The Right Sign, Every Time

By Vlad Figueroa

Using proper signals has always been a topic of conversation in camps, preseason meetings and in our own locker rooms. There is always a debate whether we like the way our officials manuals require us to use the approved signals for our game at our levels or for reporting fouls to the table with the correct signal that describes the foul that just happened. NFHS has its own set of signals; NCAAM and NCAAW have their own, too. While proper signaling is always a topic of discussion regardless of the level we are working, it is more common among officials who work multiple levels.

When I first started my transition from officiating high school basketball to officiating at the NCAAW level, I started using my college signaling while officiating at the high school level. I was getting coaches confused in certain situations, especially when I called player control/team control fouls. Some high school coaches know the difference between the two different blocking foul signals used by the two levels, but the lessexperienced ones didn’t and would regularly question what I had just called. While I felt I was looking pretty good by using a “higher” level signal, in truth, it was only creating or generating unnecessary conversations with coaches.