PoleVaultPower.com

Hey gang - I've been giving coaching certification classes here in New England for the last several years. I often use William Buttermore's .pdf files as handouts - they are great "cheat sheets" especially when comparing rules between the NCAA, USATF & NFHS. However I have a big question regarding the latest update to the sheets.

It has been my understanding that athletes are allowed to wear forearm pads to protect from bruising when athletes begin to connect to the pole on the swing. We've actually always kinda used the bruise as our red badge of courage :-)

However this year's Buttermore rules comparison actually has a category "Forearm pad" in bold letters and it says they are allowed in IAAF, USATF and the NCAA but NOT for high school - "NOT ALLOWED".

This is the first I've heard of it. I've scoured the rule book and NFHS annnouncements and haven't seen any mention of this being illegal.

I'm giving a rules & safety clinic in New Hampshire on the 19th basically I just need to know the answer and the source - are forearm pads allowed? If not who is saying so and where?

http://whbtrack.netfirms.com/Event%20Co ... _Rules.pdf

*update* it may be in the rules concerning "Braces, Concussion Management & Modifications" (Rules 4-4) but is there an official itnerpretation?

Thanks Vaultworld - y'all ROCK!

Coach Doug

It's a little vague. Generally states are allowing it: http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=21363

Thanx Bex - I'll modify the presentation to say that the interpretation is "fuzzy" at best but that PA & IL have allowed it... Never know about us crazy New Englanders though :-)

Why don't you contact/email Bill.. This could have been an Ohio thing and when he updates these PDFs he might have overlooked that.
I know he is receptive to any corrections of errors in these docs.

For what its worth, a rule change was submitted to specifically address this two years running by there was no action. I thought it was submitted again for 2012, but when I looked at the score-card of changes.. I noticed it was not.

I'm not aware of any issue in my state. The general interpretation of items like this is, if its not specifically disallowed, then it's OK. It would be a stretch in my personal opinion to think of this as any other then a protective device, and not some like of adornment.

Believe it or not he was the first guy I contacted, then I thought "Hey let's try PoleVaultPower too" :-)

He contacted me yesterday and was very receptive -

"Since the pad is not prohibited, i.e. Gloves, it is permitted. Will change website"

It was a very weird coincidence - in my talk I highly recommend forearm pads for intermediate vaulters AND downloading Bill's awesome cheat sheets - it was going to be a major conflict :-)

IAAF doesn't DISALLOW gloves. My take is they do allow it. Here is the rule statement from the 2012-2013 rule book, Rule 183.3:

3. Athletes may, during the competition, place a substance on their
hands or on the pole, in order to obtain a better grip.

Might be a bit of a stretch to think of a glove as a substance

Dan

The fact that the IAAF rules specifically talk about the legal/non-legal use of gloves in the throwing events would seem to indicate the "lack of mentioning gloves in the pole vault" means gloves are allowed. Obviously rules can be interpreted in many different ways, but that's my take on it. Plus you have the other well known question of how you are allowed to use super glue, but not gloves on your hands? If gloves were considered a safety hazard some how, then they should absolutely be mentioned in the rule book as apposed to no mention at all.