{"id":5550,"date":"2022-05-08T07:45:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T11:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=5550"},"modified":"2022-05-08T07:46:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T11:46:09","slug":"waterproof-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/05\/08\/waterproof-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterproof Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is another in the “Sunday Story” series. There’s no deep political meaning here, just a story about – surprise – track meets!!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track Meets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Citius, Altius, Fortius<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0is the Olympic Motto:\u00a0\u00a0Faster, Higher, Stronger. It\u2019s the ultimate goal of every athlete.\u00a0\u00a0And the competition is twofold.\u00a0\u00a0Sure there\u2019s the others in the race or event; trying to win-out over all.\u00a0\u00a0But just as importantly, there\u2019s the \u201crace\u201d against yourself.\u00a0\u00a0To go Faster, Higher, Stronger than you\u2019ve ever been before.\u00a0That\u2019s just as important in athletics, and in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I picture track and field meets, I start with a scene from a 1981 movie about the \u201824 Paris Olympic Games, Chariots of Fire <\/em>(need a Chariots of Fire<\/em> song fix \u2013 click here<\/a>).  <\/em>Young men, training on the beach, smiling joyfully as they run along the shore, the townspeople looking on curiously. (Beach running, while romanticized in the movie, is actually really hard work).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or it\u2019s a \u201csummer\u201d track meet:  the bright sunshine in a blue sky as athletes compete on a red track, giving their-all to succeed.  The \u201csenior\u201d officials in their summer uniforms, solemnly intoning the order of competition, and impartially calling \u201cmisses\u201d and \u201cmakes\u201d. Kids laughing in the stands in tank tops and \u201cshort-shorts\u201d; parents worrying about hydration and sunburn.  Coaches holding schedules, already two hours off, trying to get athletes prepared to compete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio Track<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been involved with track and field for fifty-five years, since I first read about Jesse Owens, and dug holes for my starting \u201cblocks\u201d in our back yard in Kettering, Ohio.  I ran track for ten years, then coached it for another forty.  Now I\u2019m a \u201csenior\u201d; officiating track meets, occasionally firing the gun as the starter, but more often calling the \u201cmisses and makes\u201d as a field event official.  I\u2019ve worked fifteen track meets so far this season, just about halfway through my spring schedule of competitions.  And so far, there\u2019s been two meets that fit the \u201csummer\u201d track meet mold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track and field in Ohio is wholly different than the image of the summer meets.  We start track in March, and if we wait for that perfect day to run, we wouldn\u2019t have many competitions.  So far, I\u2019ve officiated in sleet, snow, ice, rain, rain, rain, wind, and the two meets where I got a good sunburn.  But that\u2019s all right; it\u2019s the nature of Ohio track and field.  Sure there\u2019s \u201ccitius, altius, fortius\u201d, <\/em>but the nature of our state throws in a whole other set of challenges:  \u201cpatientia,<\/em> <\/em>perseverantia, salvos\u201d<\/em>;  <\/em>endurance, perseverance, survival.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Coaches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last night is a good example.  I got the opportunity to officiate at the Larkin\/Crosten Invitational, held at Upper Arlington High School in Columbus.  First, it was an honor to be asked to officiate there. While I didn\u2019t know Mr. Larkin, I certainly knew Marv Crosten, the co-honoree of the meet.  Marv was that dominant, tough, crusty old coach at Upper Arlington when I was a young coach at Watkins right about when the movie Chariots of Fire <\/em>came out.  As hard as an \u201cexterior\u201d as Marv had though, he was a man dedicated to the kids of track and field, both at Upper Arlington, and throughout Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had the chance to work with him in the District Coaches Association.\u00a0\u00a0I was President of the group in 1985-86, but I soon found that while I might be President, Marv Crosten was \u201cin charge\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0He taught me about the \u201cpolitics\u201d of track and field, and was a mentor as well as an example.\u00a0\u00a0He was one of the \u201clegendary\u201d coaches of the day \u2013 like Ed Rarey at Gahanna, and Les Eisenhart at Thomas Worthington.\u00a0\u00a0They were scary guys to this young coach, but they were always willing to give advice and help, even to a \u201ccompetitor\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Officiating at a meet with his name on it is a big deal for me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain Meet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was pouring down rain when I arrived at the track, and I was checking my phone to see if there was a message cancelling the meet.  The weather wasn\u2019t going to be much better through the evening, though thunderstorms weren\u2019t an issue.  Thunder and lightning stops a track meet; rain (and snow and sleet) are \u201cinconvenient\u201d.  Back in the \u201cCrosten and Rarey\u201d days we\u2019d never think of cancelling a meet for rain, but in the modern era of track and field it happens.  I\u2019m not sure if the kids or coaches are \u201csofter\u201d, or maybe just \u201csmarter\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the folks at Upper Arlington were channeling Marv last night, so on we went.\u00a0\u00a0I was charged with officiating the high jump, which can be an iffy event in the rain.\u00a0\u00a0As long as the athletes don\u2019t slip on takeoff, it\u2019s safe, and on the brand new track surface there wasn\u2019t a problem.\u00a0\u00a0But there is the issue of landing in a foam pad mat, which is just a giant sponge.\u00a0\u00a0When the kids cleared the bar and hit the foam, the water literally sprayed over their whole body.\u00a0\u00a0The air temperature was in the low sixties, but it was still quite a shock on landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissolving Results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And the other technical issue for me was how to keep the \u201cstatistics\u201d of the event.  Writing on paper with pencil in the pouring rain is a difficult exercise:  you\u2019ve got to keep the paper dry.  Otherwise, it dissolves as you write or turn the page, and you lose all record of the event.  I have a \u201cnifty\u201d clipboard with a clear plastic cover that helps, but with enough rain it\u2019s almost impossible to keep the forms dry.  And once they\u2019re soaked, you\u2019re in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my coaching years I also was the meet manager of a lot of track meets, and ran into the \u201crain soaked results\u201d problem quite often.\u00a0\u00a0After a particularly miserable experience one Saturday, we went out for dinner and a few beers.\u00a0\u00a0The conversation turned to how to best preserve the results so we could score the meet.\u00a0\u00a0Someone mentioned that what we really needed was \u201cwaterproof paper\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that just sounded silly, like \u201cdehydrated water\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But I decided to look it up on the internet.\u00a0\u00a0And there it was:\u00a0\u00a0waterproof paper, one brand called \u201cRite in the Rain<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0You could purchase a variety of products; no need to deal with the \u201ctoilet paper\u201d effect of rain on high jump or discus results anymore.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our meets at Watkins, we just printed all of our meet documents on that paper.\u00a0\u00a0It cost more than common paper, but in Ohio, why take the chance?\u00a0\u00a0And, I later realized, we never told our officials about it. We just put it out there.\u00a0\u00a0They never realized that the paper was different; they just never had the problem of \u201cdissolving\u201d results anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perseverantia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But other folks don\u2019t know about waterproof paper \u2013 so as an official I bring my own.  And in this modern age of online meet entries and results, I can usually print off my own field event sheets before I even arrive at the meet.  It saved me last night at Upper Arlington, and we managed to get through both the boys and girls competition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jumping wasn\u2019t as \u201caltius<\/em>\u201d as it would have been on the perfect day.  But what the athletes did learn was \u201cperseverantia\u201d, <\/em>perseverance.  They learned how to focus beyond the elements, and onto what they came to do.  The lesson of last night\u2019s high jump, was to perform even when it\u2019s hard, even when everything isn\u2019t exactly \u201cright\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Marv would have approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h4>\n\n\n\n