[DougHogg]

Originally Posted by AmyPrib

Yes, but since goaltending is the act of impeding a balls downward flight toward a goal... and a 2x is considered part of the robot in the case of goaltending... then once you grab and have hold of that 2x ball, if you're still in the way of someone's shot, you can get called for goaltending. It doesn't matter what the intention was.

Yes they may be retrieving a 2x ball from the goal, but you gotta do it quick. That's just part of the game. Most times I see the mobile goal being uncapped before it's been moved, and I haven't seen too many uncappings of the stny goal, but the ones I have seen, it's right at the end of the match... So far, I haven't really seen goaltending a big issue anyways, I think a lot of strategies haven't called for it.... or else everyone's afraid of getting called for it, so they play their own offense.

I do understand that. Actually I am not talking about intention at this point. If the yellow ball is on red's mobile goal, then red can't score in that goal. If blue grabs the yellow ball to remove it, it is clear that they are not goal tending as the goal was blocked. In basketball, you have to DO something to PREVENT a ball from going in to be called for goaltending. In this case, the blue team is actually making it possible for a ball to go in. That clearly is not goal tending, since their action is one of making it possible to score and not one of making it impossible to score.

True, someone could decide that that action is goal tending. Well now we are talking about the definition of goal tending, but since it comes from basketball, it sure isn't defined as removing a ball so that someone can score.

Dave makes a good point about the fact that our referees have very limited experience. I think in this case that could be handled by telling them that if the ball is on a goal and a team goes to remove it, it isn't goal tending. If a team goes to put a yellow ball on their opponent's goal, it is goal tending if a ball strikes the yellow ball. I think that everyone could live with that interpretation, and I doubt if it would be a hard rule for the referees to deal with.

However, as you say, it hasn't been a big issue anyway, so we will all survive whatever the interpretation of the rule. My only grip is that I would like to see teams validated for picking up the mobile-goal yellow balls as per the kickoff instead of getting a penalty flag, which to me has a stigma of "you did a no-no". It's a little like saying, "We are going to reward you for doing such-and-such" and then saying, "You were bad for doing such-and-such". In other words, it's inconsistent with the game as presented. The game as presented in the kickoff to me is the "Constitution" of the game, and that should be held up as the model to follow, with subsequent rules aligning with it. Otherwise, we get teams building robots and then finding that their robot isn't valid for the game as it came to be interpreted later.

I guess that's it. I just don't want the game changed from the way it was presented in the kickoff. And to me, ruling that picking up a yellow ball is goal tending IS a change from what we were told to do to win.