Falling and handling

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

"Unnatural position" is an aid for us to determine whether the player is deliberately using her hands or not.

Here's the problem: We don't always use the aid that way.

Imagine a player has his arms outstretched or over his head, and the ball accidently blasts into them. We view that as handling, even though it was clearly ball-to-hand/arm. Since that player "made himself bigger" through the unnatural position, the fact that the ball/arm contact wasn't deliberate is irrelevant. There are many times we whistle handling when deliberate contact isn't the case.

In any case, the natural position of the arms on a falling player is in front in a bracing position.

With that, I can agree. Perhaps my definition of natural position is too narrow. I see natural position, simply put, as arms/hands at one's side. I haven't found any documentation that states otherwise. If you know of any, I'd love to see it.