Question on clock problems

[Sonny]

Assume NFHS rules in a stadium environment (i.e. visible scoreboard) - Home team is down by a few goals in the 2nd half. Female team manager or parent is operating clock in press box atop the stadium. Clock isn't starting properly after a few restarts. Not necessarily malicious, but it has happened more then once or twice.

How do you handle if visiting team coach (who is leading the game) is complaining?

I've always thought it was interesting that we give one of the most important parts of the sport of lacrosse (the clock) to non-officials with little to no knowledge of our mechanics or the rules.

[LaxRef]

Assume NFHS rules in a stadium environment (i.e. visible scoreboard) - Home team is down by a few goals in the 2nd half. Female team manager or parent is operating clock in press box atop the stadium. Clock isn't starting properly after a few restarts. Not necessarily malicious, but it has happened more then once or twice.

How do you handle if visiting team coach (who is leading the game) is complaining?

I've always thought it was interesting that we give one of the most important parts of the sport of lacrosse (the clock) to non-officials with little to no knowledge of our mechanics or the rules.

Is the answer any different if it's a male team manager or parent?

Ideally, you cover all of this with the timer before the game. In reality, you often don't have time to do this on a weeknight high school game. Or you do have time, but the table personnel aren't there early enough. There are documents you can print out to give to the scorer and timer here.

I'd probably explain to the home coach that he needs to make sure that his timekeeper knows what he or she is doing and if there are continued problems that could affect the game that a USC penalty could be assessed. I'd try not to assess it unless absolutely necessary, but I would if it seemed like they we're trying to "save clock time" for a comeback.

I did a game on Friday where the home team kept complaining about how the table personnel were doing a bad job telliing his players when to release on penalties. But they were the home team's timer and scorer—if there was any doubt, they were both wearing clothing with the home team's name on it—so I'm not sure how valid a complaint that is.

[laxfan25]

Another thought that would get the home coach's attention, if this has happened a few times, is to decide how much game time had been played with the clock stopped and have the clock operator take an appropriate amount off the clock.
Taking a minute off with five minutes remaining should help motivate him to get an attentive operator in the press box.
The best option is to have the clock control mechanism down at the table. Not always feasible though, but one team I do quite often in a stadium does have that setup.

[TexOle]

I had a game where the kid running the clock kept screwing it up. We never knew what the proper game time was. Luckily a league official was there to take control of the situation by running the clock. If it is a student I would always ask the coach to find a different operator. There are some students that run the clock well, but often times this is not the case.