Fellow Colorado USATF Officials

Fellow Colorado USATF Officials

Fellow Colorado USATF Officials,

This is the eighth (and hopefully last of the year) in a series of occasional e-mails to provide information to Colorado track and field officials.

  1. Thanks! As we wrap up the year 2013, I want to thank everyone for their contribution towards helping officiate competitions in the state. Without your efforts, we could not conduct quality events for our athletes. I personally witnessed your hard work and dedication at numerous USATF meets around the state. In addition, I know that many of you spent countless hours at NCAA and high school meets as well. I know the athletes may think the officials appear at these events by magic, but the meet directors definitely appreciate your efforts.
  1. Indoor Schedule. Attached is the officials’ indoor schedule for meets in Colorado as we know it now. Please get in touch with the contact person for several of these meets to offer your assistance. We especially encourage you to work the meets inbold type– those which are conducted by our Colorado Association.
  1. Upcoming Clinics. This year we'll again offer refresher clinics and certification clinics:

Refresher clinicsfor currently certified officialswill be held at:

CU & CSU - details to be sent out soon by the coordinators at those schools.

USAF Academy -Friday, Dec 13that 12:45, just before the first home meet that day

Certification clinicsfor new officialswill be held at:

USAF Academy, Colorado Springs,on Saturday, Dec 14that 8:15am

University of Northern Colorado, Greeley,on Sunday, Jan 5that 8:15am

  1. USATF Membership. A reminder -- if you’re not a member of USA Track & Field for 2014, you’re not a certified official for 2014. Thecertification feeyou paid is good for the years 2013-2016. But,USATF membershipis also required annually ($30 per year) in order to remain as a certified official. You may renew your membership online at
  1. Officials’ Demographics. Across the country we have almost 6,300 certified officials, about 2,000 are new Apprentice level, and about 29% are women. In Colorado we have 144 certified officials, and as a group, they’re among the best in the country.
  1. Pole Vault Box Collar. The NCAA has mandated the use of a new pole vault box collar/padding, beginning December 1st, 2013 for all D-I, D-II, and D-III schools (and it will be mandated for high schools beginningJanuary 1st, 2015). Let’s be in touch with our host school coaches to be sure they’re available. For Colorado officials, our position is that if you are at a collegiate meet and the box collar is not in use, we expect you to decline to officiate the event. This will keep you and our organization from liability for potential injuries in the competition.
  1. Concussion Awareness & Training. The issue of concussions in sports is properly receiving increased attention these days. While track and field officials are not required to participate in training regarding concussions at this time (though it is required in some states), we’d like to encourage every Colorado official to take a brief online training course offered by the Centers for Disease Control.Our role will be awareness of the issue, and recognition and reporting of potential concussion situations to appropriate personnel who can deal with it. We don’t begin to diagnose or treat athletes with symptoms – that’s a medical issue. To take the training go to
  1. Awards. At the USATF Annual Meeting, the National Officials Committee presented several national level awards. One of these is the Horace Crow award for the Outstanding Field Event official for 2013. Our own Rich Schornstein was one of the five finalists for this award from among 43 officials nominated across the country. Please congratulate Rich on making the finals for this truly prestigious award. Marty Johnson was also presented with an Outstanding Volunteer award by the Mid-America region of USATF for his tireless work supporting track and field competitions this past year.
  1. National Championship Officials Selections. At the USATF Meeting, ten Colorado officials were selected to officiate USATF national championship meets or the World Youth championship meet in 2014. They are among about 230 National and Master level certified officials around the country selected for these meets. Congratulations to: Spook Halik, Marty Johnson, Susan Petrelli, Dan Pierce, Rich Schornstein, Tanya Schwindt, Don Sinclair, Ben Whisenton, Bob Volzer, and John Zamora!
  1. NCAA Officials’ Certification. Starting in 2014, USATF will partner with the NCAA to develop a certification process for NCAA track & field officials. Many details are yet to be worked out, but the program will involve registration, training, testing, selection, assignment, and evaluation of officials. Beginning with the 2015 season, all officials selected to work NCAA national track & field and cross country championship meets will need to be NCAA certified. For competitions at local schools there will be no change; that is, officials will not need to be NCAA certified. Training courses, certification levels, and the mechanics of the process are being developed. Almost all of this will be accomplished online. That’s all the info we have for now; we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

Thanks, Marty

Martin Johnson

Officials Committee Chair

Colorado Association, USA Track and Field

(c) (719-209-1892,

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