4. What does a Coordinator do?
A coordinator runs their age/gender group at a Meet
• Organise athletes
– Marshall athletes at Marshalling Area
– Tick off which athletes are in attendance
– Exercise “Crowd Control” over their group, especially moving to and from site
• Organise Parent Helpers
– Assign Parent Helpers tasks at an event
– Watch over the Parent Helpers doing their tasks
• Officiate on Field Sites for their group
– Javelin, Discus, Shot Put
– High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump
– Call in on the Walkie Talkie when their group has finished an event
• Arrange athletes into Heats for Track and get the athletes to the Starter
Coordinators are a critical part in the running of a Meet
5. Why be a Coordinator?
• Its rewarding ...
You get to interact with a group of athletes during their
sport, which is a lot of fun over the course of the season
• You can influence the running of Saturday
Mornings ...
– Little Athletics on a Saturday can sometimes drag
– To make our Saturday mornings work we need people
to keep groups moving
– Coordinators make sure that our Little Athletics is a
Saturday morning sport and not a Saturday afternoon
sport
6. What Makes a Good Coordinator?
• Fair to all their athletes
– Give every athlete a chance to do their best
– Makes sure no-one gets an unfair advantage
• Makes it Fun
– Is inclusive towards all their athletes and makes sure
everyone’s performances are acknowleged
• Keep things Moving
– No-one wants to wait – kids especially!
– Late events impact on the rest of the day and other
groups
• Ask for help when needed
7. Asking for Help
• Lots of experienced people you can ask for
help
– Arena Managers: Chris Moore, Phil Bossert, Simon
Davis
– Supervisors: Leigh Fearnall and Vince McKenna
– Announcers: Sue James and Tym Campbell
– Other Coordinators
– Use your Walkie Talkie
9. Parent Helpers
• You should have 3 Parent Helpers
• Parent Helpers are rostered on
• You should stay at Marshalling until you have 3 helpers
– Radio to announcers asking for Parent Help
– Don’t be afraid to ask athletes to get their parents to help
• Helpers need sign-in with the Parent Marshall
• No other Parents are allowed on-site
– Don’t be afraid to tell people to leave the site if they aren’t
one of your Helpers
– Call in to the Arena Manager if you want a hand
10. Marshalling Athletes – First Event
• 5-10 minutes before the first event be at the
Marshalling area to organise your group
• Tick off the athletes on your sheets
• Make sure you have 3 Parent Helpers
– If you don’t have enough Parent Helpers, ask for
more
11. Towards the end of an Event
•
•
At the start of the last round of throws/jumps …
– Radio the Announcers to let them know that you are on the last round
– Ask the Announcers if you will be able to take your group direct to the next
event
– If the Announcers say “Yes”, then keep your group together (ie: don’t let
athletes wander off after their last throw/jump)
At the end of the event (both Track & Field) …
– Radio the Announcers to tell them that you are finished
– If possible, the Announcers will let you take your athletes to the next site
– Athletes should only move under Parent Helper control
– All Athletes should be present
– The Announcers will put out a Marshalling Call if athletes are missing
– A Parent Helper will need to go to marshalling to pick up any athletes who
answer the Call and then escort them to site
12. Marshalling Athletes – Next Event
• If you can’t directly go to your next event:
– Athletes can go back to their parents
– Get athletes and Parent Helpers to listen for the Announcers
• The Announcers will make two Calls
• Athletes and Parent Helpers are to meet at Marshalling
• You can leave marshalling a few minutes after the Second
Call – you don’t have to wait for every athlete to show.
– Use your judgement about whether athletes are still arriving
after the second call
• Please don’t obstruct the view of Timekeepers and
Starters on Short Track!
13. Uniforms
• Registration Number –
centre
• IGA Badge – top-right
• Age Badge – top-left
• Joondalup Purple top or old
Club top
• Plain black shorts
• No Skins! (WALA rule)
• Must wear shoes
• Tops tucked in
• Athletes can be Disqualified
if in incorrect uniform
14. Radios
• Channel 32 is used for general communications
– Calling announcers
– Asking
questions
– Informing the Arena Manager of a Centre Record
• Channel 33 is used for Short Track Starters & Timekeepers
• Channel 34 is used for Long Track Starters & Timekeepers
16. Field Events – Who Does What
U6
U7 – U8
U9
U10-U11
U12 Up
Long Jump
Long Jump
Long Jump
Long Jump
Long Jump
Turbo Javelin
Turbo Javelin
High Jump
(Scissors)
High Jump
(Scissors)
High Jump
Shot Put
Discus
Turbo Javelin
Triple Jump
Triple Jump
Shot Put
Discus
Javelin
Javelin
Shot Put
Discus
Discus
Shot Put
Shot Put
17. Field Events - Safety
You have the authority to stop an activity at
any time if you feel it is unsafe.
