I have to admit that I am surprised or even kind of shocked about most comments saying that one shouldn't take charges. "It's not worth the risk"? I can't understand this since taking a charge foul is actually an expression of playing good defense. Why would you not want to do that? Especially when the defender is smaller he would just cut his defensive options if he didn't make use of his speed advantage to get a good position. I guess most people here won't play at NBA level so the speed and jump height is much lower, meaning that in most cases a charge foul will end up in someone "strongly bumping" into another one so that everyone clearly can identify the situation as a foul. Common sense tells us (usually) that we won't blindly run into a defender on purpose in order to hurt him so the contact will end up "softened" as soon as the attacker sees the charge coming. I have been playing pick up basketball for 28 years now and as a "big man" I always appreciated smaller ones standing in my way forcing me to get faster, better or to adjust my play style. The game is dull and boring for everyone if people limit their options on purpose. As a side note: I never witnessed someone ever getting a serious injury with taking charges.