Pushing through screens

[coachgbert]

When do you blow the whistle to "keep players safe"? We have played a lot of tournament games with significant incidental contact and never heard a whistle. A lot of parents in the stands want calls because the screenee runs hard into a screen and crumples to the floor. The screener pivots and continues with the game. I don't remember one call this past 9 weeks over an illegal screen unless it was for a stuck out elbow or hip or someone was moving when they tried to set a screen. There are lots of screens with contact, we tell the girls to get up off the floor and get back in the game. Often the screener is knocked over too, we tell her the same thing. The parents are the ones that think if you breathe on a player it's a foul.

Our motto in tournament season is "no foul, just play through it". If the official thinks it's a foul he'll let you know. My girls (current 8th graders) are much stronger going to the basket now since they know there could be contact and expect it.

Coach G-bert