Want to Travel? Play Basketball in San Diego

One question in a survey of area high school coaches concerning basketball referees asked, “Who calls traveling most often?”

The question was quickly dropped from the survey, because too many coaches were unable to come up with any names. But in an interesting twist, many coaches said too few referees whistle traveling.

“I have one player who travels every time he touches the ball,” one City Central coach said. “And he never gets called for it.”

Some coaches said referees just do not know the rule, and other coaches said too many referees watch NBA games on television (in which almost anything goes) and have allowed that style of play to filter down to the high school level.

Dennis Ackerman, the assignment secretary of the referee’s City Assn., called it a trickle-down effect.

“It’s the influence of pro to college to high school,” he said. “You see fewer traveling calls in the pros, and it’s trickling down.”

Another City Central coach told of a game in which he was complaining to the referee that a particular player on the opposing team was traveling every time he got the ball. The referee stopped play once, went over to the coach, and said, “Coach, that’s his move, and I’m not going to call it.”

Jim Thompson of Madison said he thinks officials aren’t even looking for traveling.

“It’s the only call I ever complain about,” he said. “I don’t even think they’re watching the feet any more.”

In fact, Thompson has gained somewhat of a reputation on this issue. When a reporter brought up the subject with Ackerman, the assignment secretary said, “You must have been talking to Jim Thompson.”

But Thompson isn’t alone in his crusade to have the whistle blown. He has an ally in city referee Terry McIntire.

McIntire agreed with the trickle-down theory.

“I think the NBA has a big influence on it,” he said. “But that’s entertainment, and we’re not in the entertainment business. I do think officials know the rule because they have to take a test before they’re allowed to officiate games. But there’s so much going on that they’re not looking at the feet. They’re too busy looking at the hands for the push, or whatever.”

The issue is becoming heated because some coaches feel that players taking an extra step are gaining an unfair advantage.