A couple of weeks ago we were on a date, where the opponent was in the process of entering the shot circle, and realized that he did not take the T-shirt that he wore over his shirt. With one leg in a circle and one leg out of the circle, the athlete took off his shirt and pulled it to the ground a couple of feet behind the circle. Seeing this, the event passed to the coach of the athlete, who sat just a few feet away and asked him if this action should be called a foul. The coach nodded in agreement. The athlete completed the attempt and the foul was called.
Should it be called a foul? Let's take a look at the NCAA rule.
First of all, Rule 6, Section 1, Article 1, states that “an attempt is defined as all competitor’s actions that occur from the time when the deadline expires until the official determines through the use of a flag, a fair trial in Egypt”. The explanatory note below states the following statement: “Purposeful action to fulfill the requirements of a sporting task (jump or throw)”.
Section 8 delves into the specifics of the shot. The keynote statement is contained in the second paragraph of Article 1: “The competitor must begin with a fixed position within the circle.” (P 100) Article 3 continues to determine foul. According to statement c, the rule says that it is a foul if “after entering the circle and beginning to surrender, the participant ... Touching any part of the body before the shot hits the ground: 1) Any surface is a metal tape other than the inner surface, 2) any surface of the stop car, with the exception of its inner surface, or 3) the area outside the circle; "(p. 101)
Therefore, working with these rules, throwing a shirt out of a circle before a shot is thrown, should not be a foul. Only the body can cause a foul as soon as the trial has begun. This means that the glasses fall, the tape falling from the fingers into the hammer, falling bandages, shoelaces touching the board, etc., should not be considered as fouls. I even saw a foul when a quarter fell out of an athlete's pocket during a throw and jumped out of the circle.
As a trainer, what should you do in this situation if you see that the call that you know is wrong? First of all, it is always helpful to have a copy of the rulebook for your governing body. Then you really need to read it and understand how it is laid out, and where you can find features when you need to find them. The overwhelming majority of local officials are volunteers and have not studied the rule book. Often, a brief overview of the rules before a competition also reminds them of what they are doing, as well as for competitors. And for the vast majority of attempts, that's all they need to know. However, for 1% of calls like this, it is the responsibility of the coach to respectfully educate.
In this particular case, the athlete was a decathlete who had just fired a shot. The attempt would have nothing to do with the general competition, and the athlete and his coach were not too concerned about the signs. At the end of the flight, I approached the official and told him about my interpretation of the rule. In this case, nothing needs to be changed, but simply to make him aware of this in the future. He and the coach nodded in agreement.
Would you do otherwise? Does your governing body have different rules that would change this scenario?
