0459701065 secretary@caulfieldlittleaths.org.au Saturdays 8:30am-11:00am

Officiating & Helping Out

The LAVic website lists a number of online resources aimed at supporting parents & volunteers to assist in running the events at their weekly Little Athletics Competitions. Resources include videos, event cards and downloadable documents.

Click here to go to the resources.

Caulfield Little Athletics Centre requires approximately 60 helpers at any one time to be able to conduct all the events successfully on competition day. It is the obligation of all families registering at Caulfield to nominate for a duty role and complete that role on a minimum of 50% of the meets that your children participate.

We don’t expect any person to be an expert or to have any previous experience. However, it is expected that parents will help out when required, so that the many tasks to be done on the day are done by many, not just a few. Click here to see the duty list.

Each club must supply a representative number of officials at all Region and State Championship events. Region and State officials will be drawn from the pool of parents with children who have been selected to compete at the relevant championship.

We will provide assistance to all officials and parents who are willing to help the athletes complete their events. So please join in the Centre’s activities with your children by offering to help each week. At each field event there is a folder that will assist all officials to conduct the event. If you read through the instructions it will help you to see the job is not as hard as you think.

How you can be involved

Helping at a field event is a great introduction to official duties and puts you right in the middle of the action. Listed below are some of the tasks you can choose to do.

Long Jump
Watching for foul jumps, measuring jumps, recording measurements, raking/sweeping the pit and marshalling children.

Discus
Watching for foul throws, recording measurements, pulling the tape through the centre of circle, finding and marking the point of impact and returning the Discus to the ring.

Shot Put
Watching for a foul Put. Recording measurements, pulling the tape through the centre of circle, finding and marking the point of impact and returning the Shot Put to the ring.

Javelin
Watching for foul throws, pulling the tape from the throwing area through the sector after finding and marking the point of impact, recording measurements and returning the Javelin to the throwing area.

High Jump
Replacing the high jump bar, marshalling children, shifting and measuring the height of the bar.

Triple Jump
Watching for foul jumps, measuring jumps, recording measurements, raking/sweeping the pit and marshalling children.

Results Recorder
Enter the performances of all the athletes from the Recording Sheets into the computer.

On the Track

The Starter
Starting is a challenging job – but very absorbing and rewarding once mastered. The Starter is in total control of all aspects of the start of each track event. A good starter needs to be alert at all times and never flustered. The challenge is to ensure that all competitors on the starting line get a fair and equal start.

Starter’s Marshall
Places children in each event and decides the number of heats according to performance grading sheets.

Timekeepers
Measure the time from the start of a race until a particular competitor crosses the finish line. Timekeepers are armed with a stopwatch (or a press button for electronic timer) and need to be in line with the finish with a clear view of the starter. The start time is the first sign of smoke from the starter’s gun (the sound of the gun takes time to reach the finish line). The finish time is when the competitor’s torso, (i.e. not the head, neck, arms or legs) crosses the line.

Place Judge
Determines the order in which competitors pass the finish line. Placings are determined by the runner’s torso (i.e. not the head, neck, arms or legs) crossing the line. Each judge places first, second, third etc in order of crossing the line. In weekly Centre programs, judging is often combined with timekeeping.

Finish Marshall
The Finish Marshall assists the Timekeepers to keep the children in order when they finish their track events.

Walk Judge
To ensure that all rules of walking are adhered to. A Chief Judge is always present to co-ordinate and assist with the judging.