from above in this space, just make a short dash (-). This will simplify a later search for ejections. For time-outs, you can leave this space blank or fill it, your choice.

Timeouts

After recording the time-out in the timeline of events, if there is a space, record the timeout time and period it was called. 2:30-3. This would signify that a time-out was called during the third period.

Results

The score by quarters is put in these boxes. (This is not a running score of the two teams.)

At the End of a Period

After the last recorded event of a quarter, draw a line through the next row of boxes to signify the end of the quarter.

At the End of the Game

Circle the final score on the time line of events and make a diagonal slash through any unused spaces. Have the referees sign the score sheet.

The Top Section

DATE/PLACE/GAME No.

If not filled out before your arrival, most important to us are the date; which pool, game number and/or what time the game was scheduled to begin.

TEAM

If you don’t know, ask the kids in the water, they should know who they are.

NAME

In most tournaments, you will not be provided with the names, so don’t worry. If players on one of the teams has a higher number than on the sheet, don’t panic. If they do score or are ejected, then, change one of the numbers on the sheet to suit your needs.

ATT

This box is for counting scoring attempts. Rarely used. You’ve got enough things to worry about.

GOALS BY QUARTER

Use roman numerals to signify goals. Once you feel confident with “the book”, you can

Record goals scored during an ejection with an “E” or use a “P” for a penalty shot goal. If you look down each column you can quickly determine how many goals were scored in the quarter and fill in the result in the boxes in the lower right-hand portion of the page.

P. FOULS

This section is extremely important! You are responsible for raising the red flag when a player receives his/her third ejection. Do not wait until the end of the period to tabulate a players ejections like you would for their goals. Write personal fouls in this section as soon as you have free time E²is an ejection in the second period, not a player’s second ejection. Each time another ejection is received, add another E or P for a penalty, with the appropriate number superscripted to the letter.

Helpful Hint: When a player gets his/her second personal foul, write his/her cap color and number (B12 or W8) in the margin at the bottom of the page so you can quickly determine if someone has received a third ejection.

Waving in Ejected Player

After 20 seconds, the ejected player must be waved back into play. This is your job. First, use the game clock to determine the re-entry time. If you rely on the shot clock and a shot is taken, you may begin to panic when the shot clock is reset before it runs to 20. Second, do not actually wave the flag. Hold the flag up so it is clearly visible. Keep it raised until the player sees it or there is a goal. You might turn it so the majority of the face of the flag is pointed toward the player. Do not shout to get the player’s attention, it is the player’s responsibility to pay attention.

Turn Over Before 20 Seconds: If the ball turns over before the 20 seconds elapse, the referee will wave the player in. If it is close to the 20 second mark, use the flag, sometimes the referee forgets about the ejected player.

NOTE: Do not raise the flag if the player is not in the ejection area. They must be in the ejection area to be waved in. They must be in the ejection area with their head breaking the surface of the water. Ask the referee before the game where the ejection areas are. Generally they are in the corner opposite from the desk and on the same side as their goalie.

Multiple Ejections

Often two players, one blue, one white, will be ejected and a neutral throw, (jump ball), will be awarded. Regardless of which team wins the neutral throw, each player is out for 20 seconds. If the ball is turned over during the 20 seconds, the referees will wave in the players. If it is close to 20 second mark, use the flags.

If during multiple ejections, one of the players gets his/her third ejection, it is necessary to raise the red flag crossed with the flag (blue or white) of that player’s team color. This is done so everyone knows exactly which player has majored.

Good Luck!