High school coaches, athletes and officials in Connecticut have been preparing for this week's introduction of shot clocks at high school basketball games.
Girls saw the new shot clocks last Monday, and boys will see the new addition to the game on Wednesday.
According to CT Insider, the biggest adjustment of all will be the addition of a shot clock operator to the scorer's table at center court for each varsity game. Those operator will have a busy job monitoring the 35-second shot clock implemented by the CIAC this season.
“It’s not a job where you can daydream or slip into not paying attention. You have to pay attention,” said Dan Scavone, the CIAC’s director of the officials’ association. “Every moment, more so than the game timer or the scorebook personnel, you will be involved in every play, one way or another.”
Steve Kirck Sr., a former Board 10 official in New Haven for 40 years, works for Timing Is Everything, which supplies people to operate game clocks, shot clocks and scoreboards at many different collegiate sporting events, like football, soccer, lacrosse and basketball.
“You have to concentrate. It’s the toughest job of anybody at the table,” said Kirck, who has worked for Timing is Everything since 2006.
The National Federation of High Schools granted all member associations the chance to implement a shot clock back in the spring of 2021. It took more than two years for the thorough vetting process to get to this point Connecticut.
