🧤 Goalkeeper play 🚫 Illegal block

goaltending

1 5.5

Illegally touching the ball as it falls toward the basket or after it hits the backboard

noun
/ˈɡoʊltˌɛndɪŋ/

Specialized

: interferencia

Players need to be careful not to commit goaltending by touching the ball after it hits the backboard during a game.

Examples

Fans argued with the referee about whether the play was really goaltending or a clean block.
The team lost two points because of a goaltending violation in the final quarter.
He jumped too late and was called for goaltending after blocking the shot above the rim.
The referee called a goaltending violation during the game.
Did you see that goaltending call in the last quarter?
During the basketball playoff game, the referee called a goaltending violation after the player touched the ball as it was heading down toward the hoop.
A goaltending call can completely change the outcome of a game, especially in the final moments when every point counts.

Surface Forms

goaltending singular

goaltendings plural

Morphology

goaltending = goal + tend (semi-transparent) = goal + tend + ing

The parts 'goal' and 'tend' are recognizable, but the basketball sense is a specialized rule (an illegal touch on a ball's downward path) that is not directly inferable from general composition.

Etymology

Goaltending joins goal ('the target or net') and tend ('to look after'), and a helpful way to remember the basketball foul is to think of a player reaching in to 'tend' the goal as the ball is already going down, which unfairly stops a real score and so is illegal.