So recently at the Michigan State Championship, there were new rules that were put in place that were never used or even heard of before. These rules were also not mentioned at the driver’s meeting. These rules include; putting your hand near a launching mechanism, keeping your hand at least 2 inches away from any moving mechanism, loading a driver load with two hands, loading multiple driver loads at once, and loading driver loads with multiple people. When I showed them multiple q&a’s that proved you said we could perform these actions, the refs said that it was a safety hazard, said they had talked to you previously about applying these rules, and brushed us aside, even disqualifying multiple teams for breaking these rules. My question is, was it “legal” to have those rules in place only for the the state championship and did you know about this?
Below are some previous questions other teams asked that contradict the previously stated rules.
No and no.
Refs do have the discretion to use their best judgement when it comes to safety rules, however we’ve instructed them to specifically lenient when it comes to the loading of Balls this year. The specific restrictions you saw at your event seem to be over zealous.