CA State, Rock 16-2, Barr DQ'd for swearing

[drcurran]

ART. 2
Unacceptable conduct by a competitor includes, but is not limited to: willful failure to follow the directions
of a meet official, using profanity that is not directed at someone or any action which could bring discredit
to the individual or his/her school.
PENALTY: Disqualification from that event.

It really is a shame. But. . . . should the official pretend that it did not happen? It seems the way the rule is written the official had no choice. And because it is not called in other sports, or was not called in another event is no excuse for the official to not make the call. I try to be the most "athlete friendly" official I can be, but I think here the officials hands were tied.

In PA some years back an athlete dropped the "F" bomb as he finished second in the hundred. People in the top row of the bleachers heard it. It was the District meet, he is DQed and does not go on to the State Meet. Lawyers get involved and the DQ is over ruled. Kid goes to the State Meet and are you ready. . . False starts in his preliminary race. Justice???

[timmac-pv]

I have only skim read the topic, but why didnt the official just give him a warning first and then tell the athlete that next time it will be an automatic disqualification. I understand the official is just following policy but if other athletes at different meets are getting away with speaking profanities then how can you expect an athlete to interpret these types of rules properly. If you are going to impose a rule then every official must take action when that rule is broken so all athletes then understand when they are stepping over the line. For this instance i personally think its a bit harsh, a warning should be given and if the athlete cant understand that and continues then he should be DQed.

[Barefoot]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsity ... -meet.html

Evan explains what happened...

[vaultmd]

To those who are advocating a warning after the first loud obscenity - you are basically saying it is okay to scream it once. I do not believe that is the intent of the rule and believe the correct call was made. And don't think for a second that the official making the call enjoyed DQ'ing a kid in what may be the biggest meet of his life.

[drcurran]

Those who know me know that I am not a Hard A_ _ official and I hate DQing any athlete. But officials are not in a position to pick and choose which rules we enforce. The rule does not give us the option of a warning anymore than the starter having the option to give a warning on a false start. I'm sure he is a nice "kid" who just made a mistake. Everyone just has to move on.

[tsorenson]

At the school I coach at, we have a standing rule that any swearing in practice gets you a bunch of 400's and no more vaulting that day. So, our vaulters don't swear, in practice or in meets. The same rule applies to all the kids on the team. I credit our head coach for enforcing this rule and building a program based around high standards. I have had to clean up my own language to be a part of the team, for which I am thankful.

Of course it's a frustrating sport, and it's sad for the kid who cost his team the state title, but the officials did the right thing. I can't believe people are blaming the officials! At least the kid himself is taking responsibility for his mistake, which is admirable. With that type of attitude, he will learn from the experience and bounce back strong. Maybe some coaches and other vaulters will learn from it as well.

Maybe rules do get ignored in some meets, but not the state meet! I can guarantee you that if any vaulter yelled a profanity at our state meet here in Oregon, they would be disqualified by the officials. I'm sure if the rules were enforced more on a day-to-day basis, this wouldn't have happened. We can't forget that HS athletics are part of the education of youth, and that's more important than winning.

Tom

[Barefoot]

Those who know me know that I am not a Hard A_ _ official and I hate DQing any athlete. But officials are not in a position to pick and choose which rules we enforce. The rule does not give us the option of a warning anymore than the starter having the option to give a warning on a false start. I'm sure he is a nice "kid" who just made a mistake. Everyone just has to move on.

Except.... officials routinely do pick and choose with some rules.

Profanity
Uniform Violations
Jewelry being worn
Electronics in the competition area
Allotted time for Jumps
Weight legal poles
The old "wind" pushing the pole into the bar

Reading some of the 4000 comments about this story on yahoo is interesting. The comments are heavily divided on the profane use of language, quite often divided by age and it would appear geography. Also many conflicting comments arise between advocates of adhering to the letter of the law, and those who think a little leeway and discretion is better.

It doesn't help that the rules can vary so much between the different levels and associations governing a sport and some rules seem so arbitrary... like tape on hands at the high school level... you can't tape a sprained finger, but you can tape an open wound which might bleed.

Evan broke a clear cut rule and was DQ'd... it would be nice, from this HS coach's stand point, to see the rules more uniformly enforced throughout the season. Perhaps then we wouldn't get to the State meet and see these kinds of situations. Having a zero tolerance profanity rule at practice and competitions with my own athletes... this is the first time I have seen the rule enforced, despite witnessing hundreds of such violations of the rule over the past few years.

Okay... I'm moving on, but with Evan as a cautionary tale to tell my kids.

[Barefoot]

At the school I coach at, we have a standing rule that any swearing in practice gets you a bunch of 400's and no more vaulting that day. So, our vaulters don't swear, in practice or in meets. The same rule applies to all the kids on the team. I credit our head coach for enforcing this rule and building a program based around high standards. I have had to clean up my own language to be a part of the team, for which I am thankful.

Of course it's a frustrating sport, and it's sad for the kid who cost his team the state title, but the officials did the right thing. I can't believe people are blaming the officials! At least the kid himself is taking responsibility for his mistake, which is admirable. With that type of attitude, he will learn from the experience and bounce back strong. Maybe some coaches and other vaulters will learn from it as well.

Maybe rules do get ignored in some meets, but not the state meet! I can guarantee you that if any vaulter yelled a profanity at our state meet here in Oregon, they would be disqualified by the officials. I'm sure if the rules were enforced more on a day-to-day basis, this wouldn't have happened. We can't forget that HS athletics are part of the education of youth, and that's more important than winning.

Tom

Well said Tom!

[VaultPurple]

Well they are not supposed to pick and chose..

But the ones I see most not always followed are

Electronics
Time on Runway
Wind Knocking off cross bar
Catching own pole

The last two are just mainly because most officials and even coaches do not really know what the guide lines for them are.

But as far as swearing.. Just do like all the foreigners do and learn to swear in another language, that way the officials do not know if it is a bad word or not.

[violetvaulter]

Would love to see if they'd DQ someone for swearing in another language... is that common practice anywhere? New one to me. (Did know a kid that got disciplined for use of 'frak', though not in a sporting event.)

[atlegu]

Interesting. I am following the Diamond League from New York on TV. Blanca Vlasic just missed her second attempt on 1.94. I now some Serbo-Croatian words, and what she said goes clearly under the definition of swearing.

However according do IAAF rules I guess it is allowed, so Vlasic will definitively not be disqualified

[VaultPurple]

Would love to see if they'd DQ someone for swearing in another language... is that common practice anywhere? New one to me. (Did know a kid that got disciplined for use of 'frak', though not in a sporting event.)

Don't think in track. I have seen a few officials tell throwers that they are pretty sure that was not a nice word so they did not want to hear it again.

But I have been told in the FIFA World Cup the refs have to learn most of the swear words from the teams languages before the match.