PoleVaultPower.com

I've tried to post some of the rules changes for Pole Vault. There are also some much needed changes regarding jewelry.

Dan



7-2-12: It is no longer a failed attempt if the crossbar is displaced and there is a malfunction of meet equipment in jumping events.
Rationale: Competitors shall not be penalized if their performances are affected by the malfunctioning of meet equipment.

7-4-11 and 7-5-18: In a vertical jump competition, when only one competitor remains and has been declared the winner, he/she may then determine successive heights of the crossbar.
Rationale: When a single competitor remains in a vertical jump competition and has been declared the winner, he/she should have the opportunity at this point to determine successive heights of the crossbar.

7-5-new 16: Changes the pole vault warm-up procedure for a competitor who has passed three consecutive heights and has not yet entered the competition.
Rationale: Competitors passing on three or more consecutive heights often sit out a significant time and need the opportunity for proper warm-up rather than only one warm-up jump/run through.

7-5-29a new NOTE: Clarifies the procedure to be used following the improper placement of the crossbar or uprights on an unsuccessful attempt in the pole vault.
Rationale: Clarifies the procedure to follow should the crossbar have been improperly placed or uprights set incorrectly on an unsuccessful attempt in the pole vault.

7-5-new 16: Changes the pole vault warm-up procedure for a competitor who has passed three consecutive heights and has not yet entered the competition.
Rationale: Competitors passing on three or more consecutive heights often sit out a significant time and need the opportunity for proper warm-up rather than only one warm-up jump/run through.


So what would the 'proper warm-up' be?

patybobady wrote:..
So what would the 'proper warm-up' be?

A companion NFHS press release says this:
The committee also approved several other rules changes in field events. First, Rule 7-5-16 has been deleted and replaced with new guidelines for the warm-up of pole vault competitors who have passed three consecutive heights and not entered the competition. Those competitors are now allowed two minutes of warm-up jumps per competitor entering at that height. These competitors often sit out long enough that a proper warm-up is in order. Such a warm-up wasn’t being provided by the old rule that allowed only one warm-up jump.

Too early to tell just how this will be administered should at this height change four or five vaulters are now entering
competition after the three passed heights. No details either if said vaulter(s) decide after jumping the height that they are going to pass maybe three more heights.

In large field vault competition, I envision the duration of the event now increasing by a considerable amount of time.

I think we've all seen examples where a vaulter sits out for over an hour (getting cold or hot or stiff), and on their one warmup attempt clearly has a problem (way out, way in, stalls, etc), and you immediately start wondering what their first real jump is going to look like. (one of the two kids I saw carted to the hospital in an ambulance got injured on their warmup jump). Now they can make an adjustment and see the effect before it actually counts (and be a little more cautious on the first if things don't feel right).

I don't see this as a "warm up" issue, as a vaulter can do short sprints and stretches to accomplish that. I see it as an opportunity for the athlete to refamiliarize themselves with their physical state, the pole, their runway starting point, and the mechanics of the vault. Since they have shortened the competition by forgoing their right to vault at lower heights, it's a fair tradeoff to allow them enough time to be sure they are back in a groove. (I'm guessing that if their first warmup is spot on, that's probably all most kids will take.)

Of course the 2 min. warm up has been used at the college level for some time. (2 min. warm up after sitting for an hour or more). I believe the method of giving the two min. when several vaulter are entering at the same bar is each vaulter gets his / her own 2 min. I will say when I have had several vaulters entering at the same time I have combined the time ( lets say 5 vaulters) and given the group 10 min. on the clock for warm up. I cannot remember ever having all the time used. Most vaulters take one warm up and are good to go. Sometimes a vaulter will have an "issue" with his / her warm up and take a second run. Even with large fields I don't believe the 2 min. warm up has ever slowed the competition down, or made the event last an excessive amount of time. OK just my .02

Dan

Dan, I know you and I have discussed this two minute rule (NCAA) before as we are not supposed to combine the time into one clock setting. Each vaulter is supposed to have up to two minutes on the runway or until they say "I'm done". Then set the clock for another vaulters two minutes, etc.

While I agree that many NCAA level vaulters do only take one run-up, we leave our selves open to a formal coach protest should his/her athlete not get a full two minutes and NH when competition resumes. College coaches are present at the vault areas, where as high school vaulters may or may not even see their coach at the venue.

That fact is as we both have seen, many NCAA vaulters only take one jump as they just don't sit around socializing during a meet. They start warming up long before the previous height is over. High school kids on the other hand, are just lying around, hanging out with their boy/girl friend or maybe participating in another event or two or three. I'm positive that with this change, there will be multiple jumps taken by the vaulters and it's going to take more time to get the next height going.
Meets with forty kids take a long time now, and I am sure will take even longer now.

If they don't take more then one run up, then why bother with this rule change in the first place?

One of my fellow officials is preparing a section for the NFHS pre-meet notes and even he does not know how the warm-up is expected to be conducted nor how the clock will be set. If the NFHS says, set it to ten minutes (e.g. if five vaulters were coming in) and run it to zero that's one long time. If they set it to two minutes and reset it to two when that vaulter says I'm done, that would be a better alternative.

Oh well, maybe we'll know something in the coming months.

