Is it acceptable to have a coach act as a rabbit?

It's unacceptable and embarrassing. The rabbit coach needs to let go of the glory days and stay in the stands.

It is perfectly fine for a coach to rabbit a race for his athletes as long as he is entered in the event.

I suppose for a DMR you can enter a team, have the coach line up with a baton and just drop out.

I don't know how much you could help a DMR with just leading for only the first leg.

He didn't run the race, he simply cheered for his athletes:

http://www.allfancydress.com/images/products/zoom/Bunny-Costume-1.jpg

In college lots of races have a rabbit. Whether it is a teammate helping another or a coach (as long as it is an open race) it is perfectly fine. And they have the coach rabbit the 1200 leg of the DMR. It used to happen all the time in those last chance to qualify meets.

I found this text in an older NCAA manual (not sure about the most current one):

On the report of an official, a warning or disqualification shall

be ruled by the referee when a competitor has been aided. This includes

aid provided by a coach, a teammate not in the race or a noncompetitor

connected with the competitor’s team, directly or indirectly, who is on the

track or within the infield track area.

Note that it doesn't specify whether or not the coach is in the race. But in this case it sounds like the coach was on the track specifically to provide assistance to his athlete. Sounds like a violation to me.

you misunderstood wrote:

He didn't run the race, he simply cheered for his athletes:

http://www.allfancydress.com/images/products/zoom/Bunny-Costume-1.jpg

Is it acceptable for a rabbit to act as a coach?

[quote]rulebook man wrote:

On the report of an official, a warning or disqualification shall

be ruled by the referee when a competitor has been aided. This includes

aid provided by a coach, a teammate not in the race or a noncompetitor

connected with the competitor’s team, directly or indirectly, who is on the

track or within the infield track area.

Interesting how your interpretation of that rule comes out. If we are strict with the rule then we could read it as...

"This includes aid provided by a coach... directly or indirectly, who is on the track or within the infield track area."

If this is the case, then any coach who even cheers or provides splits from the the infield or the outside lanes of the track during a longer race would be in violation of the rule. Anyone who has ever dealt with the NCAA rules knows that so many of the details are very nearly useless. They move far beyond the bounds of basic logic that applies to the sport and coaching.

It all depends on where you place the emphasis and the breakdown of the grammar of the sentence.

Rabbitting is not considered aiding and is perfectly legal if the coach is entered in the event. It's actually not a bad idea give you have a coach that can pace properly because then you can leave the athletes to running their own races.

Be aware that in some meets you will be disqualified from the trending events of you don't give an "honest effort" i.e. You can only rabbit one race in the meet.

a Dvck wrote:

Rabbitting is not considered aiding ...

Then why do it?

a Beauer wrote:

a Dvck wrote:

Rabbitting is not considered aiding ...

Then why do it?

I'm actually just curious on what basis he concludes that it isn't aiding.

As far as I know, there is no rule against a coach running in the same race as his athletes and no rule against rabbiting.

Why wouldn't it be acceptable?

Normal practice in the sport especially when you allow unattached athletes in meets.

I found this text in an older NCAA manual (not sure about the most current one):

On the report of an official, a warning or disqualification shall

be ruled by the referee when a competitor has been aided. This includes

aid provided by a coach, a teammate not in the race or a noncompetitor

connected with the competitor’s team, directly or indirectly, who is on the

track or within the infield track area.

Note that it doesn't specify whether or not the coach is in the race. But in this case it sounds like the coach was on the track specifically to provide assistance to his athlete. Sounds like a violation to me.[/quote]

I agree with you here rulebook man. On this forum you could say the sky is blue and people would argue with you to the end. Behind computers we are all tough guys. Usually coaches that do this stuff, are not getting the job done over all. Some are scary. Very scary.

you misunderstood wrote:

http://www.allfancydress.com/images/products/zoom/Bunny-Costume-1.jpg

Jesus!

perfectly fine for a coach to act as rabbit or pace setter in races in which you are trying to teach pacing for young runners. Especially in fun runs or road races when the focus is on fun and learning. Kids here in Australia sometimes need this and I have done this a number of times. Not championship races but races with no meaning just athletes trying to run fast. Wabbit go back to your hole!

I'd say in small meets, or meets like all-comers. But not in a conference meet or championship meet.

Semi-related story: My coach is a (former) sub-4 miler who's still probably in ~4:10 shape, and he enjoys rabbitting the last rep of our interval workouts. So, if we're doing 5 x mile, he'll hop in and lead the last one for the first 400/800 and demand that we stick with him. Unfortunately, he won't stick to his own pace. If our 5 miles are supposed to be at 5:00 pace, he'll take the 400 in 64 or the 800 in 2:15 and then drop out and let us have fun for the rest. Apparently his coach did this to him and it's supposed to make you stronger or something.

Steve Spence used to often rabbit for his athletes at Ship. He was always upfront and let the other coaches know of his intentions. No biggie.

What if the coach is a Christian? Can he still act as a Rabbi even though he is not Jewish? Conversely, can a Jewish coach act as a Priest?