What constitutes a legal hand block in Ultimate Frisbee?

• A. Any contact with the disc is a foul.
• B. It requires the defender to step in bounds.
• C. A hand block is legal if the disc has completely left the thrower's hand before contact.
• D. It only counts if the thrower releases the disc in the air.

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is that a hand block is legal only after the disc has fully left the thrower’s hand. If the defender touches the disc while it’s still in the thrower’s hand, that contact is a foul. Once the release is complete, the defender may legally contact the disc in flight with the hand to block or knock it away, as long as the contact is clean and not with the thrower or otherwise illegal. So the correct statement captures the timing that truly matters: the disc must have completely left the hand before contact for a hand block to be legal. The other ideas blur the timing or conditions that actually determine legality—for example, blocking before release is not allowed, and blocking after release does not require anything about stepping in bounds or the thrower’s release in a specific way.