Elbows

[Scrapper1]

Ump, excessively swinging the elbows is a violation, NFHS 9-13. By definition, "excessively" means "faster than the torso is rotating" (4-24-8a). It is legal, to hold the ball to your chest or under your chin with your elbows extended (9-13-2), but that doesn't make it legal to contact an opponent with those elbows.

If a player has the ball in that position and pivots, planting his elbow into an opponent's face or chest, it's possible that there should be a personal foul called against the player with the ball. It's something that you'd have to see to give an informed opinion, obviously; but (1) it's legal to hold the ball like that and (2) it's not legal to knock somebody on their butt by putting an elbow into their chest.