4.3 Trail official - positioning and responsibilities
The trail official should be, under normal circumstances, behind the play. He should
take a position slightly behind and to the left of the ball and approximately 3 – 5 m away.
In Diagram 30 and Diagram 31, the ball is located in rectangle 1. The trail official is
responsible for watching the play around the ball, in particular the player dribbling,
shooting or passing the ball and the defensive player or players guarding him. When
the ball is in this area of the playing court, the trail official has primary responsibility for
on-the-ball coverage.
In Diagram 32 and Diagram 33, with the ball in rectangle 2, the trail official again is
responsible for the play around the ball.
In Diagram 34, the ball is located in rectangle 3, to the trail official’s far right. Again he
has primary responsibility for on-the-ball coverage. In this situation, however, he will
need to find the best possible position to cover the action and should also make the
out-of-bounds decisions nearest to the sideline to his right.
In Diagram 35, the ball is located in rectangle 3 near to the three-point line. In the
majority of cases the ball will penetrate into rectangles 4 or 5 on a shot, pass or dribble.
In order to anticipate the action, the trail official must anticipate a move toward
his left in order to cover the play away from the ball.
He will sometimes need help from the lead official to cover three-point field goal
attempts, especially when the defensive player blocks his angle of vision. If a threepoint
field goal attempt is taken by a player straddling the free-throw line extended
(rectangle 3 and 4), the trail official shall take responsibility for the attempt.
The trail official does not have primary responsibility for the endline or sideline to his
right, but there will be occasions when he is required to help his partner with the
throw-in decision when the ball goes out-of-bounds.