Gill Athletics Now Carrying Certified Pole Vault Helmet

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/displa ... p?id=25948

Gill Athletics Now Carrying Certified Pole Vault Helmet

(press release)

Gill Athletics becomes exclusive distributor
of Pro-Tec’s Certified Pole Vault Helmet

CHAMPAIGN—USA Gill Athletics, partnering with the #1 extreme sports helmet manufacturer in the world Pro-Tec, is proud to announce the market’s only ASTM Certified Pole Vault Helmet.

“Four states require the use of a pole vault helmet and many more recommend it,” said vice president of sales and marketing Steve Vogelsang. “Gill Athletics is committed to the safety of the pole vault event and believe everyone has the opportunity to vault safer now there is an ASTM certified pole vault helmet.”

ASTM #F2400-06 details specific requirements for a helmet to meet pole vault certification. Pro-Tec Helmets is the leader in certified extreme sports helmets, designing the nation’s leading skateboard, bike, snow helmets and now the only pole vault certified helmet.

For more information on the Gill Pro-Tec Certified Pole Vault Helmet, please see www.pvhelmet.com.

[rainbowgirl28]

I am still against mandatory helmets, but if you think a helmet is right for you, a lot of work as put into developing this safety standard by the ASTM.

[nitro]

i think some people need one but also agree that it shouldnt be mandatory. I wore one for about 3 jumps and i did not like it at all and gave up on the idea of the helmet

[vaultmd]

The Gill site is incredibly lacking in details about the helmet. I wonder if ProTec took one of their existing models and had it tested against ASTM Standards.

I personally would use the R.E.D. Skycap II if I ever wanted to wear one.

They should definitely not be mandatory.

[Vaultiletics]

Ummmmm:

A) Vaulters are already crazy!

B) A helmet may add to the "no fear" vaulter mentality!

C) What potentially happens now, when a pole breaks, or a vaulter lands on thier head or in the box?

... They don't die... They suffer an extreeme neck and or spinal injury maybe even permanently paralyzed...

NO HELMET FOR ME!

[PVJunkie]

Gill Athletics has filled a need. The members of the ASTM for pole vault safety spent a great deal of time developing a testing standard. The helmet offered is the first and only one to be tested in accordance with that standard. With safety in mind this was a long time coming. Several states have made helmets mandatory, and many vaulters nationwide are wearing them. What are they currently wearing? Is it safe? In there lies the answer, since there are so many "helmets" out there it needed to have a definition. What should a PV helmet look like and what it had to be able to do. The ASTM defined the standard, this helmet meets it.

VaultMD - what additional information would you like to see? It is a helmet that meets the ASTM testing standard. We felt that covered the majority if not all of the potential questions. Feel free to give me a call @ 800 637 3090 as I do respect your input and would like to provide as much information as we can so that vaulters and coaches can make an educated decision.

Vaultiletics - A B and C have been quoted over and over from day one in the discussion on helmets. The problem is none of those have been studied. In fact the primary reason helmets were discussed from day one was a vaulter suffering a catastrophic injury by landing in the box area.

As for mandating them - The NFHS or the individual state would make that decision. At least now the states that do require them can feel better knowing that not just any helmet will do the trick and that’s the point of all of this.

[VTechVaulter]

Ummmmm:

A) Vaulters are already crazy!

B) A helmet may add to the "no fear" vaulter mentality!

C) What potentially happens now, when a pole breaks, or a vaulter lands on thier head or in the box?

... They don't die... They suffer an extreeme neck and or spinal injury maybe even permanently paralyzed...

NO HELMET FOR ME!

dont worry. in order to understand the need for a helmet you have to have something in that head for the helmet to actually protect.

Most people who wear a helmet will tell you they dont even think about it being there. I for one have certainly never said, "oh ill do something i shouldn't because ive got a helmet on.

take a look at 2 out of the 3 deaths that occurred in 2002 while pole vaulting. landing in the pit and bouncing out striking something surrounding the pits. both totally preventable deaths (granted multiple ways of prevention). I'm not saying everyone should wear helmets, to each their own, but its certainly understandable why some people do.

p.s. in 1999 i landed on an abort standing up in the box. my spikes slid out from under me and i cause me to rotate shoulders first then whiplashing my head into the ground. Shattered my helmet.. but was fortunate enough to walk away.

[Vaultiletics]

Honestly, I am not against the want or need for some individuals to wear a helmet and I am up for any additional safety we could use in the sport to keep deaths from happening. My comment was more to suggest that a helmet could also potentially give a false sense of safety and that it is equally catastrophic to be permantly paralyzed (that wearing a helmet may not prevent).

For many it is a precaution and with God's blessing will never be used. Pole vault safty, education, proper coaching, pole inspection, and proper pole selection can eliminate most of the dangers associated with the vault... Many times vaulters overlook practical logic. Bearing one or two other factors that could lead to a dangerous situation such as faulty poles from the factory (ie; shattering on the first jump due to defect and not overload), and maybe even weather conditions, the vault is a relatively safe sport for the cranium! Lets hope the vault will continue to make strives for safety and teach our jumpers to be conscious of thier abilities. And if all else fails, maybe the helmet will help save someone. But without proper jumping and coaching safety, the helmet will just be for not...

