Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Check the Rules

check feetCheck feet is definitely one of the more popular rule calls suggestions.
Per Ultimate rules [USAUltimate] ...

Q: When someone catches the disc and there's a question as to whether they’re in or out, I often hear people yelling, “check feet!” and then other people telling the receiver “it's your call!” In the rules, I can't find anything about a “check feet” call, or about it being the receiver's decision about whether they’re in or out. Where is that?

A: The reason you can’t find the “check feet” call in the rules is because...it’s not there! Although “check feet” is often heard on the Ultimate field, it should be considered merely as a suggestion, and does not stop play. A disagreement on the field about whether the receiver was in or out of bounds does stop play (according to XIX.D), however in order for there to be a disagreement, there need to be conflicting calls of “in” and “out” made by players on the field. Since “check feet” isn’t a call (in fact it’s not even a statement of opinion!), it should never affect ongoing play.

In/out (of bounds, or of the endzone), as well as up/down calls should be made by the player with “best perspective.”

Best perspective is defined as: “The most complete view available by a player that includes the relative positions of the disc, ground, players, and line markers involved in a play. On an unlined field, this may require sighting from one field marker to another.” So in reality, the player with best perspective is sometimes neither the receiver nor the defender, but perhaps another player more removed from the play that can see all the cones. Also note that “player” is defined as “Any of the up to fourteen persons participating in the game at any one time,” which means that it’s definitely not the call of people on the sideline. It is often unclear who actually had best perspective. If two players who both claim to have best perspective disagree over what the outcome of the play should be, this situation should be treated like any other contested situation, with the disc going back to the thrower and the count resuming at the count reached plus one, or 6 if over 5.

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