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I've never had any problem calling kicking violations. Normally it's fairly obvious whether or not the person intentionally kicked the ball. Often, coaches will teach their players to stick their legs out to try to kick passes. That disconcerts the offense, takes them out of their rhythm, and makes them inbound the ball more times which could very well lead to more turnovers.
There's nothing that irks me more than an official calling a kicking violation just because the ball hit the player somewhere below the knee. It makes coaches think that's the rule and also makes it harder on the rest of us.
I had a game tonight as a matter of fact where twice in the first quarter, a ball was either thrown off a player's foot or was accidentally kicked while players were scrambling for the ball. Neither one of us made a call, which was correct. The coach didn't agree and asked me while I was walking up the court "Didn't he kick the ball?" I said, "He sure did" and went about my business.
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