Finding “0”
By Alan Roark, Vault Coach, Amherst Steele H S, Amherst, Ohio
One of the things that absolutely drive me nuts is arriving at a school and there’re no marks on the ground to indicate where “0” is for the standards. Colleges are the worst. There’s a College in Ohio that has all of their outdoor boxes marked for “0” because I, the high school coach marked them! I got tired of setting it up each year for the HS meet hosted there. Oh, well. Here’s a simple way to find and mark “0” for your standards.
You need a hammer, a 16-penny nail, a sharpie marker, some athletic tape, a paint marker, a 50’ or longer fiberglass tape, and two helpers.
First, “0” is located at the front edge of the top of the back of the box. Got it?
Using the sharpie, make a mark at the center of the top of the back of the box. Make a “+” mark on a piece of tape in the center of the runway 120”(10’) from the center of the top of the back of the box. Using a long fiberglass measuring tape, have someone hold the end of the tape at the center of the top of the back of the box and someone else hold the 259 1/2 inch (21’7”) mark at the120”(10’) mark on the runway. Holding the 16-penny nail, move it to the 102” (8’6”) mark on the tape and pull the tape tight. This will make two sides of a triangle and locate the nail at the 8’6” point directly out along the “0” plane of the box. Tap the nail with a hammer and that is “0” for one standard. (If you have track surface under your standards, you can just make a dot with the paint pen at the point of the nail instead of tapping a hole with the nail) Repeat this for the other side and you have a small hole or mark locating “0” for both standards. Now, using a paint pen, make a 2” line at each hole and make a “0”. The inside edge of the base of the standard should line up with those marks. I made a mark in the shape of the letter “T” with the top of the “T” facing the box. Now, mark your standard based so that you can put “0” on the standard at “0” on the ground. Give it a shot it’s not that hard. If it’s too tricky for you to use one tape, use two tapes and cross the 102” (8’6”) and the 157 1/2” (13’1 1/2”) marks to find the “0” marks out by the standards.
