HS Jewelry Rules Interpretation Question

[polevaultpower]

How does your state interpret the following:

"Contestants shall not wear jewelry with the exception of religious or medical
medals. If such medals are worn, they shall be taped to the body under the uniform."

Does the religious medal have to be removed from the chain?

[guru]

Yes, it does. That's the purpose of the taping aspect - so there's no need for a chain.

[polevaultpower]

Yes, it does. That's the purpose of the taping aspect - so there's no need for a chain.

I always just assumed it was to keep the jewelry from flapping around. It seems safer to have the chain on, so that if the tape were to get sweaty and slip loose, the medal wouldn't fall onto the track or something.

[Riff80]

Most states that have the high school jewelry rule are very specific. It's best to not wear any at all. I've see people DQed for wearing tiny earrings. Even if officials don't DQ the person, sometimes opposing coaches will file a protest and the person is DQed, which may improve the opposing schools position in the standing.

[GeorgiaFan1]

I know that, in Georgia, several years ago, one of the kids had his medical bracelet and medal taped to his arm. He said it nearly drove him crazy at state, which was the first time they taped it. The next night his parents were there and he took it off.

[tandfman]

Good news. The high school rule prohibiting the wearing of jewelry has been eliminated, effective next year.

Article now linked from front page.

[MJR]

If I had not read the article already, I'd have thought this was a joke. Possibly the smartest HS T&F rule change I can ever recall.

[lonewolf]

Not one but three rare positive HS rule changes.
Jewelry,
Time Limit change for jumps and throws,
Eliminate calling "Mark"
Eliminating "out of control" exit of back half( I am assuming implement still has to hit the ground first)

[Atticus]

To invoke Handel: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
One stupid rule down, 127 to go . . .

[PDJ551]

Jewelry Rule

When I was in high school in the early 1960s there was no jewelry rule. Girls weren't part of the scholastic sport and the only jewelry that boys wore were religious medals. It wasn't a big deal. Also there were no uniform rules. At dual meets some kids wore cut-offs. I wore my P.E. shorts as they were more comfortable than my issues shorts.

The change began when styles changed. What had been counter-cultural became stylish. No athletes wore facial hair and hair cuts were generally short. Later a teammate of mine in AAU track told me about a college teammate of his who decided to emulate Elvis' sideburns in the late 50s. Running in a meet in Madison Square Garden spectators started calling him Elvis. This angered his coach who insisted he shave them. He wouldn't and told the coach that the next time that he saw him he would have to pay. That then young half miler was Bruce Dern. I recall Boys Life had an advertisement in the early 1960s of a football player with a handle-bar mustache. Underneath it was caption saying that no football player would appear that way. Of course about 10 years later there were many in the NFL who had such facial hair.

In college a senior javelin thrower in my conference of small colleges decided to grow a mustache. His coach, an ordained minister, threw him off the team despite him being a dean's list engineering student who had been a steady athlete. My coach, a much younger man, pondered the decision which he had initially agreed with, but added to us, that he would have difficulty throwing off an athlete who was conscientious.

Soon high school kids grew their hair long. Some even grew facial hair, although most would have to wait on that. They also started wearing jewelry and headbands. At that time in the early 60s the Federation, I'm sure many were of the "Silent Majority," who were bothered by the Anti-war crowd, sex, drugs, rock 'n roll, and perhaps the vocal civil rights demonstrations, decided that they had the power to clean up the sport. More and more rules were passed including the famous jewelry rule.

In N.J. after a runner was disqualified at the state meet for wearing jewelry, which wasn't discovered until the runner crossed the finish line, the state took a lot of heat in the newspapers about the ruling. N.J. enacted a reasonable rule. The infraction must be discovered before the athlete began the race or the field event.

I applaud the federation for doing away with such a ridiculous rule. The kids would watch the Olympians wearing jewelry and ask me how come they couldn't. Also once we had to get a ring off a girl who had been wearing the ring since she had been in elementary school. What a task that was.

[Halfmiler2]

Because, different states have different interpretations of the jewelry rule, we generally followed a strict approach at the Penn Relays paddock. If in doubt, we let the high school referee (who sits close tot he paddock) make the call.

The above being said, this is the first that I have heard someone suggest that the even if taped, a religious medal must be removed from the chain.

Great news about the rules change. Now if we could only get them to loosen up the uniform rule a bit ...

[lonewolf]

At last, the elusive near unanimous thread..?

[mal]

Seems crazy to tape medical bracelets under the uniform. Out of sight when possibly needed.

[no one]

At last some common sense eeks its way into someone ... who then encouraged more eeking ... and and and