Don't get me wrong, I love the State Meet. It's something that I never experienced as an athlete myself, but have always been excited to attend it as a spectator, a coach and as part of the media. With that being said, there are some things that can be done to make the sport that we all love, Track and Field, better in the state of Ohio. Some items would bring us in line with other states, while others would be more progressive and proactive and would place Ohio as a leader in Track and Field when compared to other states.
In this series we will touch on five different ways in which Track and Field can be improved in the state of Ohio at the High School level. Over the next few weeks a new article will come live once a week and will be open for discussion. Please share your thoughts on each of the topics on the side of the articles in the comments section.
1. Add the Triple Jump
Photos courtesy of Victor Sailor of photorun.net
Plain and simple, add the Triple Jump. Most states already have the Triple Jump in high school, but Ohio is in the minority of states that does not contest the Triple Jump. People that don't want the triple jump say that it could lead to injuries in athletes, there is a lack of coaches that know how to coach it, there is a lack of officials that know how to officiate the event, it will cost money to add the boards or that it would take too much time to run at meets. (Photo by Victor Sailor of Photorun.net, pictured at right is Melodee Riley)
Lets look at these arguments starting at the end. Adding the Triple Jump would take too much time at meets. There is time for the Triple Jump by simply shortening the warm up time for athletes in both of the horizontal jumps (the long jump and the triple jump) and by limiting the time of open pits if your meet runs open pits. It is never the horizontal jumps that hold up the conclusion of a meet, the events that do hold up the conlcusion of a meet are usually the vertical jumps, the Pole Vault and the High Jump, due to having the starting height too low. As a meet director, if you are worried that adding the Triple Jump will make your meet go longer, add a minimum mark line. This has been done in the throws to speed them up and it is done every meet in the vertical jumps. Measure the first legal jump of all athletes, and then only measure jumps that are past the minimum mark. By having minimum marks and shortening warm up and open pit time, meets will have enough time to be able to add the Triple Jump to the list of events contested.
Second, lets look at the cost of adding the triple jump to existing facilities. To add the a Long Jump/Triple JumpTake-Off System and tray to an exisiting runway can be quite expensive. Take-Off Systems range from about $400 on the cheap side all the way up to $900 at the top end. That doesn't include the cost of tearing into the exisiting runway, placing the Take-Off System into the asphalt and then repairing the track in the area that was torn off, which could cost a school thousands of dollars to add the Take-Off System per spot. Want to know how to add the triple jump on the cheap? Buy some white spray paint and paint boards onto the existing runway at the correct spots. This will cost the school about $10-20 depending on the quality of the paint and the amount of cans bought. With an hour of minimal labor, one could have all of the boards painted that they need at the facility. When the facility is redone the next time, add the Take-Off Systems if it is necessary.
Next up is the argument that there is a lack of officials that know how to officiate the event. The Triple Jump is officiated similar to the Long Jump. The athelte must not touch beyond the foul line during the take off, and must exit away from the foul line. The big difference is that the triple jump is a hop-step and jump. An athlete must first land on the foot that they took off with and then step with the non-take off foot to complete the jump. It really isn't that hard to officiate the event. It's either right, right, left or left, left, right or it is a foul. That's not all that difficult to officiate. Additionally, high school officials in Ohio are required to attend a minimum of four local association meetings a year and an additional state rules interpretation meeting. If the Triple Jump is added to the state tournament, the officials will make it a point of emphasize at their meetings and there will be competent officials to officiate the event. (Photo by Victor Sailor of Photorun.net, pictured at left is Chris Brown)
The fourth argument is that there is a lack of coaches in the state that know how to coach the event. There will be some coaches that know more about the event than others, that's a given. But the one thing that I have noticed about coaches in Ohio is that they are willing to share their knowledge with other coaches, even if those coaches coach at a rival school. In Ohio we have also have a great coaches clinic put on every year by the OATCCC. Currently the OATCCC is making sure that there are talks about the Triple Jump at the Clinic and if the event is added to the state tournament, they will continue to have people speak on the event at the clinic to help Ohio coaches coach the event. There are also many videos that help coaches learn how to coach the triple jump (a quick search on Amazon.com found over 10 different videos about the Triple Jump).
And finally, lets look at the argument that the Triple Jump could lead to injuries in athletes. Any event in Track and Field comes with an inherent risk of injury. The most common injuries in Track and Field are overuse injuries (tendenitis and stress fractures) and muscular injuries (strains, tears and pulls). To avoid injury, make sure to warm up properly, stay hydrated, and listen to your body about when enough work is enough (especially in a technical event, such as the triple jump). To avoid overuse injuries always side on not doing enough work, rather than doing to much work. If the point of no return is reached in the Triple Jump, quit jumping. (Photo by Victor Sailor of Photorun.net, pictured at right is Jessica Caldwell)
Adding the Triple Jump will give athletes more exposure to the sport and another event in which to excel at or fall in love with. Triple Jumpers may not be the best long jumpers and it may give another athlete a chance to be on varsity and contribute to the team in a way that they couldn't before. Being able to Triple Jump is just another event that an athlete can have a chance to compete in and may help them stay in the sport in college and even possibly beyond college as a post collegiate athlete, a coach or even just a fan of the sport.
Topics that will be addressed over the next few weeks will include: