Q: Ball bounces off back wall and now defensive player has moved against the side wall to avoid a hinder but is basically pinned in position by the offensive play as he moves to play the ball. Ball hits defensive player without the offense calling a hinder. Offensive player was in position to hit the ball but chose not to. What is the call? Is it a point or side out if the defense is hit by the ball but could not have moved without contact with the opposing player?

A: In 90% of the cases I would say without a doubt it's a point for Team B....it was the players fault for getting penned in....so you can't reward him with a replay....aka Hinder call. There are two other calls that may arise out of this all dealing with the timing of the situation. The first may be a hinder....lets say the ball is coming to player B and he has player A penned in...but he holds up his shot before it hits player A. This is the tough situation....you have to get inside the head of player B to make the right call. If he did not swing because of a safety concern...the hinder occurred before the ball hit Player A...thus a Hinder. If he didn't swing because he knew it would hit the player...then it's a point. However, if player A dodges the ball at the last minute...player B can't then call a hinder. Player B may be entitled to an Avoidable hinder...and this is usually the correct call..especially if it was an offensive opportunity and he holds up...then it wouldn't matter if after he holds up it hits player A...both situation result in a point for player B. The tough call is when it's not an avoidable as described above.

Q: What is the proper response when you hit the ball off the front wall and hits your opponent. Should this be a point or a hinder? We have been playing it as a point. In some instances during doubles and you play a short touch shot that goes slightly long and one of your opponents get to the ball and hit it into off the wall you as you try to retreat to good court position. Hinder or point?

A: Point

Q: This is problem that I have been having of late with my opponent: He calls a screen because he has selected a poor position and in essence puts himself out of the play. Here's the background: We play highly spirited doubles with a twist; we pair an A/B player with a C/D player. The A/B player has to do a LOT of running around as the C/D player in our case is over 65 and not terribly spry. (I've often commented that it fells like playing Iron-Man against 3 players.) The A/B player takes 80-90 percent of all the shots and literally runs up-and-down court the entire match. Here's the situation. Given the hectic pace of the game for the A/B player, positioning is critical. My A/B opponent frequently misreads the way that I am going to shot and thus positions himself very poorly. This results in a lot of screen calls. The latest was particularly annoying: Standing 6 feet from the left wall on the back service line, I flicked the ball for a left side passing shot. My feet never moved. The ball passed me about a foot off the floor and about a foot from the wall. My A/B opponent was standing directly behind me heading to the right side of the court. When the ball passed the other way he called a hinder/screen saying "I couldn't see the ball because you were in the way". Since I have no control over his placement is this a hinder/screen?

A: An opponent can not call a screen based on poor positioning or going the wrong way unless he could have recovered and actually retunred the ball if you ceased to exist on the court. If your opponent commits to cover a shot that takes him out of position and you hit a different shot...the first rule of thumb for him to get to a replay is not how close the ball passes to you...but could he have even returned the ball at all based on the new position or direction he choose to move. He can not go back in time before he started moving to cover your shot and thus assume he was back in his original position where he may have had the right to a screen or hinder. That is usually where the faulty logic comes in...if they had not commited to covering a shot and thus moved to a new position, their old position may have yeilded the call they now want...but they can't have it both ways.