[BillyMac]

From BillyMac's original post:
"I called a violation for excessivly swinging elbows (no contact). I used to call this a few times a season many years ago when it was only a violation. When the penalty changed to a technical foul, I never called it, because I thought the penalty was too severe. Since it has changed back to a violation, I hadn't called it until tonight."

From Juggling Referee's Reply:
"This frustrates me! Do others in your local choose what rules to enforce? How do you communicate to the coaches which rules you'll not use in the game at hand?"

Reply to JugglingReferee:
In general, I would agree with your statement that individual or local interpretations frustrate you and me both, but in this specific case, it appears that a lot of officials, nationwide, were not calling this technical foul. According to the 2002-03 NFHS Rule Book, page 4, Comments on the Rules Revisions: The penalty for excessive swinging of the elbows was changed back to a violation from a technical foul. The previous rule of a technical foul (changed in 1993-94) was very seldom called, as the penalty was very severe, without contact with an opponent. The committee hoped that by changing this infraction back to an enforceable and less severe penalty (a violation), that the call would be made more frequently and will acheived the desired result of reducing the potential of rough play.