One Foot on the Floor

One of the funnier moments I can recall from late last season was when a dispute came about regarding the "one foot on the floor" rule. We were playing a team at Sophie's and a female shooter from the other team could not reach her shot. Since we don't have a bridge at Sophie's, Chris said something aloud, something along the lines of "The rules state that if the bar where you're playing doesn't have a bridge, then you can get onto the table to reach your shot." Effectively, he was saying, that the one foot rule goes out the window if there's not a bridge available. Our captain Marc mumbled something about how ridiculous that was, how Chris was stretching the real meaning of the rule, etc.

A few weeks later, at The Sixth Ward, the same situation came up and Chris offered his same interpretation of the rule. As you can see (above), this woman had no hesitation climbing onto the table to reach her shot. This was when Marc had had enough. I can't remember his words exactly, but basically he said "Chris, you're saying the one foot rule is waived if there's no bridge in the house. But the message you're sending to people is that if there's no bridge in the house then, by all means, go on and hop up onto the table and make yourself totally comfortable. You can even sit Indian style if you'd like." I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.

Just for the record, here is what the APA team manual says regarding the rule: "At least one foot must be on the floor at all times while shooting if a bridge is present. There is no foul—simply stop the shooter and hand him the bridge. League Management cannot guarantee the presence of bridges, and some Host Locations do not have them. If a bridge is not available, house rules prevail. Exception: Players shooting from a wheelchair must remain seated in their wheelchair while shooting."

So it really boils down to that line above, which I italicized for emphasis. This is one of those grey areas that almost has less to do with rules than the etiquette of the game. Like no drinks on the table, don't leave quarters on the rail, etc. To be continued...