Last night, T.J. Halliday, IAABO International Director of Learning and Development, gave a Summer Zoom presentation on Enhancing Communication.
During the presentation he mentioned a 2025-26 NFHS rule change that seems to go above and beyond what we've already heard from the NFHS.
7-5-4: This rule change updates the procedure for determining the designated throw-in spot following a stoppage of play (not due to the ball going out of bounds) in the frontcourt and backcourt. Instead of relying on an imaginary line, officials now use existing court markings, specifically the three-point line, to determine the location. This change improves accuracy, consistency, and clarity for officials by using visible floor markings rather than imaginary lines, which were often misjudged.
Rationale: By using the visible three-point line as the line of demarcation, officials will have a clearer and more consistent method for determining throw-in locations. This improves accuracy and reduces
confusion, resulting in more reliable throw-ins.
Here are his slides:
On top of using the three point arc instead of the old "Rocket Ship" trapezoid, he implied that, with the exception of out of bounds violations, that we would be using the "eight spots", and only the "eight spots", for all other stoppages in play, in both the frontcourt and the backcourt.
Last year we only used the "four spots, for non out of bounds stoppages in the frontcourt, there were no "four spots" for any type of throwin in the backcourt, just endline or sideline based on the old "Rocket Ship" trapezoid.
Has IAABO once again "stuck its nose where it doesn't belong" and interpreted, or misinterpreted, a NFHS rule?
Or has the NFHS 7-5-4 change really been extended to both the frontcourt and the backcourt, resulting in "eight spots" (not just "four spots") for all non out of bounds throwins?