NY Times Article

[vaultfan]

Here’s an article appearing in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/ ... fdf81694a0

Penn State Works on Pole Vault Helmet
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:10 p.m. ET

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- A new product designed to make pole vaulting safer is barely visible at Penn State's indoor track. Just below the ground lies a small plant box lined with PVC and a foam-like cushion, instead of steel.

Although it goes virtually unnoticed, the device could make a huge difference. "No more exposed concrete and exposed steel. It's now a cushioned material, and if that was in place, my son would be alive today,'' Ed Dare said.

It's been a year since 19-year-old Kevin Dare died after falling headfirst into the plant box at the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Minneapolis. Since then, Ed Dare and Penn State officials have sought to improve vaulting safety, both by improving the physical conditions of the sport and by advocating better vaulting instruction.

Penn State was the first school to install a so-called "soft box'' for vaulters. Officials at the University of Akron said they would be installing one soon, and several other colleges are expected to follow suit. Researchers at Penn State also are working on a process to evaluate the strength of the vaulting poles, and they have developed a prototype for a lightweight helmet designed specifically for vaulters.

"Some of the helmets that are being worn by pole vaulters meet no standard whatsoever, meaning that they don't even meet a simple bicycle standard. Those are very dangerous,'' said George Salvaterra, Penn State's head athletic trainer. "They might just barely protect you from fracturing, but they won't protect against anything else.''

Even though he was just a sophomore at Penn State, Kevin Dare already was an accomplished vaulter, having won state indoor and outdoor championships as a senior at State College Area High School. He also won the gold medal at the 2001 junior national championships.

Because of his success, Dare's death -- and the deaths last spring of two high school vaulters, Jesus Quesada, 16, of Clewiston, Fla., and Samoa Fili, 17, of Wichita, Kan. -- received national attention. The accidents prompted lawmakers in New York to consider a bill that would have required high school and college vaulters to wear helmets. That bill died in committee, and the NCAA also stopped short of requiring helmets, citing the lack of a vaulting-specific helmet.

Despite the deaths, few collegiate vaulters use helmets, said Beth Alford-Sullivan, the Penn State women's track and field coach. Two of Penn State's women vaulters wear inline skating helmets when they jump, but none of the men wears a helmet.

"If you haven't grown up with it, if you've been vaulting without it until now, wearing a helmet can be awkward,'' Alford-Sullivan said. "I think a lot of vaulters, once they get to the college level, just don't want to make that adjustment.''

But Jan Johnson, an Olympic bronze medalist and former world record-holder who now serves as pole-vault safety chairman for USA Track and Field, said the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations took a more important step by increasing the size of the mat where the vaulters land.

Johnson said a three-year study of pole-vaulting injuries showed that most came when vaulters either flew past the end of the mat or fell off to the side.

"Before this year, believe it or not, both in high school and college and in world-class competition, you could have a landing pad that was only 16 feet wide and 12 feet deep,'' Johnson said. The new standard is to 19 feet, 8 inches by 16 feet, 5 inches. But Johnson says vaulters shouldn't put too much faith in helmets or other protective gear. He said more emphasis should be placed on proper instruction.

Johnson lauded Penn State for hosting a national conference on pole-vaulting safety last May. It was attended by coaches, equipment manufacturers and other sports officials.
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On the Net:
Vault for Life: http://www.vaultforlife.com/
Pole Vault Safety Certification Board: http://www.pvscb.com/
Penn State University: http://www.psu.edu

[rainbowgirl28]

But Johnson says vaulters shouldn't put too much faith in helmets or other protective gear. He said more emphasis should be placed on proper instruction.

Amen

[xtremevaulter]

Finally somebody is starting to make some sense around here.

[Decamouse]

More info on the soft box can be found at www.decamouse.com - bottom of the page has a link to a pdf file. Or go to Gill's web site