Thread: Legal contacts?
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Old Mon Aug 06, 2001, 11:56am
Brian Watson Brian Watson is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 1,051
You will not find a "true" definition of an illegal hit, because it lies in the judgement of the official.

The books directs us to not allow the ball to come to rest or be redirected in a manner that causes prolonged contact.

So how does this help you? Probably not a whole lot on the definition, but you will need to get to "know" your local officials. Some - like me- call a "looser" game preferred by the USVB. Other call a "tighter" game like the fed prefers. The only way you can judge the official as being "right" or "wrong" is by their consistency. If they let a hit go once, they should always let it go. Remember that some hits do take us by surprise. I'll be up on the stand thinking why didn't someone call that illegal, oh wait, I call that?!?!? Consistency is the key. Remember this though : Ugly does not mean bad. There are many hits that will make you cringe, but are legal.

As far as a two handed attack, this again is up to the official. If it is a "dump" off a block or a result of a weak attack by the other team, I'll let it go if it does not look like prolonged contact or multple hits. This is where the two handed attacks go wrong. They might not be "illegal" but there are multiple hits.
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