Backcourt ruling (NHFS rules)

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by KCRef

This made me think of an interesting situation. What if a player is dribbling from the backcourt to the frontcourt while hopping on one foot? Does the three point rule apply? I would say, no, but it seems that it is within the rules if after a couple of hops in the frontcourt, he were to return to the backcourt.

About five years ago, I designed a play in which a player who is dribbling in the backcourt begins hopping on one foot and then proceeds to dribble into the FT lane in the frontcourt, turn around and return to his backcourt. THe player dribbles and hops on the same foot the entire time. I posted it on this very forum. It was an absurd play thought up specifically to test one's understanding of the backcourt rule. The answer is that this is not a violation of the backcourt rule, nor is it a travel. If the player dribbles the whole time, then traveling is impossible, and since the second foot never touches the frontcourt the player does not achieve frontcourt status, thus a backcourt violation is also impossible. The official must be sharp enough to continue the ten second backcourt count though!