• Athletes must stay behind the throwing/jumping area
• Don’t let athletes throw or jump until the area is clear
– Make sure raking has stopped in the long jump pit!
•
•
•
•
•
Never let athletes retrieve their own javelin, shot, discus
Never let helpers stand in the throwing/jumping sector
Helpers should carry javelin, shot, discus back – not throw!
Carry javelins upright with point down
Look out for:
– Sun protection. Wearing hats, using sunscreen.
– Athletes drinking enough water
18. Field Events – Recording Distances
• Coordinators are responsible for reading the tape
• Say the distance out aloud so Parent Helpers and
athlete can hear
• A Parent Helper records distance on Recording
Sheet
• Distances are rounded-down to the nearest cm
– 4.528m is recorded as 4.52m
– 4.671m is recorded as 4.67m
– 29.999m is recorded as 29.99m
• Untwist the tape and pull it tight to measure
19. Records
• We maintain Centre Records
• Records are printed on the Recording Sheets
• If a record is broken you must call the Arena
Manager on your walkie talkie to verify the
record
– Don’t rake the pit
– Don’t move the marking spike
– Wait for the Arena Manager to arrive
• At the beginning of the event measure out the
Centre Record & Indicate with a flag at the side of
the throwing/jumping area
20. Field Event Rules
• There are State Rules and Joondalup Rules
– Your hand-out holds both sets of rules
• Joondalup Rules trump State Rules
– Our local rules are designed to make our
Competitions work more efficiently
– Our local rules are mostly about organisation and
how many trials an athlete can have
21. Basic Points – The Throws
Javelin, Discus, Shot Put
• Every athlete gets three throws
– U10 up can have a practice throw
• Throws need to land inside the lines
• Javelin
– Javelin must land tip first
– U6-U9 use plastic “Turbo” javelins
– Athlete must be entirely behind the line
• Discus & Shot Put
– Athletes start inside the circle
– Athletes must stay inside the circle when they throw
– Athletes must leave through the ‘back’ of the circle
– Shot Put – athletes can’t let their hand go behind their shoulder during
the Put
22. Basic Points – Long Jump & Triple
Jump
• Every athlete gets three jumps
• U10 up get a practice jump to get their run-up
right
• Different groups use different sized take-off
mats
– Up to U12, measure from footprint
– U13+, measure from front of mat/strip
• Measure to the impression in the sand closest
to the mat
23. Basic Points - High Jump
• U9 to U11 must use Scissors style
– Athletes can jump until two No Jumps in a row
• U12+ can use Fosbury Flop style
– Athletes can jump until three No Jumps in a row
• No Jump –
– Bar falls down
– Two baulks in a row
– Scissors – if athlete doesn’t land on front foot
• Measure height of bar at centre
24. High Jump – Starting Height
• Each group has a starting height which is the
minimum height athletes can jump
• Once an athlete has a PB, they start jumping at
three heights below their PB
– Joe has a PB of 1.00m
– Regardless of the Starting Height for his age group, Joe
starts jumping at a minimum of 85cm
• You can keep raising the bar by 5cm until there is
only 6 athletes left in the competition then raise
by 3cm
25. Track Events
• Starters and Timekeepers run the Track events
• Coordinators help the Starter by getting their athletes
ready for the start line
– Once athletes are in heats and the Coordinator has passed the
heat to the Starter, the Starter runs the event
• Send Parent Helpers to the Finish Line to Paddle and
Organise Athletes for Recording
– New Timing Gates means that Long Track Timekeeping is
changing
– The Chief Timekeeper is in charge of the Finish Line and Parent
Helpers need to follow their instructions
• Spikes can only be put on at Start Line & must be taken off
at Finish Line
26. Heats for Track Events
• Find out from the Starter how many lanes are
available
• You put the athletes into heats!
– Keep athletes of similar ability together
– Put athletes into heats in PB order
– If an athlete doesn’t have a PB they should go into
the slowest heat
– Keep the size of the heats even.
• You pick the lanes!
