Handchecking?

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by truerookie

Technically, Isn't handchecking a push?

Not necessarily. First LHSAA rules clinic I ever attended, I believe handchecking may have been a POE for NFHS that year, and it definitely was that night. It was emphasized that a defender was not allowed to use contact to measure his opponent. Displacement, holding, pushing, excessive anything was not necessary, but the mere fact of the contact, it was stated, gives the defender an advantage, and should be called a foul. When I assessed this philosophy and tried to apply a specific point in the rulebook, I came up with the following: 10-6-1: A player shall not hold, push, charge, trip, or impede the progress of an opponent by extending arm...................
Contact, no matter how slight, allows the defender to use his sense of touch along with his sense of sight, to anticipate the movement of his opponent and work to, yes, impede his progress. So, do I call a foul every time the defender grazes the dribbler with a fingernail? No. But when the defender does have a hand on the dribbler and I do call it a foul, I see no way that anyone can say it was not a foul.