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at last years Prefontain meet one of the vaulters had a ring of tape just below her bottom hand that must have been close to 3/8 of an inch thick. It looked to me like there was actually a plastic ring under the tape since the shape was so perfect.
The only rule we could find just says you can have layers of tape for your grip. it doesn't mention how many layers. it also says you can place a substance on your hands or pole to obtain a better grip.
This vaulter is one of the top vaulters so she has been in many top level meets. unless this was a one time thing she hasn't been called on it before.

Except for NFHS, none of the three other rule codes, IAAF, USATF, NCAA have pole taping restrictions nor do officials have to inspect them.

Vaultref wrote:Except for NFHS, none of the three other rule codes, IAAF, USATF, NCAA have pole taping restrictions nor do officials have to inspect them.

I'm curious about the rationale for NFHS restrictions on tape. Any one know (or have a reasonable guess)?

Divalent wrote:I'm curious about the rationale for NFHS restrictions on tape. Any one know (or have a reasonable guess)?

Well, I've seen people do crazy things like roll up a long thing of tape like a snake, then spiral it up the pole, then tape over it, making a big spiral ridge under the tape.

My opinion is that doing stuff like that is a way to keep the grip from slipping when someone is overgripping and taking off under, just reinforcing bad/dangerous technique.

I don't have a problem with my interpretation of the intent of the rule But I hate being nitpicky about it. I enforced the rule at State last year and one school had to retape just about ALL of their poles... no big ridges, just 50 layers of tape where they kept retaping and not removing the old tape. That old tape gets hard to remove after a few years! Fortunately the coach was totally cool about it and had several people working on the project so it wasn't a big deal.