[Rich1]

This thread has really gotten into my head so I have spent a lot of time digging and thinking about it to see if I could come up with an answer that is satisfactory (for me, at least).

I think it is safe to say that for the most part we have established the basic tenets of FC/BC and the exceptions to it mentioned earlier. What we are not confident about are the "scenarios" referenced in this thread involving B1 in the front court swatting the ball with A1 catching it in the back court.

After days of exhausting research and painful contemplation I have concluded that the proposed scenarios are NOT A BACK COURT VIOLATION.

I have based this conclusion on the following:

1) After searching through years of my own files as well as the "old interps" thread on this forum, I can find no caseplay that declares this to be a violation. If I missed it and you know where it is please share. There are other caseplays which have similar components but not one that specifically states it is a violation for A1 to catch the ball whike standing in the BC after it was batted there by B1.

2) Rule 9-9-1 specifically states that there must be team control in the front court for there to be a BC violation. In the scenarios being discussed Team A has team control in the BC only. If you are thinking that when B1 touches the ball giving it FC status and that since Team A retains team control per Rule 4-12, the last part of 9-9-1 let's Team A off the hook since they were not the last to touch it in the FC.

3) Rule 9-9-2 specifically references team control in the back court and again establishes that it is only a violation if Team A was the last to touch the ball in the FC.

4) An emphasis has been placed on "Team A was not the last to touch the ball in the front court" by rule and interpretation. Not only does it appear in this years casebook (9.9.1c) but in interpretations from past years as well. Thus, the clear "intent" of the rule is that for there to be a violation Team A must meet the "last to touch, first to touch" criteria.

5) Much of the dilemna has centered on whether or not A1 catching the ball causes the violation. To answer this we can turn to 4-4-1 which states that a ball is considered to be in the BC if it is touching a player in the BC. Rule 4-4-4 further states that a ball touching a player is the same as the ball touching the floor at that players location. Because A1 is standing in the BC as soon as he catches the ball it is also in the BC.

With all of the above considered, if I see A1 dribbling in the BC (or pass the ball from the BC to the FC) and B1 while standing in the FC swats the ball back into the BC, I will not call a violation. Until I see something definitive in writing or someone else really sells me on a different way to understand this, I can sleep at night knowing using the "last to touch/first to touch" criteria to determine backcourt violations.