Rule Highlights:
BAM Jam officials will enforce a technical foul rule due to grave concern about the growing trend of unsportsmanlike acts such as profanity, taunting, baiting, and trash-talking. More than ever, officials will be seeking the cooperation of all players and spectators to eliminate these disturbances from the tournament.
Monitors will fully enforce the following calls to abate such unsportsmanlike acts:
Rough play:
BAM Jam places a strong emphasis on sportsmanship and the elimination of rough play, and seeks your help and cooperation. It is the responsibility of the monitors to enforce this spirit of sportsmanship, fair play and safe basketball. Many players have jobs and other important duties to fulfill after the weekend of BAM Jam and if you keep this in mind during the tournament, we’ll eliminate rough play and minimize the chance for injury. If play starts getting too rough, the court monitor should stop the game and require players to tone it down. If the court monitor observes unnecessarily rough play, the appropriate penalty will be assessed.
Technical foul:
A foul for unsportsmanlike acts such as taunting, baiting or trash talk. Taunting and baiting involve derogatory remarks and/or gestures that incite or insult a player. Trash talk involves a deeply personal, verbal or nonverbal attack directed toward any person involved in the event. In extreme cases, the player may also be suspended from play and a coach or fan removed from the court for the remainder of that game, or for the rest of the tournament.
Penalty:
- 1 point to the offended team.
- The offended team is awarded possession of the ball.
Intentional foul:
A foul where a player makes no effort to play the ball in order to prevent a player from scoring, dribbling or passing. It is usually a foul against a player with the ball; however, it could be a foul against a player without the ball, who is cutting, screening or rebounding, and is impeded or pushed out of an established position. It is usually a foul by the defense; however, it could be a foul by the offense.
Penalty:
- 1 point to the offended player.
- The offended player’s team is awarded possession of the ball.
Flagrant foul:
A foul so aggressive and physical that it is of a savage or violent nature and the fouled player is vulnerable to injury. Such foul shows a wanton disregard for the opponent. It is not necessarily intentional and does not need to be preceded by the court monitor issuing a warning.
Penalty:
- 1 point to the offended player.
- The offended player’s team is awarded possession of the ball.
- The player who committed the foul will be suspended from play for the remainder of that game and possibly for the remainder of the tournament.
Youth Division:
1 court monitor referees the games on each youth court. Since a typical AAU, YMCA, and other youth game utilizes 2 referees in order to obtain a clear view from both sides of play, BAM Jam requests the assistance of players, parents and fans to understand that the volunteer court monitor is just 1 person, a volunteer, who is only able to see the game from one perspective. It is crucial that players and fans understand this and respect that he/she is someone willing to volunteer to serve as a monitor to call the games to the best of his/her ability, and to maintain sportsmanship. BAM Jam strongly discourages parents and fans from becoming factors in the game, and asks that they refrain from negative comments about game action and calls made by the court monitor, regardless of how incorrect they believe the calls may have been. BAM Jam requires that each youth team designate one person as the Parent Coach. The Parent Coach is the sole representative for the team, the only person with authority to approach the court monitor during each game. The coach is responsible for making sure the other parents and spectators of this team act in a manner that maintains sportsmanship during the game. In the youngest youth brackets, the volunteer court monitor may stop play and counsel the players about certain rules before actually calling the violation and taking the ball away from the offending player’s team.
BAM Jam hopes to instill in today’s youth the values of playing competitively within a framework of treating their opponents with dignity and respect. BAM Jam hopes that coaches and parents will view this as their higher calling, rather than placing an unhealthy emphasis on winning. In order to maintain total sportsmanship the court monitor has the authority to stop play and ask the coach and players to change their behavior. It is the responsibility of each youth team’s coach to exert his/her influence over the players, parents and team followers to maintain total sportsmanship. BAM Jam expects that if a change in behavior is needed that the only action the court monitor has to take is to ask the coach to facilitate this change.
Games are intended to be played to 20 points. However, in the interest of maintaining the tournament’s schedule and for other pertinent reasons, the court monitor must often invoke a game ending procedure to settle low-scoring games in an equitable manner, as detailed in tournament rules.
High School and Adult Divisions:
Court monitors do not referee games in these divisions. This means that players are responsible for calling fouls and violations, with the exception of the 2-point goal, technical fouls, intentional fouls, and flagrant fouls. In the event of a disagreement over calls made by the players, the court monitor will settle the dispute. The court monitors’ duties are to maintain a safe contest to ensure total sportsmanship, oversee the scorekeeping, judge 2 point goals, toss the coin to determine the first possession, ensure the tournament rules are followed, and settle any disagreements between the teams.
In order to maintain total sportsmanship, the court monitor has the authority to stop play and advise players of the need to change their behavior. The monitor has the authority to bench a player to promote a change in his/her behavior; and has the authority to call intentional, flagrant and technical fouls. A flagrant foul may result in a monitor ejecting a player from the game, and possibly for the remainder of the tournament. It is the players’ job to make their own calls. Fouls called should be of a nature which directly results in a disadvantage to the player fouled, such as: against a player who is in the act of shooting; an obvious hard charge; an obvious over-the-back rebounding attempt; or some other contact hard enough to knock an opposing player down. By the same token, calling every contact a foul is not in the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play … touch fouls can detract from the game as much as rough play. Calling “cheap” fouls does not promote total sportsmanship.
Adult Elite Divisions:
2 monitors referee each elite division game. While court monitors are the officials of each game, and are responsible to call fouls and violations, their role goes beyond officiating each game. Their primary responsibility is to protect total sportsmanship, ensuring that each game is played in an atmosphere of mutual respect and dignity among all players. In order to maintain total sportsmanship, the court monitor has the authority to stop play and advise a player or players of the need to change their behavior. A monitor has the authority to bench a player to necessitate a change in his/her behavior. In addition, a monitor has the authority to call technical, intentional, or flagrant fouls to change behavior, which in the case of a flagrant foul may result in an ejection from the game, or even the entire tournament.