I watched a basketball game this weekend, in which play was stopped over and over again for timeouts. There were so many timeouts that the final 30 seconds of the game took five minutes to complete.
Typical comments from commentators included: “That was a good timeout. You could see the team needed a breather.”
Or…
“That timeout was perfectly called. Coach needed to change tactics. What a momentum-change that provided.”
Hilary, one of my cross-country runners, takes exception to timeouts in team sports. In Hilary’s words, “If they can take timeouts in basketball because they’re tired, why not in cross-country?”
Good point. I’d love to be able to call a timeout when my cross-country racers are dropping off the pace and need a break. Or in a middle distance track race, when my runners are boxed-in on the curb. It would make a big difference if I could jump onto the track with my hands in the traditional time-out signal and get the officials to whistle the race to a stop. A 30-second conference with my athlete with instructions such as:
“I told you to stay off the curb, Joe. Now get back in there and move out of that box!”
And off to the races again, with Joe nicely moving out of his boxed-in position and ready for a kick to the finish.
Alas, I fear this is never to be. All is not fair in love and war…or, apparently, sport!
Dick Moss, Editor,
PE Update.com
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[tags]sports humor, sports humour,physical education,timeouts in sport[/tags]
