officiating?

[Vaultref]

It's supposed to work this way... the game committee determines how much time it to be allotted for when a competitor is excused for this other event and they are supposed to make time known along with a procedure to follow to everyone prior to the start of the meet.

There is an implied games committee for every meet. For a dual meet, it's usually one person. Possibly the meet director, (that could be the home team coach or AD) or the Starter/Referee. For very large meets, its usually a number of people pre-picked in advance.

The time limit and procedure to follow could therefore be different at any given meet. Don't be surprised if the time is set for 10 minutes in one county or league and 15 minutes in another part of your state.

The basic misunderstanding is that this excused time limit starts when you have completed the event/race your were excused for. Nope... that's not how it works. Your time starts when you are excused to leave from your current event and the official should write that time down next to the excused competitors name. Otherwise he/she has no leg to stand on if a protest should arise.

A procedure to use prior to starting the time might be to offer a jump or two prior to leaving.
Offiicals are to use judgement in extending this time in case the race is a long one like a 1600m, 3200m or 4x800M relay with the excused jumper running the last leg.
The excused competitor might get delayed because of race re-run or injury. That needs to be passed back to the event official. Many times, they have to leave to the clerking area. I usually tell them to send a team mate or if they insist, go clerk in then come back. When you then have to leave for the race, you'll get another excused time.

In the vertical jumps, if the bar is ready to go up and you are not yet back *and* your time limit is expired, the bar goes up and you are automatically passed. If you have returned, a good official will ask how you feel and could you be ready in a few minutes. If you say yes, great. I know I'll hold up the event for that or move you down in the order of current jumpers. But if you say, I need 10 more minutes. I doubt I would delay the event because there could be many more jumpers remaining and anyone of them could have to leave for another event during subsequent heights.
Remember, this is a sample procedure it may be different in your area.

Regarding some of the other posts in this thread... There is no bungee use restriction in any rule book but that doesn't preclude a site from restricting it use. You know, those game committee people.
I'm also distrurbed that any jumper would be forced to jump again because the event official didn't want to move the standards.
Not allowing a tape down at the edge of the runway is just plain being a pain the in you know what. If meet management doesn't have the runway marked with the intervals allowed as of last year, I will either put my tape down or let someone else use his/her tape.
I shouldn't really bash officials, but sometimes I really believe some should hang it up for good!

[belmore]

Ok, I'm going to fall into this post again, I don't know how to do that quote thing you guys do so I hope I touch on everything. The only time crossbars are not allowed in warmups are during runthroughs after passing, this is after the competition has started. High school rules allow one run through after passing three consecutive heights with out a bar. In warmups prior to comp crossbars are allowed, with the advent of bungees it just became easier to put one up and lower and raise it for a vaulters point of reference. Now meet management, again, can change that. If they just have one volunteer with a clipboard and he has to put the bar up, warmups would slow down and decrease all athletes warmup times. Common sense should prevail. On giving the vaulter or telling the vaulter to take his next attempt immediately after his previous one, no. This should not even be considered unless there are dire circumstances. The order drawn means the athletes jump in order of their draw, it doesn't mean they jump in succession, you can change the order of the draw, say vaulter 2 jumps breaks his pole, vaulter 3 then 4 then 1 goes, 2needs a minute to catch his wits or retape a pole, you can pass him in rotation and bring back 3. Being excused for another event does not really give you all day to catch your breath. If you have left your event to compete in another, generally you are given the time you have alloted and then are passed to the next height. The comp should not be stopped in deference to one athlete at the cost of several others. Again, common sense. NCAA rules basically do not allow for time off for other events, you are execused to leave to compete, other than that you have to return and rejoin the competition. I am with vaultdad, bring us food and water. No, actually bring iced tea and t'bone medium rare. and chocolate chip cookies.

[smokinvaulter1]

Texas Relays Official rule. they are the second best officials ever. The first is me I give 4th attempts LOL.

[skyywalker234]

all this talk of bad officals...i think i have the devil reincarnated into a old saggy woman as an offical. this woman makes up her own rules about the pole vault and when i try to confront her about it she just bitches about it. The bad thing is she lives with my head coach. as you can imagine she wears the pants in the relationship cuz our head coach is sooo freaking kool, even though he is like 50. old people are soo kool. but i have a story about this woman.
in our we have graduation projects to do. u must pass this to graduate. this woman is a scorer for these projects. well it just so happens that we have a meet the day she needs to watch these projects. so she waddles up to the track 30 minutes late. all this time we are sitting there cuz the rules state we cannot wearm up w/o her there. so when she finally gets there we have like 14 kids who have to warm up(the other team had like 10 kids) she says we dont have time to warm up cuz we r late. then she blames us for starting late. her and i got into a huge yelling match that meet. though i did jump a new pr! haha 13'9"1/4
Good Game!

[belmore]

Dannielle, congrats on that pr, that's a pretty good one. I'd also like to point out you did pretty well even with questionable officiating. 99 per cent of vault officials mean well, we all screw up, athletes included. I really do wish this post would inspire more knowledgable vault fans to consider getting certified to officiate track meets and especially the vault. There are too many fine people visiting this web page that probably sit in the stands, when they could be of great use on the field. Vaultref had it right when he said a few should hang it up, not because they're bad officials with bad intent, it just comes a time that maybe you can't put your heart into what you're doing. So, it's time to bring in new blood, you vaulters that whine, parents and coaches that can't understand how that idiot got down on the runway to officiate a meet, well, step up. Get a front row seat to the action and volunteer. And mean it when you volunteer. get the snazzy shirts and hats, cold soggy sandwiches, hot sodas and at least one bitching out at the comp you work. Stick with it long enough and you see some great kids grow up, some even jump real high, some you will appreciate for their efforts. Some you remember for the chocolate chip cookies. No pay, plenty of memories. Y'all step up and help.