USA Track and Field National Officials Committee

Training Sub-committee

How to Set Up the Pole Vault

John Lilygren
Pacific Association
jlilygren@gmail.com

2011 USATF NATIONAL MEETING 1

 Outline
• Safety
– Venue inspection and preparation
– Look around for the “Big Picture”
• Equipment Required
• Pole Vault Set-Up Procedure
– Marking crossbars and standard bases
– Aligning & Zeroing standards
• USATF Officials Website: Best Practices
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 Safety is Job #1
• When officiating a Pole Vault competition,
your number one concern must be the safety
of the competitors

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 Inspect around the pit
• Cover hard surfaces such as concrete, metal,
wood or asphalt with a minimum of 2 inches
of dense foam or other suitable material
• Remove movable objects such as hurdles

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For high school competitions,
verify there is a box collar

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 Inspect the Box & Landing Area
• Check the area around the box
– Remove debris & water from the box
– Verify adequate clearance for poles to the pads
• Verify that the pits are properly connected
and the top cover is in place
• Observe the condition of the pit
• Verify the pins are the proper length
– 55 mm for USATF & NCAA
– 76 mm for High School
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 Observe the surroundings &
anticipate problems you may encounter:

Discus

High
Jump

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Anticipate Potential Problems
from adjacent events

4 x 100m
exchange zone

200m
start

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 Read Shelby Sharpe’s
“Track and Field Officials Liability – How to Avoid It”

www.usatf.org/groups/officials/files/resources/meet-
management/Track-and-Field-Officials-Liability-How-to-Avoid-It.pdf

TRACK AND FIELD OFFICIAL’S LIABILITY – HOW TO AVOID IT

By J. Shelby Sharpe

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Necessary Equipment

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Check crossbar sag
& mark crossbars

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Mark Crossbars (cont.)

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Underside of crossbar

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Mark 0 to 80 cm scale on bases

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Align standards with 0 line

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 If there is no “0” line, stretch a
bungee or crossbar between standards & …

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… align with the back of the box

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 UCS Standards
0.5 m

Pegs are 0.5 meter in

from upright part of standard

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 Pegs must be 4.30 – 4.37 m apart
(For UCS standards, set uprights 5.30 – 5.37 m apart)

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 Aligning & Zeroing Standards
• Goals:
– Standards are parallel to each other
– Standards are parallel to the runway

• Two methods:
– 2 Point Method
– Parallelogram Method

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2-Point Method

• Put crossbar up
• Measure distance between standards at “0”
• Move standards to 80 & observe whether
crossbar moves.
• Is distance still the same as it was at 0?
• Problem: Can’t be sure standards are
parallel with runway

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2-Point Method with
Standards Rotated

• D-F > C-E

• Which standard do you move?
• Can’t be sure standards will
track parallel to runway
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Parallelogram Method

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 Place 2 tacks 80 cm apart
in center of runway (A & B)

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Measure distance from 1st tack
to both standards at “0”

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 Move standard to 80 &
measure distance to 2nd tack

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Parallelogram Method guarantees
standards track parallel to runway

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Repeat measurements
for other standard

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Measure distance between standards
at 0 & 80 to confirm they are equal

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 Raise standard to ~15’ &
hold 0 end of tape against bracket

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Check to see if standards are level
& shim if necessary

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Move standards to 0, raise crossbar
& check with plumb bob

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 Check the Horizontal Plane
• Place a bar on the lowest peg at the lowest possible
height and place a level on the middle of the bar if
you can reach it.
• If you can’t reach it, stretch a string tautly between
the standards at the same point on both scales and
use a hanging level in the middle of the string.
• If the bar or string isn’t level, adjust the height on
one standard until it is level and note the
adjustment.

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 Verify crossbar is level,
measure height & record offsets

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Tape edges of standard bases
to mark their position

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Put covers in place

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 Best Practices
www.usatf.org/groups/officials/resources/best-practices/

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