NFHS establishes rule to restrict flopping in high school basketball with technical fouls

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is one of the many members of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) that follows the rules set by the NFHS each year.

One of the newest issues the NFHS is addressing for the 2024-25 high school basketball season is flopping.

Flopping, an intentional, often dramatic way of falling upon contact on the court to initiate a foul call, has been particularly tied to the NBA, but has now made its way to the high school scene.

A new flopping rule was one of the 12 changes approved by the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee in last month's meeting in Indianapolis.

The flop, or a fake foul, is defined as, "when a player simulates being fouled or makes theatrical or exaggerated movements when there is no legal contact. Examples include, but are not limited to, embellishing the impact of incidental contact on block/charge plays or field goal attempts, using a head bob to simulate illegal contact and using any tactic to create an opinion of being fouled to gain an advantage," according to a press release.

Cincinnati Country Day head coach Greg Ross told The Enquirer that he always teaches his players to slide in and take a charge on an opponent driving to the rim.

Vote: Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky high school athlete of the week, May 13

"It will be interesting to see what the officials perceive as a flop," Ross said. "I think it's purely a judgement call. The only way I can see it really being called is if the defensive player goes down way early with very little or no contact."

The new rule allows officials to issue a team warning, which is recorded in the scorebook and reported to the head coach, for the first instance of a flop. A second flop would result in a team technical foul, not a player technical, the NFHS announced.

"(The committee) is hoping to get those dishonest acts out of the game," Basketball Rules Committee Chair Billy Strickland said in a statement.

Other coaches believe flopping hasn't been prominent in area high school hoops.

"I feel like it's too much. I don't like it," Western Hills head coach Bryce Stokes said. "I don't think flopping was that much of an issue in the high school game that this rule needed to be put in."

Instead, Stokes is one of the many advocates to introducing a shot clock at the preps level. A well-documented debate in the high school game, the NFHS approved the state adoption of a 35-second shot clock in 2021. It's up to individual state associations to adopt the use of the shot clock. As of last fall, 27 state associations utilize a shot clock in some capacity, according to the NFHS.

"That's one of our biggest problems in the high school game," Stokes said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NFHS implements rule to restrict flopping in high school basketball