Section 15B.5.10; Arm position while screening
Comments about this discussion:
Started
Background
The arm position during sreening is currently very restrictive.
Rule change proposal
Change
has each arm either bent along the chest or lying along the torso (typically with the hand holding the saddle) and
into
has each arm either bent along the chest, lying along the torso (typically with the hand holding the saddle), or vertical with the hands up, and
Justification
One might complain that, for example, screening while having hands up should be allowed. Or even with any position of the arms. One could even argue that twisting should be allowed as the cylinder is not modified by this action. I think only having hands up should be added to the allowed positions.
Comment
Isn't it clearer that the player is trying to place a screen with the original proposal? Hands up is a more common position while defending (no strong opinion here).
Comment
The original comment from Nikolay was the following:
The rule seems to be too specific. Why not hands up, for example? I can do a legal hands-up screen in pedestrian basketball. I believe FIBA does not use such specific language at all - FIBA talks the “language" of cylinder principle. Maybe the Rulebook should refer to FIBA rules for screens and add that idling into a player is not allowed (although it is anyway not allowed by FIBA rules - idling changes player’s cylinder)?
The ban of twisting (as far as screenings are concerned) directly contradicts to FIBA rules. FIBA does specifically allow players to turn within their cylinders. If a twisting player turns within their cylinder, this should be a legal move.
My opnion on that is the following:
The FIBA rules clearly state that the screening player must be stationary (at least during the contact). Moreover, a wheel contact can quickly break the balance. For those reasons, I think banning any non-vertical move of the wheel makes sense.
Concerning the position of the arms, having the hands up seems to me rather unusual during a screening, but I rarely watch basketball so I clearly may be wrong. What one wants is that the player is clearly not using their arms to push back the opponent.
In fact, Nikolay is the only one that I heard complaining about the arms/hands position during screening, and I slightly prefer not to modify the current rule. I would like to hear the opinion of the other members of the subcommittee, and in particular the ones that are regularly playing, or at least watching, on-foot basketball.
Comment
I am ok, with not modifying the current rule. Does it state if the rider can be hopping to stabilize? Should we talk about that?
Some people argue that in basketball, jumping while screening is not allowed. But in unicycling, hopping is a part of maintaining balance. What do you guys think?
Comment
Here is the current complete section 15b.5.10 Screenings:
Screening is only allowed if the player has each arm either bent along the chest or lying along the torso (typically with the hand holding the saddle) and keeps a stable position without changing the orientation of the wheel. Therefore, being in stand still or hopping while respecting these rules are allowed, while idling and twisting are not (as far as screenings are concerned).
So hopping is explicitly allowed, and it is so because screening may last more than a fraction of second and hopping allows to maintain balance for a longer time. However, I think I stop hopping when the blocked player starts to move, probably to be in a clean legal guarding position if a contact occurs.