Why are intentional fouls (2 shots & possession) rarely called in youth games.

[Loudwhistle]

My guess is your officials are very inexperienced and possibly volunteer and may not know what an intentional foul is. I see the same thing in our youth league games that I reff. Most of the time I'm the only certified reff and I "get" partners to work with that are HS basketball players or a parent that played in HS 10 years ago. I do 30-40 youth games (all volunteer) a year and I rarely (1 a year) call an intentional foul at this level. The players don't play "dirty" at this level generally whereas in HS some kids will push with two hands when a layup is attempted especially if it is their last foul. In youth league it seems they are playing the ball all the way to the hoop and just don't have good control of their bodies so bad collisions do occur, yet these fouls are not intentional due to the low skill of the players. These same collisions in HS wouldn't be an intentional foul either as long as the player made a legitimate attempt to block the ball. Sure there was contact but was it a "hard" abnormal collision? One would have to see it to really determine (where's Clark again with a utube) if it were intentional.
Good Luck, thanks for coaching America's Youth!