4.5 Platform Protocol - when must feet be on the ground?

[kclimenhaga]

Currently, under 4.5 Platform Protocol, it states that "The feet of the quizzers are to be on the floor while jumping." Does this apply to the start of the jump, or the entire jump? This came up in our district because we had pads at one meet. Many quizzers were not accustomed to pads, and some were using a leg lift style of jump. One quizmaster fouled these quizzers, because their feet were not on the ground during the jump, but others felt that this jump style should be considered valid.

Personally, I would prefer either to have this apply only to the start of the jump, or to remove this statement entirely. I have no issue with the leg lift jump for pads, especially since (at least in our district) many quizzers almost never jump on pads. I'm not sure what else this rule would be trying to prevent. I can't picture any other jump style that wouldn't involve having the feet on the ground, at least not one that is extremely inefficient.

[levikoral]

My jump style does not require, having jumped on pads, that I lift my leg to jump. When I jump on a question, I jump upward, which is in fact slower, but still efficient enough for me. Others quizzing with me did not appear, from my observations, to lift their leg either. So I think that this rule should be apply to the whole jump and not only the beginning of the question.

[levikoral]

Pads are similar to regular benches, in that they act as a seat (as the name implies that they are placed in a seat). Both are meant to incorporate the rules properly and I do not think one has to lift their leg to jump as it seems to break the rules.

[ARMediting]

I am surprised that a leg lift jump would result in a quizzer's foot/feet leaving the floor entirely. When I was a quizzer, my district policed against leg lifting pretty hard; we had a former/separate rule that jumping must be a forward-upward motion, as well as the feet rule. I also knew a quizzer who jumped with her feet pretty far under her chair, so only the balls and toes of her feet were on the floor. So it seems a leg lift where the entire foot doesn't leave the floor is fine.

Would the rule as stated have been written to counter a quizzer putting their feet against the bench/chair for extra leverage? If so, perhaps the change could be something like "Quizzers' feet can touch only the floor while jumping" or "Quizzers' feet must not touch (or rest on) anything other than the floor while jumping."

I'm personally opposed to leg lifting, as it gets farther away from the original intent of the quizzing jump (where quizzers' heads must clear a height barrier), but it's not against any rules that I'm aware of today.

[jttower]

I personally don't think we need to nitpick here, or at least I don't understand the reasoning behind needing to. Quizzers should have their feet on the ground at the beginning of the jump, but if they lift a leg while jumping on a pad (or even a bench, though I haven't seen this personally) then I think that should be allowed. I've also never heard of needing to clear a height barrier and don't understand the purpose of that either as some quizzers are shorter or lean WAY forward when jumping. I'm fine with "Quizzers' feet can touch only the floor while jumping" or "Quizzers' feet must not touch (or rest on) anything other than the floor while jumping." Though I'm not sure writing it that way would clarify for the purposes of the question @kclimenhaga raised, so I agree to have this apply only to the start of the jump.

[24RMiller]

To me, this rule involves the entire jump, meaning that the example provided is a foul. I believe what @ARMediting is referring to is the old style of jumping before buzzers, when someone in the back held a clipboard and the first head to appear above the clipboard got the jump. I agree that the intent of a quizzing jump is exactly that, a jump. As far as I know, it is impossible to jump using just a leg lift on a bench, so I feel it should be the same way on pads. I personally think this rule should be left as is, or be clarified to say "The feet of the quizzers are to be on the floor the entire jump.”