Lesson #20: Illegal contact and multiplayer block penalties

by Stephen Lorimor / Axis of Stevil

Watch lesson #20a (Illegal contact penalties) and lesson 20b (Multiplayer block penalties).

Last updated: January 9, 2019

Concepts

• A skater’s direction is determined by the motion of their skates.

  • If the skates are moving in opposite directions, use the hips instead.

• Blocks initiated while moving perpendicular to the track lines are legal

• Illegal contact while a jam is in progress is always a penalty if the block causes…

  • the target to fall down or go out of bounds, out of play, or back into play

  • the target to lose position against the initiator or an initiator’s teammate

  • the initiator or a teammate to gain position on an opponent

    • Brief and minor gains of position do not warrant a penalty unless earning a pass toward scoring or lead jammer status

4.1.3 - Other illegal contact

• Illegal blocks/assists unrelated to target zones and blocking zones.

• Verbal cues

  • “Illegal contact”, or

    • “Illegal assist”

    • “Early hit”

    • “Late hit”

    • “Out of play block”

  • “Direction”, or

    • “Stop block”

• Early hitting

  • Initiating a block before the jam start whistle

  • Penalty thresholds

    • “Stealing” an opponent’s starting position

    • Forcing the opponent to touch an illegal starting position

• Jammers touching the pivot line, behind the pivot line, or ahead of the jammer line

• Blockers touching the pivot or jammer lines, ahead of the pivot line, or behind the jammer line

• Pivots touching on or behind the jammer line, or ahead of the pivot line

• Any skater going down or touching out of bounds

• Late hitting

  • Initiating or continuing a block after the fourth call-off whistle

  • Penalty thresholds

    • Forcing an opponent down or significantly off balance

• Blocking to or from out of play

  • Initiating a block while out of play or against an out of play target

    • Exception: jammer vs. jammer blocking is legal anywhere on the track

    • Exception: counter-blocking is legal while out of play

• Blocking while stopped or moving clockwise

  • Initiating or maintaining a block while stopped or moving clockwise

  • Additional penalty threshold

    • Severely changing an opponent’s speed or trajectory

• Exception: if the initiator immediately ceases the block or resumes counterclockwise movement

• Illegal assists

  • Assisting while down, out of play, stopped, skating clockwise, or fully out of bounds

    • Active assists while straddling are illegal; passive assists are legal

  • Penalty thresholds

    • Causing a change of relative position

    • Helping a downed skater upright in the engagement zone while stopped is considered good sportsmanship, not impact.

• Additional illegal contact

  • Blocking to or from out of bounds

    • Initiating a block against a fully out of bounds opponent

    • Initiating or continuing a block while out of bounds (including straddling)

    • Picking up speed for a block from out of bounds, even if the contact takes place once fully in bounds

    • Penalty threshold

• Significantly delaying a fully out of bounds skater’s return to the track

  • Blocking while down

  • Blocking a downed skater

    • Penalty threshold

• Delaying their return to the track

  • Blocking while airborne

    • The rules are contradictory whether this is illegal contact or misconduct

    • Penalty threshold

• Forcing an opponent out of their established position

4.1.4 - Multiplayer blocks

• Verbal cue: “Multiplayer”

• A type of illegal block in which two skaters form a wall (sometimes called a “link”) using one of these three techniques:

  • Grasping, linking, or impenetrable wall

• The multiplayer block must be physically challenged by an opponent

  • Exception: if the grasp or link that cannot be reached because it is ahead of the “wall” of both participants, and because it strengthens said “wall”

• Impact

  • Preventing the opponent from passing between the skaters

    • Usually counterclockwise, but can be perpendicular to the track (uncommon) or even clockwise (rare).

• Upon being challenged, immediately releasing a multiplayer block such that it prevents the opponent from being impeded is not a penalty.

• The penalty should be issued to the most responsible skater.

  • When in doubt, issue it to the closest skater involved in the block.

• (rare) Jammers can get multiplayer block penalties.