Quote:
Originally posted by Rbn3
I coach a 6th grade travel team and one of the major things I'm trying to accomplish is to teach the kids the rules. I was a poor high school player many years ago in the "pre-hand check" era. I'm glad to see a trend back to that era, but it is still a bit vague to me. I have read the POE for this year and it starts with "hands off". Seems very clear to me. But I still see alot of teams coached by guys younger than me who have obviously taught their kids to "use their hands as their second eyes" - often this goes beyond simply "tagging" the offensive player to find him. My guy is standing at the wing and their guy is next to him with his hand on my guy's chest. I tell my kids that they themselves are not permitted to do that, that defense is played with the eyes and feet, etc. etc. Then they ask me if it's againt the rules. If it is, it never seems to be called.
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Do not make it complicated. Every rule has some interpretation and practice to it. Handchecking is is no different than the application of the "Resume-Play Procedure." You are going to have different officials interpret the rules differently and apply the rules based on their judgement. If your kids are in my game, I am going to do whatever I can to prevent making a handchecking call. Now this is me, this might not be everyone. I let the play and the kids determine what and how that will be called. If I have a lot of pushing, and the defenders and offense are constantly using their hands to get position or keep position, I have no problem calling it. But if players are not purposely using their hands to accomplish but there hands and not displacing other players, it is going to be very hard to call something just because their hands are on another player.
I big part of the handchecking rule has to do with displacement, control and directing a player in order to be a foul call. If these things are not present, you cannot have a foul.
The biggest problem that players and coaches get themselves into, is that they do not adjust the the officials calling that game. It would be perfect if all officials called the game exactly the same with the same applications a 100% of the time. But we all do not have the same skill and the same training. And if your kids any you learn to adjust to what the officials are calling, you will go a long way in being successful. No different than a strike zone in baseball. If you have an umpire that is calling pitches just on the outside of the plate, as a batter you better be swinging at those pitches, and as a pitcher you better be throwing there. Judgement is a big part of sports, and basketball might we might have more affect on the style of play or what players are doing in a particular game.
Peace