Lou Cardamone Article (Official in TN)

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http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/col ... 84,00.html

Collierville pole vault official ranks high
By Matt Woo
Special to Collierville Appeal
July 7, 2005

After nearly 15 years of officiating track and field events, the United States Track and Field Association recently recertified Lou Cardamone as a national-level track and field official.

Cardamone of Collierville is the only nationally certified pole vault official in West Tennessee. Over the years, he has officiated dozens of track and field events for area high schools as well as Tennessee State Secondary Schools Athletic Association's annual Spring Fling.

A former track and field star for his high school near Buffalo, N.Y., Cardamone began his officiating career when he coached youth soccer in Collierville for nine years. But after nearly 10 years of coaching, Cardamone decided to leave soccer and began officiating track and field events for the University of Memphis in 1991.

"At first they had me doing whatever was needed to be done, but when they found out that I knew something about pole vault, they asked me to judge the event," Cardamone said. "So I just kept doing the pole vault and got certified in the association level then national level."

Each official certified by the United States Track and Field Association is classified according to the number of years officiating and the number of events each judges per year. The association level is the lowest classification followed by national then master.

With 14 years of officiating track and field events, Cardamone is currently at the national level and is the only person of his rank to be a pole vaulting official in West Tennessee. Because of the difficulty in officiating the pole vault event, Cardamone said many people don't judge it.

"Nobody wants to mess with pole vault because it's a very tricky event," he said. "It's a difficult event and it's very technical, and unless you're into it and understand the event, it's a hard thing to officiate."

Cardamone only judges track and field events and won't officiate again until next spring. And after years of officiating, he still enjoys coming out to each event.

"It's all for fun," Cardamone said. "It's a good learning experience, and I enjoy the competition."