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Technical Officials Guide – The Technical Controller

Technical Officials Guide – The Technical Controller

The Technical Controller

Another one of our favourite roles is the The Technical Controller (TC). Here, you’ll find that you need eyes in the back of your head and to act with conviction when applying the rules and regulations. Generally speaking, the TC is one of the first roles to be sacrificed at a comp when there aren’t enough TO volunteers, which is a huge loss as the TC is effectively the glue that binds all the other roles together. They can ask why a lift was a no lift and relay that to the coach/athlete, they are the ones who hand over the challenge card and communicate the jury’s decision, and they are the ones to make sure lifters don’t step on the platform when the bar is still being loaded and their names haven’t been called. In summary, they bring order to the chaos. But, there’s a lot more to consider as well. So here are some key pointers:

The basics:

  • Check peoples credentials. If they’re not supposed to be there, they must leave. The number of coaches an athlete may have with them depends on the competition Tier. Check with the Jury or competition manager prior to the start for this information. Normally it is 3.
  • Always have a tape measure for checking belt and strapping dimensions. (see Lifters Attire for these).
  • Esure the ‘field of play’ and equipment are within the regulations (eg, platform size, bars are clean are ready, all plates are in working order and enough are racked, check the collars work and there are spares, chalk is available, brushes and cleaning equipment is on hand etc).
  • Try and know which coaches are with what athlete.
  • Before the competition starts, check all lifters attire. Refer back to the Tier Specific Rules page to see if singlets are required. If it’s T-shirt and shorts, make sure it’s tucked in.
  • Get a list of all athletes and when ready (10 min prior to comp start) call them in order for the presentation. Remember, if a lifter is not present for the presentation, they are unable to lift. So make sure you have a good voice on you that day when calling their names.

The ‘Presentation’:

  • 10 mins prior to the competition, the athletes and then the Technical Officials will be presented to the audience. To prepare for this:
    • 15 mins prior (or earlier) to the presentation, obtain a list of athletes for the group. If needed, write their names phonetically next to their given name for ease when calling.
    • Ensure that all Technical Officials are present and remind them of the presentation call at x time.
    • 7 mins prior to the presentation, ask Technical Officials to be present in the warm up area for their presentation.
    • 5 mins prior to the 10 min presentation call, start organising lifters and officials into their calling order. For lifters, this will be the start list. See below for the TO order.
    • When called, lead the athletes out on to the platform (don’t just point, physically walk on in front of them asking them to follow like a conga), tell them where to stop, and then walk off to the side. Once they have all been announced, lead them off the platform.
    • Final check that all TO’s are properly dressed and identity cards are on display, then lead the officials onto the platform. The order is:
      • Chief Referee (centre ref)
      • Side Referees
      • Chief Marshal
      • Assistant Marshal
      • Time Keeper
      • Technical Controller(s)
      • Competition Doctor(s)
      • *Jury (introduced in their seats so they don’t need to be in the line up).

During the competition:

  • You are the filter to the competition platform, so make sure the correct athlete is walking out when their name is called.
    • it’s important for the technical controller to understand the athlete calling order of the competition. This can be broken down into the following key points;
      • The athletes are called in line with the weight they are lifting on the barbell, ie. the athlete attempting the lightest weight on the barbell will be called first, followed by the next lightest and so forth.
      • if the two or more athletes are due to attempt the same weight, the athlete with the least amount of attempts will be called first. for example if Athlete A. is lifting 50kg for attempt 3 and Athlete B is lifting the same weight but for attempt 2, Athlete B will be called first, followed by Athlete A.
      • the sequence or order of the previous attempts will also impact calling order, with the lifter who lifted earliest being called first.
      • where both athletes are attempting the same weight as a first attempt, the athlete who has been assigned the lowest lot number, will go first.
  • Make sure coaches that accompany the lifter stay outside of the FOP if watching from the warm up area / athlete entry point.
  • Only the athlete is allowed to touch the barbell during the execution of the lift.
  • You can decide to clean the bar at any point. If a coach or athlete requests the cleaning, you can inspect the bar/platform and turn this request down as it could be a time wasting tactic.
  • Keep an eye on the athletes legs for blood as well as hands. Try to prevent a blood on bar incident before it happens.
  • Always keep checking in with the referees, especially the centre ref, to ensure all is ok.
  • At IWF events, security will control access to the warm up area, but at smaller events, its mayhem. We’ve had lifter from the next group try and get access to the warm up area while the current group are still on their snatches, so be firm with them and show them the exit. If they continue to try and access the area, inform the competition director who will deal with the situation. The lifter can be disqualified if they refuse to follow the rules, but in general, a good talking to will suffice.

The end of the competition

  • Keep an eye on who the winners are and make sure they stick around for the medal presentation. In a bizzare rule, if a lifter is not present to accept their medal, it can be given to the next lifter instead. So make sure you tell them not to leave the area before the medal presentation.
  • Get the final list of medalists from the main desk.
  • Line up medalists in accordance with the results, lighter body weights to heavier body weights and gold before silver before bronze.
  • Make sure the person presenting the awards is available.

Summary:

So clearly there’s a lot more to the role of TC than checking belt sizes and stopping lifters from going out when their name hasn’t been called. Indeed, just organising the athlete presentation can be like herding cats. One minute everyone is there ready, you start to walk out and turn round to see 2 lifters snatching!! Or you get 2 or 3 lifters from the next group waltzing around the warm up area stripping the bars that the current group are still using for their warm ups. But it’s great fun and you really get to be in the thick of it all. A couple of final points:

  • Don’t be shy. This is one role that you need to be a bit authoritative.
  • Keep an eye on the weight on the bar, the weight on the board, and the athlete lifting. If you do this for each lift, it will run very smoothly.
  • Get to know the lifters and who their coaches are.
  • Only speak to the coaches if you spot anything concerning the lifter. Eg, cut on the shin. Do not tell the lifter, tell the coach. If you need to measure the belt, speak to the coach and ask. Let the lifter concentrate on their performance and let the coach worry about everything else.
  • Remember you are the glue that holds all the roles together. So keep making eye contact with the referees, the jury, the marshals and the main desk.