Q from 1st Year: Tight Sideline Inbounds Plays
 

Some environments I've been in (rec league mostly) provide a very limited amount of space for inbound throwers to stand.

Say I have an inbound play on a sideline in front of opposing team bench.
Player has maybe 18 inches of space between players feet and the sideline.

I have defender stand back to allow room.

Can the thrower step onto the court legally to make the throw in?
Why do I not know the answer to this?

No, he cannot.

Some smaller than regulation courts may have restraining lines for inbounding purposes. But that is an exception and generally the court is set up that way and it is part of the pre-game conference. But, in rec league.....

If we're going strictly by the book....

If there is less than 3' of space outside the boundary line, a new, temporary boundary line should exist for the purpose of the throwin. It "should" be painted on the court. For the purposes of the throwin, it is the only line that exists until the ball crosses that line on the throwin....meaning that the defense can't step past it and the thrower can step up to but not over it. It is treated like any normal boundary line, in every respect, until the throwin crosses it.

And if there is no temporary line painted on the court, but there is less than 3 feet of space, and we require the defender to give the thrower 3 feet...then we have effectively drawn an invisible line there and all of what you have said still applies, does it not?

If I back the defender up from the sideline, I"ll create an artificial line for the thrower as well. But that isn't necessarily obvious from the rules. It's just how I do things.

In practice, I would apply it that way. In fact, I've seen a couple really old courts where the space outside some of the boundary lines is less than the length of a an average size shoe....not even possible for a thrower to not step across the main line unless you plan on making them stand sideways.

I've been in auxilary gyms that makes a match box look spacious where it was impossible not to have toes over the line. You back the defender up and tell them no closer and tell the kid inbounding "don't worry about your feet. You do the best you can with you have to work with.