Backcourt Violation in Basketball

Sanctions and Violations

• Loss of possession is the sanction for all violations of the rules under this section.
• The ball is awarded to the other team for a throw-in following a violation by one team.

Backcourt Violation

• A team that has possession of the ball in the frontcourt may not return the ball to the backcourt while maintaining possession.
• Four conditions must exist for a backcourt violation to occur: team has possession in frontcourt, player touches ball before it enters backcourt, ball enters backcourt, and player touches ball after it enters backcourt.

Ball Out-of-Bounds Violation

• A player may not cause the ball to go out-of-bounds.
• The ball is out-of-bounds when it touches a person or object that is out-of-bounds.
• The last player to touch the ball before it goes out-of-bounds is charged with this violation, unless a referee judges that another player intentionally caused the ball to go out-of-bounds.

Twelve-Second Violation

• A team that has possession of the ball in their backcourt has twelve seconds to cause the ball to go into the frontcourt.
• Failure to do so is a violation.
• The twelve-second count begins when a player takes possession of the ball in their backcourt and stops if a player from the opposing team takes possession of the ball.

Kicking Violation

• It is a violation for a player to deliberately strike the ball with their foot or leg below the knee.

Out and In Violation

• A player who has possession of the ball is not permitted to leave the court on the try line and then return to the court without scoring a try.
• Three conditions must exist for this violation: player must have possession of the ball, one wheel of the player's wheelchair must touch the out-of-bounds area, and that wheel must return to the in-bounds area or break contact with the out-of-bounds area before the player scores a try.