J-U-M-P-I-N-G Spelled out
Jumping. The part of quizzing when you decide when you know the answer. Why would I jump you ask? To answer the question, silly! Let me spell it out for you:
JUMPING BASICS:
Jumping is not literally... well... jumping. Like, in the air, off your feet. If you feel like jumping like that I am SO happy for you. Good luck trying to get a question at a meet. Let's start with the seat jumping. There's this little red, blue or white thingy placed on a chair. You sit on it. When you want to answer the question you lift your butt off of the buttons. And if it isn't hard enough, you have to jump before anybody else in the quiz. Tips will be later on.
Bench jumping, to me, is a whole lot easier. You sit on a bench with little red white or blue cushions and befor you sit on them the back of it is slightly raised off of the back of the bench, where there is a sensor. The good thing about benches is that they make a 'click' noise once your weight is lifted off of it enough for the sensor to go off and your light to turn on.
THE PROPER WAY TO JUMP
Some quizzers do a 'leg-jump', when you stand up instead of, well, jumping the way most quizzers do. This is very rare for a reason. a) If you miss the quesiton you look silly and b) It takes a whole lot longer to stand up than to jump as described following this paragraph. By the time a quizzer's Rookie year is over, they usually give up on the leg-jumps and ask for help from another quizzer. You know what? I can draw a DIAGRAM of what a leg jump is and why it is wrong. Seriously. And I will if you ask me to. Honsetly, if you want to see a diagram, go to send me stuff and TELL ME!
Troll: So, how do you jump, smarty-pants? Me: WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SMARTY-PANTS? LOL so how you jump. Pre-jump, you try to put as much of your weight as possible on your legs. I find it better to put one leg back for balance and put all the weight on the other leg, but everybody has their own style. I also put the same hand as the leg that was moved back behind my back cause I don't know where else to put it, but some quizzers put their hands virtually everywhere... on their feet, on their legs, by ther face, but according to the rules, a quizzer cannot touch the ground or bench/seat from the time 'question' is said. I prefer to sit right on the edge of the seat so I don't have much on the seat to lift off.
To actually jump, just lift the part of your body on the seat and if you are the first one up, your light goes off. Pretty simple, huh? On benches, you only have to lean forward more or take that little bit of weight on your seat onto your legs. OH! I forgot to mention, if one leg is kept back, it's best to use it for balance, try not to put any weight on it, especially if you are like me and put the toes of the furthest back leg on the half-point.
Don't worry if yo don't get it right off the bat, its a whole lot harder then it seems!
Tips on Jumping
1. Read their lips
Quizmasters will always try to pronounce the question as well as possible, so if you look at their lips, you will most likely be able to decipher the next syllable, and sometimes that's all the information you need. Sometimes this technique can save your hide, let me tell you!!
2. Jump before you know it
All Patricia's wording!! And an amazing tip this is! Jump, THEN think. It takes a while for your brain to realise you know the answer, so if you jump early, you probably will still know it! If you don't, your coach or another quizzer WILL tell you to! :P PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU DON'T STUDY THIS WILL NOT HELP YOU!!! AT ALL!!!
3. Make sure you are comfortable
If its too hot, take off your sweater! If your leg is sore, switch whatever leg is in front or use both of them! If you don't like the way you are sitting, try something different! If you are not comfortable during a quiz meet, you would probably be thinking about whatever is making you uncomfortable instead of the quiz. Trust me, I have had experience. Lets just say that you might not hear the question and accidentally twitch when you don't even know what they said ("why do doubts... Maegan?" "You said something???") . Heh heh... next tip.
4. Practice jumping
Especially on benches, it helps to find out where to put your weight, how much of a twitch it takes to set off your light, and where the best place to put your weight is. On benches, you can lean back just to the point where it clicks then you'll be able jump faster.
5. PAY ATTENTION!
You hear it in a box, you hear it with a fox, you hear it in a house, you hear it with a mouse, and here and there and everywhere.... Sam I Am? You have to pay attention to not only what the quizmaster is saying, but knowing how and when you're going to jump. If you accidentally jump when you truly have no clue what they even SAID let alone the ANSWER... you're hooped for 30 seconds.
6. Jump However You Want To Jump
If you think that the way you jump 'doesn't look cool' or 'isn't what eerybody else does' then that is GREAT! I mean, I'm not changing how I jump because nobody else jumps like that (and trust me, from what I've seen, nobody actually does). If you like how you jump, thats great. You have to know how you're jumping is working for YOU, not the other people.
7. Light and Fluffy
I failed title-making class. Anyways, when you're jumping, try to think 'light as a feather, light as a feather, so light I'm barely touching the seat, light as a feather' and it'll be way easier to jump. If you don't leg jump that is.
8. Don't Scare Yourself
Let's face it. No matter how many times you've read the Nerves page, you're going to be a little nervous. In that case, after an error or 2, you're probably not going to pre-jump, and I don't blame you, but don't just SCARE yourself out of pre-jumping. Think about what you know and JUMP! Don't stop jumping until you're out, and don't blame it on your errors.