swinging elbow rules refresher
 

high school rules -

I was watching a former player of mine playing on her new team this weekend and was concerned about the coaching she was receiving. What I saw in my mind was a blatant disregard for the safety of the players.

Now I am no choir boy when it comes to bending the rules (especially in the post) - I admittedly teach my kids to travel when drop stepping (I also explain why it is a travel and what the correct method is which I never knew before joining this board), I teach them how to hand fight to shed the defense who's holding them, etc.

In case I may have missed something in the last few years, here is the situation: Tied ball on a rebound. Player A in order to shed the defense trying to grab the ball and/or hanging on their arms, swings his/her elbows - but the feet never move (i.e. there is no pivot). The reaction of the fans led me to believe that this was something they work on in practice.

It is my understanding that a player may not swing their elbows; however, It is legal to pivot with your elbows extended. At one point, I believe the violation for flailing the elbows was a technical regardless of contact. Is that still correct? Is there any other rule regarding similar situations? etc.

As always, thanks for your input.

Swinging elbows is no longer a technical, unless it's deemed to be "fighting." It is, however, a violation. The change was made so it would be ignored less often by officials.

That said, if the player's torso is moving and she's trying to get the ball away from the defender, most officials will let this go. If it's the "get away from me" space-clearing elbow swing, that's when the whistle will generally blow.

Excessive swinging of the elbows = violation

If the elbows are moving only with the entire torso, I've got nothing. If the elbows are moving more than the torso, I may have an elbows violation. If an elbow makes contact with a defender, I've probably got a foul on the offense.

Did have an "interesting" one last season. Punk kid bringing the ball up against pressure is forced to pick up his dribble in back court. As the defender closes in, the kid brings up his elbow in a very definite threatening posture. Based on the tone of the game, and without really thinking about it, I hit the whistle. Then came the oh crap moment when I realized I didn't really have a call beyond, "Not in my game, punk". There was no contact. Didn't think I could sell an unsporting T. An IW wasn't going to help the game. Went with the excessive elbows violation. Didn't hear a peep from anybody about it. Not sure I'm going to add this to my bag o' tricks, but it worked once ;)

Given your description and your reaction to the movement, it seems that the right call was indeed an unsporting T and not worrying about what you could sell.