Can Refs Help Improve Youth Play (Videos)

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by ccrroo

First video. It has to be a charge/block right? (LOL).
So my thoughts. We're trying to teach 7th graders how to take a charge. They have a right to space especially with an out of control offense that lowers their shoulder. So why wouldn't a ref give the benefit of the doubt to this player:

So maybe it was block. But why wouldn't this reach be called in video 2. In video 1 the defender is trying to play nice fundamental defense. In this video 2, he just plainly reaches into the offenses body. No foul called.

Hard to tell for certain from the angle in the video but I see a defender that was leaning, to some degree, beyond the position he obtained. That could make it a block. If your shoulders are not above your feet, your shoulder is not in legal position. As for the lowered shoulder by the offense....don't care. If the defense isn't legal, it doesn't really matter much unless it is extreme. Only the defense has rules governing legal position. If they're not in it and there is body to body contact, the foul is on the defender. Most players, when running or making a move, have their shoulder lowered to some degree.

Originally Posted by ccrroo

In my naive world, at the 7th grade level, as a ref --- I think I would be encouraging the defense in video 1 vs the defense in video 2. Yet it's not called that way. The sloppy way is rewarded.

In video 2, I can't tell you for sure that there was even contact. There could have been...but it is inconclusive.

It is all about angles. When you have the wrong angle, a lot of things look like something they're not.