Kicking Violation Philosophy

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

M & M and Ronny:


I agree with the exceptions that you have pointed out. M&M's play where the player laying on the floor and "intentionally" grabbed the ball between his knees is a violation; and Ronny's play where a player stops a rolling ball by "intentionally" moving his foot to a place on the court to stop the ball; excellent examples of kicking violations that one would not associate with the act of kicking a ball. In fact, I had Ronny's play a few weeks ago in a girl's H.S. game where the girl had the ball roll up her leg so she could grab it with her hands without bending over.

The points that I have been trying to make throughout this entire thread are: (1) Kicking is an intentional act; (2) That except for very few exceptions, if the foot is in contact with the floor when contact between between the ball and the leg occurs, no violation has occured; and (3) That unless the kicking in intentional it is not a violation even if the contact creates an advantage for the player who kicked the ball, no violation has occured.

What troubles me the most is I see far too many kicking violations when an offensive player either throws a pass or dribbles the ball and the ball makes contact with the leg or foot of a defender who is only moving his feet to maintain a legal guarding postion or move to another positios on the court. Those actions by the defender do not constitute a kicking violation. Juulie made a great point about hoe B1 jumps straight up and A1 attempts a pass the ball under B1 and the ball makes contact with B1's legs or feet while he is in the air: no violation has occured. More and more officials are adopting the mind set that if the leg or foot made contact with the ball it is always a violation and it is not.

MTD, Sr.