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Once again this weekend I'm tasked to help officiate a five-alive format HJ competition. It's a high school qualifier to pick 9 jumpers to move on to the divisional finals a week hence. And I keep thinking there must be a better way...
There will be close to 40 athletes in both the male and female sections, many of whom will be unfamiliar with the five-alive process.
Some of the entrants will face an opening ht. that is equal to or greater than their personal best.
So in each competition there will likely be well more than 100 "X-marks" on the result sheet. Ugh...
And a lot of kids will be coming and going to other jumps or race trials so they will need to be omitted from the five jumper rotation and reinserted upon return.
I'm just whining here so far because maintaining the proper jumping order is so tricky for officials, jumpers and observing coaches and fans.
I have coached athletes who had to intervene with certified officials at divisional finals after being completely over-looked at certain heights during five-alives to insist on their right to jump before the bar was raised.
My real point is that, I do not see the advantage of the five-alive protocol over simply running flights of 5 jumpers through each height, then moving on to the next five.
PS: for those not familiar with the five-alive process, here below is the simple explanation from USTAF "Best Practices". If you think this sounds easy, you are a better man than I by far.
1) Begin by calling the athletes in the assigned order.
2) When the first miss occurs, write “1” in the upper right corner of the box of that height; number the next four jumpers as “2”, “3”, “4”, & “5”. These are the athletes who are “alive”.
3) Continue to call those five jumpers in their “5- alive” order until they clear the height, are eliminated from the competition, or pass their remaining attempts at the height.
4) When an athlete moves out of the rotation, give that number to the next jumper to enter the competition. Erase/mark-out the first number to avoid confusion. The new jumper takes the place of the previous jumper in the rotation.
5) Communicate! Inform each athlete as they enter the rotation & continually let the athletes know who is in the rotation.
6) Continue this process until there are fewer than nine jumpers remaining at the height. I number the last three jumpers on the list as “.1”, “.2”, & “.3”. When the jumper before “.1” enters the competition, so do these last three. They become “#.1”, “#.2”, & “#.3”, with “#” representing whatever the jumper before “.1” took in the 5-alive order.
7) At this point, go through the 5-alive order one more time. After “#.3” takes his first jump, go to the top of the list & begin going straight down the competitors remaining at the height.
There will be close to 40 athletes in both the male and female sections, many of whom will be unfamiliar with the five-alive process.
Some of the entrants will face an opening ht. that is equal to or greater than their personal best.
So in each competition there will likely be well more than 100 "X-marks" on the result sheet. Ugh...
And a lot of kids will be coming and going to other jumps or race trials so they will need to be omitted from the five jumper rotation and reinserted upon return.
I'm just whining here so far because maintaining the proper jumping order is so tricky for officials, jumpers and observing coaches and fans.
I have coached athletes who had to intervene with certified officials at divisional finals after being completely over-looked at certain heights during five-alives to insist on their right to jump before the bar was raised.
My real point is that, I do not see the advantage of the five-alive protocol over simply running flights of 5 jumpers through each height, then moving on to the next five.
PS: for those not familiar with the five-alive process, here below is the simple explanation from USTAF "Best Practices". If you think this sounds easy, you are a better man than I by far.
1) Begin by calling the athletes in the assigned order.
2) When the first miss occurs, write “1” in the upper right corner of the box of that height; number the next four jumpers as “2”, “3”, “4”, & “5”. These are the athletes who are “alive”.
3) Continue to call those five jumpers in their “5- alive” order until they clear the height, are eliminated from the competition, or pass their remaining attempts at the height.
4) When an athlete moves out of the rotation, give that number to the next jumper to enter the competition. Erase/mark-out the first number to avoid confusion. The new jumper takes the place of the previous jumper in the rotation.
5) Communicate! Inform each athlete as they enter the rotation & continually let the athletes know who is in the rotation.
6) Continue this process until there are fewer than nine jumpers remaining at the height. I number the last three jumpers on the list as “.1”, “.2”, & “.3”. When the jumper before “.1” enters the competition, so do these last three. They become “#.1”, “#.2”, & “#.3”, with “#” representing whatever the jumper before “.1” took in the 5-alive order.
7) At this point, go through the 5-alive order one more time. After “#.3” takes his first jump, go to the top of the list & begin going straight down the competitors remaining at the height.
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