The Stager is also known as the Clerk of the Course and is responsible for organizing all of the competitors in an event into races. He/she is responsible for putting only the right age/groups into competition, separating varsity and junior varsity, determining the number of races needed, placing the competitors into the races, and in laned races assigning the lanes. The Head Stager may have one or more assistants. The staging area is only involved in the running events and is one of the four key areas in an efficiently run meet.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED -
1. An Order of Events sheet. This should be the same one as the
Announcer has.
2. Clip board. To use with the Order of Events sheet to keep track of
the calls.
3. Pen/pencils.
4. A Radio. The more remote your staging area is from the Starting
line and Announcer, the more you need one.
5. Marker, colored "see-thru"
6. A tarp for shade.
7. Benches for the staged athletes.
8. Flags on a rope or some type of barrier tape. Used to mark off and
somewhat isolate the runners being staged. Almost a necessity if your
staging area is in a congested area.
9. A chair for the Stager(s).
10. A hand-held P.A. system (bull horn).
HOW IT'S DONE -
Just as with many of the activities at a meet, the Stager's are
repetitive. Each age/group event is handled almost the same way.
Briefly, the process follows the same pattern event after event:
- Stager notifies the Announcer to make the third call for the
event.
- Competitors show up at the Staging area.
- The Stager begins by separating the varsity from junior
varsity.
- The Stager determines, roughly, how to organize the event by
deciding what groups/classes will be combined.
- The Stager assigns the Varsity competitors to their lanes.
- The Stager determines the number of J.V. flights.
- The Stager assigns each of the J.V. entries to a flight.
- Within each J.V. flight, the Stager assigns lanes.
- The Stager sends each race/flight to the starting line.
This is a general picture of the repetitive process each event requires. As will be seen from the following detail description, there are variations only in how the separate flights/races of the event are formed and how many flights are created.
The variation in staging between events is driven by at least four factors: 1) The type of event (laned/non-laned), 2)The age/groups involved, 3) The number of competitors, and 4): Common sense, fairness, and safety.
Most of the decisions of the Stager are judgmental and no hard and fast rules can be developed to guide him. If any priority is given to the above factors in deciding how to stage an event, it should be the fourth one, Common sense, fairness, and safety.
Now a detailed description:
NOTIFYING THE ANNOUNCER OF CALLS: Suggestions on how to tell when you need first and second calls will also be included here. A practiced announcer will be able to anticipate your need for first and second calls but, in case he doesn't, these suggestions will help.
First call - When you have just finished the staging of the
current event.
Second call - When you send out the first J.V. race.
Third call - When you have 1 or 2 races left in the Staging area or
are about (within 5 mins) of needing the next race competitors.
Remember, these are only rough guidelines. The first call should be given about 15 minutes before you will need the runners for the event in staging. If you wait until the staging area is empty of the current event before you have calls made for the next event, you will greatly lengthen the meet and not provide the competitors the proper time to warm up and get ready. Your objective is a smooth flow of entries to the staging area: just enough to keep the starting line fed but not so far in advance that athletes are kept in staging longer than necessary.
THE COMPETITORS SHOW UP: This is where having an enclosure for staging will help. Only allow the athletes who are to be staged into the staging area: No friends, coaches, or par-ents. I only make an exception for the Gremlin coaches and only in the first couple of meets of the season. Ask the others to leave the area. You will have enough confusion without the extra bodies and questions.
SEPARATING THE MAJOR GROUPS: Although this is where the discretionary part of the job begins, it isn't as tough as it may seem. Lets assume a simple staging job: One age/group for one event and use the Gremlin Girls 100 meters:
First, ask the varsity competitors to move all to one side of the area, or to a particular bench. At the same time, be sure the JV's move to the opposite side or other benches.
