Linebacker Playing Basketball!
 

I've had a couple of games with about a 300 pound 6'2" player. A question I have is how much contact should I allow the opponents in order for me to call a charge? Basically what's happening is much smaller guards are bouncing off this guy and they aren't moving him back enough that I can really tell how much contact was made due to his large size, (usually I'm lead and can only see his back) sometimes when the "train wreck" is about to happen and I'm watching the defense for LGP, nothing happens except the richochete. In my mind I'm expecting the force of the hit to stagger or flatten a defensive normal player but the "rock" aint moving! I want to be fair to this big guy and call the charge even though he's not displaced by players half his weight. Can anyone give me some advice from past experience with large players, boys or girls? Thanks!

Is the big guy hindered from performing normal defensive moves? No? Then no foul. The foul call isn't to "reward the defense" but to penalize the offense. If what they do doesn't gain them an illegal advantage, there's no need for the foul. I'm not talking about the kinds of fouls where the dribbler lowers the shoulder and just drives football style into the defender. Just the contact where you're kinda wondering, hmmm, was it or wasn't it a foul?

Where did they find a uniform to fit her? :rolleyes:

Don't over-analyze it. If the big guy has LGP and you're not calling the foul on him (and rightly so IMO), the other team had better learn that or they're gonna keep picking themselves off the floor without anything to show for it......Don't penalize him for just being big.

Thanks for the thoughts, I'm right in line with Juulie and Grunewar. Looks weird on the bounce back but I haven't been calling a foul.

Years ago I had a girls' 8th grade game. Team A had a center, A5, who was about 5'-10" and 165 lbm. Team B had a point guard, B1, who was about 4'-08" and 90 lbm. B1 was being guarded by A1 and did a spin move around A1 and slammed right into a stationary A5. B1 managed to hold onto the ball but bounced right off A5 and landed on her tuchus while holding the ball. I signaled traveling, followed by a TF to B-HC who went nuclear on the traveling call.

MTD, Sr.

Mark - as always, thanks for using the word "tuchus" in a post! A seldom used art!! :D

I seemed to never get calls like that back in the day either, 6'5 260 or so in hs, and officials seemed to allow the opposition quite a bit leeway whacking away at me but I seemed to draw a quick tweet whenever I started leaning on a smaller defender some. I didn't shy away from contact, so no biggee, but stuff does hurt, even if others may think you're big enough and strong enough to handle it.

Here's the skinny, at least in my book, if you would have called a charge with a smaller defender, then you should call it when it involves a larger defender, too.

The definition of a personal foul - "a player foul which involves illegal contact with an opponent while the ball is live, which hinders an opponent from performing normal defensive and offensive movements."

While I understand your point, how does a 120 lb person slamming into a stationary, 250 lb person who has LGP and subsequently bounces off of him to the floor deserve a foul IAW above definition?

How has the defender been "hindered? He didn't move.

Right. And contrariwise, when a very large defender breathes wrong on a little teeny dribbler there's a huge disadvantage conferred with almost no contact at all. Does that mean that the huge player needs to be more careful when playing opposite the little one? Well, yea, sorry, Dan, that's just the way it goes.

I concur, Dan74.
Repeated contact with a Big Guy can take a toll. It can wear a guy out or make his body involuntarily flinch at potential contact. It can take a mental toll on his shot.
Unlike others, I am continually looking for ways to not disadvantage "size".