Interrupted dribble situation

[BillyMac]

NFHS 9-5 5: Illegal Dribble: A player shall not dribble a second time after his/her first dribble has ended, unless it is after he/she has lost control because of:
ART.3...A pass or fumble which has then touched, or been touched by, another player.
NFHS 4-21: A fumble is the accidental loss of player control when the ball unintentionally drops or slips from a player’s grasp.

I'm sure that A1 did not intentionally dribble the ball off his leg, so it must have been unintentional and accidental. There is no player control during an interrupted dribble (4-15-5: An interrupted dribble occurs when the ball is loose after deflecting off the dribbler or after it momentarily gets away from the dribbler. There is no player control during an interrupted dribble), so A1 did lose player control. As Camron Rust has pointed out: "A fumble is something that occurs when someone is holding the ball". So the key word here is grasp. The ball may have slipped from his hand, but not from his grasp, during his dribble, causing the situation you have presented.

Everything hinges on the word grasp. It appears that Camron Rust is correct, "you have found a hole in the rules". If this had happened in my game, I would allow A1 to play on, and with the exception your IHSAA clinician, I'm going to guess that most officials would do the same as me.

[BillyMac]

"To take hold of or seize firmly with or as if with the hand".
"To clasp firmly with or as if with the hand".
"To make a motion of seizing, snatching, or clutching".

Three definitions of grasp are stated above. The first two imply, as Camron Rust pointed out, that a player can only fumble after holding the ball, note the word hold, in the first definition.

However, note the third definition. A player could be considered to grasp the ball if they were only making a motion to seize, snatch, or clutch, the ball, without actually seizing, snatching, clutching, or in essence, holding, the ball. Thus the definition of fumble becomes an accidental loss of player control when the ball unintentionally drops or slips from a player’s motion of seizing, snatching, or clutching. Thus, without knowing A's intent the last time he touched the ball on his first dribble, maybe he was about to pick up his dribble, this situation could, with a stretch, be considered a fumble, that was touched by another player, thus ending the first dribble.

That's my story, but, this time, I'm not sticking to it. I gave it my best shot. I'm tired of filling in the holes left by the NFHS. I'm putting my shovel back in the tool shed, because I don't think I like what I'm shoveling. I've got a headache. "Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Wherever you are!"