Next, check to see that all of the varsity runners have tags and that the tags indicate they are varsity ( without the colored stripe) and that the JV's also all have tags marked for this event and that they are to be JV. Try to go by what the tag indicates first, unless it is so confusing you can't deal with it and then try to contact the appropriate coach. (The coach is probably nearby. If not, have an announcement made.) Use your "see-thru" marker to correct the J.V. tags.
If you have multiple age/groups in this staging (you will for some of the distance events in order to save time), just separate the other age groups into varsity and JV as indicated above, keeping the varsity of one age/group separate from another at this time.
DETERMINING HOW THE EVENT WILL BE CONTESTED: This means how you will group the varsity and JV and age/groups you have for this event into races.
A simple staging job would result in 1 varsity race and one or more JV races for the same age/group in an event. If at all possible, all the running events should be staged that way.
Combining competitors from varsity and junior varsity and, in some cases, by combining age groups in one race, is a frequently used option of the Stager to expedite the meet. It can also be a way to create an element of competition where, because of the number of competitors who show up for a particular age/group/sex event, there would be little or no competition. This particu-larly shows up in the longer distances, older age groups, and hurdles.
One combination of competitors that almost always takes place is to combine the Youth and Intermediate girls into one logical grouping. (Youth & Intermedi-ate boys are also grouped). Their varsities run together as do their JVs. Often so few runners enter the 2 Mile that all age/groups and classes are often combined into one race.
Here are some guidelines to help:
- You must run all varsity competitors in one age/group in the same
race. You should also them as a separate race especially if you have
4 or more entries. There are exceptions to this rule, however:
- If the total number in the event for the age/group/sex is less than
the maximum for the event (see the section following on forming JV
flights), you may want to consider combining varsity and JV.
- If all of the varsity entries are from one team, AND the coach of
that team wants to run against members of the other team. (Frequently
happens in events like the hurdles which are not heavily entered by
most teams and the coach wants some variety for his runners.). If
this is the case, consider running JV's with the varsity.
- If you have less than 4 varsity competitors, consider combining
them with other group(s) in the following order until the race target
or maximum is reached:
- First, JV's of the same age/group/sex.
- Secondly, varsity of the next group in the Order of Events.
- Thirdly, the JV's of the next group.
- In combining different age/groups consider:
- Girls and boys at certain ages prefer and actually compete better
if they are mixed with older or younger groups of the same sex.
- Try to "fill-up" the race by assigning all of the lanes/starting
positions available. Fewer races do translate to a shorter meet.
- The impact of combined races on the Finish Clerk and awards is
confusion. Their job is easier if each race only includes one
age/group/class. It is easier for them to recognize JV's from varsity
(because of the color stripe) than it is to tell at a quick glance
that there are MBs and MGs in the race since all they see are the
tags.
ASSIGNING LANES: There is an involved, traditional seeding method
and there is a simpler method which is suggested.
First the traditional method: Lanes are assigned in the following
order:
For the 100 and hurdles : 4,5,3,6,2,7,1,8
For the 220, 440, & 880 : 2,3,4,1,5,6,7,8
(and relays)
For the Mile and 2 Mile : 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.....
This method requires that the runners be assigned lanes starting with the fastest and working to the slowest from each team. As an example, in the Gremlin Girls 100 meters, the fastest entry from team "A" is assigned to lane 4, then the fastest from team "B" is assigned to lane 5, the second fastest from team "A" gets lane 3, the second fastest from team "B" goes in lane 6 and so on until all in the race have a lane.
Much precious time can be spent trying to find out who is faster than who. The runners usually don't know or have varying opinions and the coach may not be there. If you don't know who is faster, this method has no advantage over the simpler method.
The suggested method involves only knowing what lanes are available, and how many runners are in the race. Alternate which team you start with, assigning any runner from that team to lane 1 (or the first usable lane), then any runner from the other team to lane 3, alternating between the teams until all runners in the race have a lane assigned. With a small exception for the 100 meter dash and hurdles, the lanes are assigned the same way: starting with lane 1 (or 2) and using the order 2,3,4,5,6,7,8.
