High Dribble

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Camron,
I'm at a loss as to what point you are trying to make, but I certainly can tell you the intent and purpose of the rule against striking the ball with a closed fist. It's player safety. Quite simply the NFHS does not want players making a fist and taking swings on the court. The intent of the player may well be to strike the ball, but if he misses or another player jumps in the way and he clocks him we very likely have an injury. So the NFHS deemed that it was unsafe to attempt to play the ball in this manner and banned it. Even if there is no one around the official has a duty to penalize this action when done so that the players learn that it is unacceptable and don't get in the habit of doing it. The danger must be stamped out of the game.

Well said.

[Adam]

I've never seen it done, although I've seen a defender try it in a crowd. She missed the ball and hit the ball handler in the chest. I had a perfect angle, and think I had a very good read on her intent. I called the foul and started straight for her coach (AAU game).

He's whining the whole way about making that "ticky-tack" call after letting stuff go that he'd wanted me to call. I stopped him when I got there and told him what happened, and that I didn't want to hear anything from him the rest of the game (he was a real chirper). He could tell I was pissed, and he didn't say a word to me except for "Timeout" the rest of the game.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I've never seen it done, although I've seen a defender try it in a crowd. She missed the ball and hit the ball handler in the chest. I had a perfect angle, and think I had a very good read on her intent. I called the foul and started straight for her coach (AAU game).

He's whining the whole way about making that "ticky-tack" call after letting stuff go that he'd wanted me to call. I stopped him when I got there and told him what happened, and that I didn't want to hear anything from him the rest of the game (he was a real chirper). He could tell I was pissed, and he didn't say a word to me except for "Timeout" the rest of the game.

Excellent example because from another vantage point or another person's perception the action could well have been taken to be one player simply punching another in a crowd. Now we not only have an opinion to penalize with a flagrant personal foul, if this other observer is a coach, evaluator, or an official, but the possibility of retaliation and escalation to a fight if our other viewer is player in the game who has just seen his/her teammate get punched.

[Adam]

Right, and there's no way in he11 I was going with a no-call. Frankly, I wondered later if I should have gone with an intentional personal. What I did worked well enough for that game, but....