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First, thanks to everyone who responded to my first post (First Game Thoughts). Your advice is much appreciated. What a great site, I plan to visit as much as possible. Attention "BK", I'm from Passaic County in northeastern New Jersey.
Two things that happened this weekend. #1, I'm wearing my coach's hat for this: I was coaching my daughter's 7th/8th grade Rec league game and my best point guard/dribbler was called 3 times for charging. I ignored the first two because we were winning big, but on the third one, I politely asked the ref what he saw. He told me that as soon as my guard puts her shoulder down as she is dribbling past a defender, she is guilty of a charge. I told him that I never heard of that, and that in making a block/charge determination, the first thing to do is to determine whether the defensive guard had a legal guarding position. If yes, then it's probably a charge (unless incidental contact). If no, then it's probably a block (unless incidental contact). The position of my dribbler's shoulder has nothing to do with anything unless she uses it aggressively, in which case it may be another type of penalty but not a block/charge issue. My guard just lowers her shoulder to create a smaller target to try to scoot her way through. It is by no means an offensive move, such as an excessive elbow. This guy will be officiating at other games this year and I want to set him straight if I am right. #2, I'm wearing my ref hat for this: I am officiating at the same Rec league level and one team has an outstanding dribbler. The table people and opposing coach tell me to watch #3, she carries the ball while dribbling. I then focus on her and discover that this 14 year old 8th grade girl already knows how to do what every NBA and college player and many HS players do, she lets the ball rest momentarily (we're talking less than a second) in the palm of her hand while dribbling. This is somewhat hard to articulate but I think we all know what I mean and we all have seen this. She gains no advantage nor does the defense suffer a disadvantage. (P.S.: I have coached against her and would never dream of asking for a violation call against her.) She is just a damn good dribbler. The "carry" occurs while advancing the ball and no additional steps occur than if she did not turn her palm upward. After I saw what I saw, I told the coaches that I would not call her for this because I feel that it's a coaching responsibility to teach her otherwise, not mine as an official. The rule says "palm skyward", which she does, but as I understand the rule, palming/carrying is really a form of a travel or a double dribble and in my opinion, she did not violate. It is not a violation in and of itself. Your thoughts? Would you call her for this?
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