In the 100 meters and hurdles, it is desirable that the runners be in the middle of the track, away from curbs and fences. This is hard to describe but easy to do. If, for example you have 5 entries in a Gremlin Girl 100 meter dash, they would be assigned to the middle 5 lanes, e.g., lanes 3,4,5,6,7.
There are USATF rules and somewhat advanced practices for assigning lanes based on seed/qualifying times. Since we have neither seeding or qualifying in dual meets, they will not be discussed.
There are some worthy notes concerning lane assignments:
- The 880 is shown above as run on a one-turn stagger. If your club
runs the 880 on a "waterfall" (International) starting line, use the
same order as the Mile and 2 Mile.
- You may run up to 2 more runners in the 880 (making a total of 10)
by placing two runners in lanes 6 and 8. This will avoid a second
race.
- Often, due to the usage lane 1 gets, you will be asked not to
assign it unless necessary. If you have an 8 lane track, use lane 1
only if you have exactly 8 in a race.
- Avoid assigning runners to a lane if the lane is known to have
hazards (depressions, mud, rocks, etc) or is unsafe or distracting in
any way. Lane 8 is often not used due to its proximity to a fence or
boundary.
DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF J.V. FLIGHTS: This is almost exclusively a concern for the laned JV races. Judgement by the Stager is important to allow equal competition and the best chance for all runners to "ribbon".
First, count the number of total J.V. entries and consider how
many lanes are available for assignment. For our example, lets assume
we have 18 entries in the Gremlin Girls 100 meter dash and we don't
want to use lane 1. We have several options:
1) 4 flights of 4 and 1 flight of 2
2) 3 flights of 5 and 1 flight of 3
3) 3 flights of 6
4) 2 flights of 7 and 1 flight of 4
As you can see, the options are numerous. The one option which creates the best element of competition while also creating the fewest number of races is: 3 flights of 6.
You can use this table as a guideline for the laned races:
|
NUMBER of RUNNERS |
NUMBER of FLIGHTS |
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1 to 3 |
Consider combining with Varsity. If not, 1 |
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4 to 10 |
800/880 RUN IN LANES ONLY: Put 9th in lane 6 and 10th in lane 8. |
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4 to 8 |
ALL OTHER RACES: 1 |
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9 to 16 |
2, equally divided |
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17 to 24 |
3, equally divided |
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NUMBER of RUNNERS |
NUMBER of FLIGHTS |
|
1 to 3 |
Consider combining with Varsity. If not, 1 |
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4 to 18 |
1, but as the number goes above 10 consider safety and the age of the runners involved. The younger and less experienced they are, the few-er you put in a race. If you go to 2 or more races, divide the races equally. |
ASSIGNING J.V.'s TO A FLIGHT: Divide the entries from each team as equally as possible between the flights.
If there were 5 entries from one team in our example of the Gremlin Girls' 100 meter dash (with a total of 18 entries), put 2 in the first flight, 2 in the second flight and 1 in the third. The 13 entries from the other team would, in a similar way, be divided 4,4,5. (The 13th runner should be placed in the flight where the other team only had 1 entry to make each flight balanced with 6 runners.)
ASSIGNING J.V.'s TO LANES: This is done in exactly the same manner as assigning the varsity runners to lanes. Please see that description. The only extra note here is that the "fastest-to-slowest" assignment principle mentioned is even less important in J.V.s.
SEND THE FLIGHTS TO THE STARTING LINE: You can, by just looking, tell if the starting line is ready for a race to be started. In all but the 100 meters and 220 yards, you will hold the races in staging until the line is ready for the next race.
In the 100 meter and 220 yard dashes, you will need to send 2 or more races to stand behind the starting line in a sort of "secondary" staging area. This is done to expedite the meet for three reasons: 1) the starting line is usually farther from staging (generally located near the start/finish line, which is used for all other races), and 2) The meet can be greatly expedited by having the next race ready to start as soon as possible and 3) there are more 100's and 220's than any other race, intensifying the need to reduce the time between races.
