Held Ball ???
 

4-25-1: A held ball occurs when: Opponents have their hands so firmly on the ball that control cannot be obtained without undue roughness.

Saw these similar plays twice last night in a state tournament game officiated by two of our best officials, and good friends of mine, one a state final official last season.

A1 and B1 simultaneously grab a rebound, with both having two hands firmly on the ball. In both plays A1 did not move her feet at all during the play. In the first play, B1 tried to pull the ball away from A1, was unable to do so, and took some extra steps while trying to pivot. In the second play, B1 tried to pull the ball away from A1, was unable to do so, and took some extra steps while trying, in vain, to start a dribble.

Both plays were called in a split second as a travel by B1, in both cases with the whistle sounding with all four hands still firmly on the ball.

From the bleachers, I viewed both of these as held balls (opponents … hands so firmly on the ball that control cannot be obtained without undue roughness).

Am I wrong?

Its a judgement call as to when that threshold has been reached. Some officials deem it to be a lower threshold than others and if the temperature of the game is turning up, the threshold goes down even further.

The threshold is already pretty low in a girls game to begin with.

When it comes to player control, I treat travels the same was as time out requests. One player must be in control of the ball, not two opponents.

I think of it the same way as ChuckS.

In your case it was on a simultaneous rebound. This is about as pure of a case as you can get for a held ball, since no possession had been established.