We need to prevent accidents, just as much as we need protection from accidents. In Christ who watches over us! -WB

[vaultmd]

VaultMD - what additional information would you like to see? It is a helmet that meets the ASTM testing standard. We felt that covered the majority if not all of the potential questions. Feel free to give me a call @ 800 637 3090 as I do respect your input and would like to provide as much information as we can so that vaulters and coaches can make an educated decision.

I hope you didn't interpret my post as being critical.

I assumed that you all picked an existing Pro-Tec model that seemed most suitable and then had it tested to make sure it meets the 2006 standard. I was curious to see which model it would have been, since I'm sure Pro-Tec makes several that would meet the testing standard, if only they would go through the trouble of having them tested.

For the possibility that you all got together and designed one from the ground up, I would be curious to see what you all came up with, knowing what a smart dude you are, and knowing that you know what the issues would be for a vaulting helmet.

If I get a chance tomorrow, I'll give you a jingle.

[MichTrackandField]

I am new here. I am a coach, but not a vault coach. I have had two of my children vault and I have had numerous of my athletes vault (I have coached MS and HS) well. I think helmets are important and I personally think that they should be required. I have thought this for many years. I went and bought helmets for all of my vaulters one year and bought custom decals to "trick them out". They wore them for about a week. One athlete really wanted to wear her's and the rest of the kids didn't and so that was the end of it.

In reviewing the injuries above, more of them appear to be head injuries then neck or spine injuries. As such I presume many of them would have been minimized or eliminated if a helmet had been worn.

Arguments I have heard:
1. it's not cool and kids won't vault if we make them wear them -- I've seen the X-games skateboarding -- seems they will
2. there is no helmet specifically for vaulting -- so? and now there is even though there wasn't back then
3. most injuries are not preventable by a helmet ... not so sure ... see list above

The fact is until a coach has the fortitude to say all of my kids will or it becomes mandatory ... most kids won't.

Do you wear a seatbelt in your car? Why?

I appreciate the discussion. Other than bold statements I'm not going to wear one or it shouldn't be mandatory ... why? Because it felt funny on your first three jumps? Why else? Granted I probably cannot be swayed (nor am I going to force my vault coach to mandate them ... even though I wish he would) but try ... or if like me you think it's a good idea, why? If you have a successful history of having kids wear them, how did you get them to do so?

[vault3rb0y]

Actually, the occurence of auto accidents after the invention of seatbelts rose drastically. It is an observable trend with nearly all safety inventions, people really DO feel more safe (in general, that does not make it true for EVERYONE). The question then comes to this- will the number of lives saved by seatbelts outwiegh the fact that people will take more risks while driving? With seatbelts, that answer is a resounding yes. With pole vault helmets, there is such a wide variety of mindsets and ways to get hurt, along with devations from the "average" injury, that proving any improvement over the status quo is going to be very difficult to do. This has been discussed in another thread, actually, with satisticians working to find whether the possible benefits outwiegh the risks of a helmet. It gets really tricky and really sticky.

Namely, there has been a discussion on the helmet causing more injury in 3 main ways (that i am aware of):

1.) The back of the helmet could hyperextend the neck if you over-rotated, more so than if you did not wear a helmet.

2.) The helmet adds more weight to a vaulter and may limit his movement somewhat and range of vision, especially in an extremely gymnastic event involving inversion like the pole vault. The chance of the helmet reducing your field of vision and maybe kinesthetic awareness needs to be considered. Obviously your awareness needs to be acquired with the helmet- it is more difficult to pick it up later. If you wear it all your life, taking off the helmet might throw things off MORE.

3.) The pyschological phenomenon of increased risks taken with increased safety precautions put into place.

The question is simply whether the following positive effects more than outweigh the possible negative effects:

1.) Reduce the effect of high impact on the head significantly, for concussions or fractures (need data on occurences and details)

2.) Increased awareness of the dangerousness of the vault??? ( i have question marks because this is just something i assume helmets would do)

[kcvault]

They have been trying to make a vault specific helmet for some time now. The problem in order to protect you from more then 6 feet the helmet has to be very thick in the back. Also the added weight on the head makes it even more difficult not to throw your head making the vault even more dangerous. Also because the helmet is so thick in the back from what I exsperinced from the 2005 prototype it gives you a little bit of whip lash when landing in the pit. If you want the sport to be safe good coaching is the key. Never let your vaulter jump on a pole they are not consistantly rolling past verticle, Pad the standard bases, use a box coller, never give taps, keep stadards at 80, and everytime the vaulter warms up have them go through a warm up drill sequence. Helmets have just as many negative affects as positive, give the option of wearing them but they should never be mandatory because IMO the sport would become even more dangerous.

---Kasey