When you send the races out of staging to the starting line, send the varsity race first, then each J.V. flight.
If you have multiple age/groups staged in the same event, send the races to the starting line according to the Order of events sheet you have: First varsity for age/group, then J.V. for that same age group, followed by varsity for the next age/group, and then J.V. for that group.
If the races are mixed by varsity and J.V. and have mixed
age/groups, send the race with the varsity of the first age/group to
be run (according to the Order of Events sheet) (even though it may
contain J.V.'s of that age/group or varsity of another age/group).
Next, send the race which contains the next age/group/class which
would run if they were all separate races. For example, if you had BG
and BB varsity and J.V. staged as follows:
Flight 1 - BG varsity and J.V.
Flight 2 - BG J.V.
Flight 3 - BB varsity
Flight 4 - BB J.V.
They should be sent to the starting line in the order shown.
INTERACTIONS - As mentioned earlier, the Stager, or Clerk of the Course, has a critical need to communicate almost constantly with the Announcer. He/she also interacts with the Starting line/Starter by sending the runners to the line ready to compete.
Suggestions on when to contact the Announcer for the calls have already been discussed. It is important that the new Stager consider that 1st and 2nd calls are just as important as the 3rd. Experience is the best teacher on when to ask for 1st and 2nd calls. You can always tell that third call is due when the staging area is about empty of the current event. An experienced Announcer can also help by anticipating for the Stager when to make the first and second calls. Third call should never be made without positive contact between the Stager and Announcer.
Verbal contact with the starting line is usually not required, and is primarily done when problems exist. Visual contact is, however, a necessity. A properly run staging area can see the starting line and keep it filled with runners in flights so that there is no delay in the progress of the meet. Also as discussed, sending the right number of races to the starting line is important.
One note of caution on sending several races to the start: Be sure that, if in walking from staging to the starting line, if the path of running or finishing must be crossed, do so carefully so as to not interfere. An adult escort helps.
TIPS -
- Try to locate your staging area in a convenient place to the
start/finish line. It also helps if the area is accessible without
crossing the track or a field event area. When locating the area, try
to consider as much of the following as possible:
- Location relative to the Start/Finish line. (Most of the races will
be sent there)
- The proximity to the remote starting lines. You should be able to
see them.
- How you will communicate with the Announcer. If not using a radio,
plan ahead for runners, or signals, or locate the two functions very
closely.
- Try to have two entrances/exits to staging if it is roped off: One
to allow runners in prior to being staged and one for taking them out
to the starting line.
- Before the meet, walk the track to see how many lanes you have and
how many and which are unusable
- Also before the meet begins, contact the Meet Director or Referee
and find out about using lanes 1 and 8
- For Gremlins only, try to follow whatever suggestions their coach
has for assigning that coach's runners to the J.V. flights. By
assigning the runners properly, a runner who has never ribboned can
do so.
- Keep order within the staging area. Confusion is your worst enemy.
Keep out those not being staged like parents, coaches, and friends
!.
- Get at least 2 assistants during the 100 meter and 220 yard dashes
to walk the flights to the starting line.
- When you place runners into flights and lanes, have them stand in a
line one behind then other, with one line for each flight. Within the
line, the runner in lane 1 should be first, lane 2 second, etc. Keep
them in that order and send them to the starting line in that
flight/lane order.
- Use the following guidelines for maximum and target entries in a
race:
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NOTES |
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Assuming a one turn stag-gered start. Put 9th entry in lane 6 (2 in same lane) and 10th entry in lane 8 (2 in lane 8). If using a "water-fall" start, use mile guid-e-lines. |
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Determined by the number of hu-rdlers and hurdles available. Lanes 1 and 8 are not advised for safety reasons. |