We have been using the 2 minutes per competitor warm up after three passed heights rule on an experimental basis at the high school level in Wisconsin for the past couple of years. It is a great rule change and has not slowed the competitions down at all. I have never seen the warm ups separated, the time has always been combined. If 4 vaulters are entering the competition at the same height after passing at least three consecutive heights, the 4 of them share 8 minutes. When there are 1 or 2 vaulters entering, the full 2 or 4 minutes of warm up time might be used but when there are more than 2, the full time is rarely used. If the vaulters all have discreet 2 minute warm ups (with a bit of time between them) there will be delays. The vaulters don't have separate warm ups before the competition starts. They are used to sharing warm up time. I hope that the NFHS doesn't decide that the warm ups must be separate.

There is no second warm up in the unlikely event that a vaulter enters the competition and then passes three more consecutive heights. The rule states that the warm up period is allowed only if the vaulter has not entered the competition. By taking a warm up, the vaulter should be deemed to have entered the competition.

The high school kids that I coach are not off goofing around with boyfriends or girlfriends. They are running other events or preparing to vault, but they, especially the good ones, often have to wait around for a couple of hours to enter the vault competition. With the old one-and-done warm up, if a kid has a bad jump or runs through, it can stick in is/her head and lead to a NH. College vaulters tend to be one-event athletes who have been conditioning and grooving their vaults since September or October. It doesn't surprise me that many of them only take one warm up. High schoolers will probably feel better after a pop up and one or 2 full vaults as a warm up. College kids might feel differently (psychologically) if they only had one trip down the runway as a warm up.

IMO, when more than one vaulter is warming up, giving each their own exclusive 2 min slot would unnecessarily prolong things. Much more economical to combine them all into one shared time block. The walk-back and reset time between runs for one vaulter is longer than another vaulter would take using the runway for their own warmup, if that second vaulter was on the runway ready to go.

patybobady asked an interesting question (what is a 'proper warmup'), and I'm curious what you coaches will recommend to your athletes, now that they are not limited to just one run.

a) do what you do now (a full run attempt), and stop if everything is fine (otherwise, adjust and try again)?
b) A 'pop up' first, then a full attempt (and stop if fine, adjust and redo if problem)?
c) a more compllcated series building up to a full attempt?

I just want to pick out a few specific lines for comment..

Darth Vaulter wrote:We have been using the 2 minutes per competitor warm up after three passed heights rule on an experimental basis at the high school level in Wisconsin for the past couple of years.
......
I have never seen the warm ups separated, the time has always been combined.

Maybe your state experimental rule was the basis for the new NFHS rule?. I'd like to see just exactly how it was crafted.
Can you post it as it was written?

Darth Vaulter wrote:......
I hope that the NFHS doesn't decide that the warm ups must be separate.

Me too! At the NCAA level, never.. at the NFHS level I would recommend a combined time.

Darth Vaulter wrote:......
There is no second warm up in the unlikely event that a vaulter enters the competition and then passes three more consecutive heights. The rule states that the warm up period is allowed only if the vaulter has not entered the competition. By taking a warm up, the vaulter should be deemed to have entered the competition.

It's been interpreted differently across the country and done both ways. Every time I'm at a major meet, whether it's USATF, NCAA, I make it a point to discuss with my fellow officials how certain rules are interpreted at their high school meets. The warm-up jump comes up all the time. Size of the field at these weekend invitational will vary greatly (they do here). A vault can take well over four or five hours to complete. Unlimited entries is the norm for the vertical jumps and many times the event is a combined girls/boys with starting heights low.

Divalent wrote:IMO, when more than one vaulter is warming up, giving each their own exclusive 2 min slot would unnecessarily prolong things. Much more economical to combine them all into one shared time block. The walk-back and reset time between runs for one vaulter is longer than another vaulter would take using the runway for their own warmup, if that second vaulter was on the runway ready to go.
.....

Yes, I'm sure separate times would prolong the event. Until we see just how the rule is written we have to assume both possibilities, a combined time and separate times.

Vaultref, here is the text of the Wisconsin rule:

"Experimental rule: A pole vault competitor who has passed three consecutive heights and has not entered the
competition should be permitted two minutes of warm-up jumps per the number of athletes entering at that
height without the crossbar in place. The athlete(s) shall enter competition at that height. Such warm-up must
be taken at a height change."

Now that I look at it, our rule is quite specific and clear about entering the competition after the warm up and it also seems clear that the time gets aggregated for all vaulters entering at the same height.

I'm going to take this opportunity to reiterate a position I have taken in other posts over the years. The rules governing the conduct of a high school sporting event should not be the "property" of the NFHS or any other person or organization; they should be freely available on the internet and elsewhere so that any interested person can consult them at any time. We are told of rule changes like this and then left to speculate about how they will read until NFHS gets around to publishing the next year's rule book and coaches and officials fork over the money to buy it.

(edited: Sorry man, I must have been in the middle of composing this just before you reponded.. )

Never mind, I found the wording at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association web site. It doesn't really describe the mechanics an event official should follow when conducting the actual warm-up when there are two or more coming in.
That's what I was looking for.

5) Experimental rule: A pole vault competitor who has passed three consecutive heights and has not entered the competition should be permitted two minutes of warm-up jumps per the number of athletes entering at that height without the crossbar in place. The athlete(s) shall enter competition at that height. Such warm-up must be taken at a height change.