Uniforms & Jewelry – There are still a few areas of concern that I’ve noted while attending some of the recent meets and from some emails/phone calls to the office. 

Jewelry - At a recent meet I noticed one of the competitors had tape on the lobs of both ears.  Recognizing one of this athletes coaches, I asked “and the tape on the ears is because…? (thinking I probably already knew the answer)”  The following was the exchange – coach “Oh he/she got their ears pieced today and they could not remove the studs they put in to keep the piercing from closing.”  My response – “You realize that they are participating while wearing illegal equipment.  They are running the risk of being disqualified from this event for that.”  Coach – “It seems that during the season no one cares.”  Response – “I’d hate to see them disqualified at the regional or state because the rules will be enforced there.”  At the same meet I observed another competitor with a “Live Strong” bracelet on.  

SPORTSMANSHIP issues in the sport of track and field are generally infrequent occurrences.  However, there are occasions when the students participating in track and field, by either their actions or their comments, do create sportsmanship challenges for officials.  Unlike sports where “officials” are readily identified by clothing and duties, in track and field athletes will forget that there are officials at each field event and in the vicinity of the track who by rule, do have the authority by NFHS rule to disqualify a contestant.  That may be one reason why students will not be more prone to use profanity at a track and field meet when they would not on the football field or the basketball court, etc.  I’m not quite sure why it is but it seems that in today’s society students can often be heard using profanity when they are interacting with each other, forgetting that there are others who overhear their words.  In too many situations, students often forget that they are in a public setting when they are at a meet.  Sometimes they will use inappropriate language (i.e., profanity) when talking to other students without realizing 1) it may be offensive to those that are within hearing distance or 2) that such language could result in their disqualification from a meet.

NFHS rule 4-5 addresses the topic of disqualification of contestants from an event or the meet.  4-5-1 lists a number of actions which when directed toward officials and others constitute unsporting conduct and can result in disqualification from an event and the meet.  4-5-2  provides a similar list of unsporting conduct which can result in disqualification from an event.  The provisions of 4-5-2 includes “using profanity that is not directed at someone” (emphasis added). It is not necessary for a contestant to be specifically directing profanity toward another individual in order to be disqualified from an event.  Contestants can be disqualified from an event if they use profanity!

It is important to keep in mind that the students we work with daily are normally between the ages of 14-18 and that they are still “learning”.   But we must remember that as adults we are all “teachers” for these students.  Our action (or inaction) is providing lessons to these students – failing to correct students when their actions are inappropriate or failing to admonish students when their words are offensive or include profanity, resulting in the message that their actions or their words are acceptable.  One of the KSHSAA administrative staff (Cheryl Gleason) has a great way of stating this – “what you permit, you promote!”  We all have responsibilities in helping students learn proper and appropriate behavior. 

Middle School/Junior High participation rule changed for 2008-09 School year:

The KSHSAA Board of Directors met on Friday, April 11.  As most of you know, only the Board of Directors can change a KSHSAA Handbook Rule.  The Board of Directors meets in April and September.  The KSHSAA Executive Board has the ability to change KSHSAA policies.  The Executive Board meets six times a year. 

One of the rules changes adopted by the KSHSAA Board of Directors at this April meeting applies to middle school/junior high track and field.  The proposal was submitted by the member schools of the Northwest Kansas League.  With declining numbers of students in their schools, the schools are having more and more challenges in having enough students to have competitive events in track and field.  The league a couple of years ago proposed a change to increase the number of events that MS/JH students could participate in during a meet.  This year, the league proposed making an increase in the distance limitation for seventh and eighth grade students competing in MS/JH meets. 

Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, seventh and eighth grade students will be limited to no more than two races of 880 yards (800 M) or more in one day.  Please note: the change is effective for the 2008-09 school year and the 2009 interscholastic track and field season.  THERE IS NO CHANGE REGARDING THE DISTANCE LIMITS FOR STUDENTS IN MS/JH TRACK THIS YEAR.  As noted during discussion on this proposal, this should help smaller teams with fielding relay teams and some of the middle distance events in junior high track and field meets.

Again as a reminder to the coaches, if you are hosting a track and field meet during the regular season, please send the results of your meet to Carol Swenson, McPherson College so that he can post those results on the Best Performance List and the All-time Best Performance Chart he maintains.  List are at http://www.mcpherson.edu/athletics.  Results can be emailed to Carol at swensonc@mcpherson.edu. 

SITUATION 1: A vaulter from Team A has the standards (uprights) set to position the crossbar 30 inches in direction of the landing surface from the zero point. The vaulter makes an approach but does not attempt to clear the crossbar. The vaulter brushes the landing system beyond the stopboard (zero point) but not beyond the positioning of the crossbar. The event judge rules a foul under 7-5-29d. The Team A coach protests that the zero point is not the determining factor for identifying the vertical plane. The protest is denied. RULING: Correct procedure. COMMENT: The zero point and the vertical plane are one in the same. Although the standards may be moved to set the position of the crossbar, the vertical plane remains constant and that is the zero point. (7-5-13, 7-5-19)

SITUATION 2: A Team A contestant reports to the clerk of the course to check in and become an official competitor for the 200-meter dash. The competitor is wearing a full-length body suit with a hood underneath her uniform for religious reasons. The body suit being worn as a visible undergarment under her uniform has red-and-white vertical stripes. Through preventive officiating, the clerk informs the competitor that the visible undergarment is illegal because it is multicolored. The competitor may compete if she makes the uniform legal. The athlete tells her coach, who then wants to protest. RULING: Protest denied, correct procedure. COMMENT: The clerk of the course has the responsibility to check and enforce uniform, visible apparel and shoe regulations. The undergarment is illegal only because of being multiple colors and not because of the length or hood. The ultimate responsibility regarding uniforms rests with the school coach. The coach has the responsibility to place the school's athletes in legal uniforms and educate the student-athlete on what is a legal uniform. Any exception to the uniform rule shall be provided by the state association. (4-3-1d)

SITUATION 3: The state association has established a policy for how scoring, places and advancement within the state series track and field competition shall be addressed if it is detected after the meet results are official that an ineligible athlete competed and scored points. During the regular season, the state association has allowed each games committee to establish the timeframe to address similar situations. RULING: Correct procedure. COMMENT: The state association has the authority to establish a policy to address correction of score when an ineligible athlete participates, scores points and places. This policy may also be based upon the individual state's bylaws in conjunction with established policy. Such policy may apply to the state series only or may also include regular-season meets, whichever the state association deems appropriate. (2-3-2)
KSHSAA policy applicable to this situation – Below is the policy adopted by the KSHSAA Executive Board.  This policy applies to the regional meet and is found in the 2008 KSHSAA track and field manual page 14 as item 3.G.1.  For regular season meets, the games committee for those meets may set their own policy in response to 2-3-2.