Hand Check

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I don't get this. There's no need to "measure up." These players aren't blind, they can see how close the offense is.

The FED has mentioned numerous times in POE's that "tagging" or "measuring up" by a defender should be called a foul every time. In real life......

From the 2002-03 rulebook:
POE #4A: "The measuring up of an opponent(tagging) is hand-checking, is not permitted, and is a FOUL." The word "FOUL" was emphasized in capital letters in the POE.

[Raymond]

I'm not going to speak on how and when it should be called. I'll just say, that in my experiences, failure to call hand-checks is the most complained about "missed foul" I hear most from supervisors and camp observers.

So, if you are trying to get a feel for how to call it, then listen to how your supervisor says he/she wants it called and watch officials you respect to get a sense and feel of how they call handchecks.

When in doubt I tend to lean towards making the call and doing it early in the game. The players adjust when they see that you are going to make that call consistently.

My ugliest game of this season was a private school (not much talent) X-mas tourny game where I let too much hand-checking and bodying up occur when one team began pressing in the 3rd quarter. The whole game went in the crapper from that point on. I still kick myself for that game.