Shorts with pockets
 

Legal? My common sense says no, but I don't think my rule book specifies. Does anyone have a definitive answer?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I'm pretty sure it's not addressed in the rules.

If there's no rule against it....

Just as long as you dont start seeing Hoover Flags. Might be a few members here that may remember those...

As a Social Studies teacher, I approve of this comment.

3.5.1 says this about your question (and goes to strings being exposed, as mentioned earlier in another post):

The referee shall not permit any team member to wear equipment or apparel which, in his/her judgment, is dangerous or confusing to other players or is not appropriate.

NOTE: Each state association may, in keeping with applicable laws, authorize exceptions to NFHS playing rules to provide reasonable accommodations to individual participants with disabilities and/or special needs, as well as those individuals with unique and extenuating circumstances. The accommodations should not fundamentally alter the sport, heighten risk to the athlete/others or place opponents at a disadvantage.


With respect to rolling waist bands in order to shorten the length of shorts worn by players:

3.5.5

Equipment which is unnatural and/or designed to increase a team member’s height or vertical reach or to gain a competitive advantage shall not be permitted. Equipment and apparel shall not be modified from the original manufactured state and shall be worn in the manner the manufacturer intended it to be worn.

If you think pockets are dangerous, then go ahead and disallow the shorts.

I'm not.

How about belts?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

You just had to ask, didn't you?

Why would anyone even think about this question? Seriously?

I don't know, I always thought pockets on the bums were ok, while those on the side were illegal. I myself have pockets in my pants. The more pressing question is are socks mandatory?

Water Color Memories ...
 

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M...=0&w=193&h=172

Fifty years ago, several high school teams in our league wore belted shorts.

What Happens In The Sock Drawer, Stays In The Sock Drawer ...
 

Please. Can we all hope and pray that the NFHS stays out of a player's sock drawer?

If you see a player belt another player, it's an automatic flagrant foul with an ejection. The exception would be if he belted a player on his own team. In that case, just wait for the moms of the two players to come down out of the bleachers and hope they're hot.

You'd be surprised. One weekend youth league I worked in Virginia last year had a specific and revered anti-pockets rule. A partner actually made a team forfeit a game once because of this, and the league supported it! I was dumbfounded; figured a Head Coach T would have been enough to make the point, but the league truly felt that pockets were a safety concern.

But as to an NFHS game, I agree, there is no restriction on pockets. And I, for one, would not consider them a safety concern.

Yeah, but you never know what might be IN those pockets ... :rolleyes:

Thanks all. I think I was thrown for a loop because I've never actually seen shorts in a normal high school game, just summer league/AAU stuff. But sure enough, no rule prohibiting them = Play on!!

When I reffed IM flag football in college the university rec program had a policy against pockets during games. Apparently they'd had problems with people messing up their fingers/getting them caught in pockets when they would reach for flags. So I can see the safety issue there. Not so much in basketball IMO.

I've been playing hoops before work for 20 years (yikes, I hadn't realized that till just now!), and I and many others have pockets. I've never seen a single issue. (Yes, a V game is more intense, but I still think those who object have a solution searching for a problem.)

Flag football is great for dislocating fingers in anything, it got banned when I was in elementary school because every week a finger got popped.