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Old Tue Aug 16, 2005, 04:14am
Nevadaref Nevadaref is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2002
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Quote:
Originally posted by assignmentmaker

Finally, "A player can sit facing the sideline if he wants, as long as he's not doing anything else that might be disconcerting to the FT shooter."

Doing what you describe is inherently disconcerting, and will get the floor dangerously wet in some cases.

Jeff,
JR and I have gone to great lengths and supplied specific rule citations in an effort to let you know what exactly is and what is not legal during FTs. If you choose to ignore our advice that is up to you.

However, while in my opinion the action described above is not a FT violation, nor is it inherently disconcerting to the FT shooter, I think that you have a good case for disallowing it if you approach it as a safety issue.

I don't believe that the floor getting wet is weighty enough to win the case, but contending that the player is positioning himself in such a way that he is quite likely to be stepped on, which both puts himself in danger and poses a danger to the player who will step on him while looking up at the ball while attempting to rebound (e.g. turned ankle), gives you good reason to invoke the NFHS principle on player safety.

So my advice to you is that if you tell a player that he can't sit, then say it is a safety issue. The NFHS has stated many times that player safety is one of their top priorities.

Best wishes.

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