Elbow Swinging II

[rhartod]

Getting back to the original post...I have been officiating for four years and have found that this call (excessive swinging of the elbows violation) is one that gives me and my partners a lot grief with the coaches. Simply put...the coaches don't know this rule. I commonly get the, "I have never heard of that before" or the "show me in the rule book where that is..." or the "there was no contact...how can that be a violation???", etc....

Coaches have the same rule book that I have. It couldn't be clearer that excessive swinging of the elbows is a violation. I believe it was changed a few years back from a technical foul to a violation so that more officials would call this to help prevent contact/injury. The only way that coaches and players will learn is if we make the call consistently.