Start of New Job Marked With Unprecedented Changes, Gratifying Experiences
By Traci Neely | Friday, May 22, 2009 12:53 PM
Little did I know that the first two months working in the UIL office would be packed full of unprecedented events. I started work in late February, just in time to work the state championships for swimming and diving and the girls’ and boys’ basketball tournaments. Shortly thereafter, it seemed to calm down, and I was able to get a grasp on my new environment.
Then came the swine flu.
The end of April would bring a dilemma to the UIL that created historic consequences involving a very large number of spring sport athletes across the state.
The decision to cancel regional track meets brought on a deluge of public communication to the UIL office. The softball and baseball postponements created even more phone calls and frustrated athletes, coaches, school personnel and parents.
Finally, when all the events were rescheduled, some relief came but also so did some additional frustration. We knew that rescheduling events was the right thing to do, however it created more havoc on the previously adjusted details for softball, the late state track meet and other end of the year events such as high school graduations and senior prom.
The series of events from this spring will not be forgotten, and the UIL staff will always utilize those memories as a point of reference in future situations.
Track and Field
The pole vault competitors were faced with an additional set of circumstances that could have affected their use of a particular brand of vaulting poles. The NFHS ruling for the requirement of labels on pole was modified last year with the intent that all new and past year models of poles would be consistently marked with a visible label of a ?” letter size requirement including a restriction against the previously accepted engraved markings on specific brands of poles. According to the 2009 language in the NFHS track and field book, those engraved markings were not to be accepted in lieu of a vendor pre-printed paper label.
Discussion with the NFHS track and field national rules editor and several pole manufacturers occurred in early April. The UIL presented an official memo to coaches and meet officials that allowed for the 2009 season to continue with the engraved markings as well as the pre-printed labels.
Coaches should carefully note that the engraved markings are not likely to be a continued allowance next season. The pole vendors and the national editor continue to collaborate on the appropriate language to describe pole vault label allowances in the next edition of the NFHS track and field rulebook. The UIL will update all coaches for any information concerning the vault pole label requirements later this summer.
A special thank you
I spent last Friday and Saturday traveling across Texas with my work colleague and co-director for the state track meet, Sheila Henderson.
We wanted to attend the regional track meets and personally thank those that contributed to the successful rescheduling of all 20 regional sites for track and field.
It was both a gratifying experience and humbling one, too. As we engaged in conversations with officials, school personnel, parents and coaches, we were welcomed with open arms.
As a result of that trip, we discovered that the regional site hosts and athletes were extremely thankful for the return of an opportunity. Shelia and I, both coming from a track and field participant and coaching background, are completely convinced that track and field is alive and well in Texas.
We discovered an excitement in a sport that we feared had lost passion in the hearts of coaches over the years. We intend to take the guardianship of track and field very seriously in the coming years.