Today, helmets for all (article)

[Tim McMichael]

There is definitely a danger of losing the sport in high school altogether. If a safe helmet can be developed, one that will not lead to neck injuries, we should adopt it a soon as possible. Anything that makes pole vaulting appear safer is a good thing, even if it doesn’t really make a practical difference. We all know that this is a completely safe sport if it is coached properly, but it certainly does not look like it to an uninformed observer – and how many athletic directors does that phrase describe?

I also would like to also see some more extreme rule changes: miss the mats and you are disqualified, miss the coaches' box and it is a failed attempt. Something could even be done to the bar to force an attempt to go over the middle six feet or risk displacing it. We could simply drop the middle of the bar four inches with little extensions so that if an athlete misses the center they have to jump four inches higher to make the bar. How hard would that be?

I have taken literally tens of thousand of jumps and have never missed the mats on a jump I finished. Finished valuts are much more dangerous than bail-outs. This is not to boast. The same thing is true of most of my generation of vaulters. Earl Bell has probably never missed a mat. I watched Joe Dial jump for a decade and never saw him miss, not even once. There is a reason for this that goes beyond our individual talents. In the early to mid eighties pits were ridiculously small compared to the heights people were jumping back then. I once made 16’8â€Â

[SlickVT]

Well... a bar with a 4" drop in the middle = center of gravity below the pins, so I vote YES! Haha, good post, Tim.

[SKOT]

If we adopted rules to reward accuracy over the bar, I am certain that there would be far fewer missed mats, and much less need for helmets. Every coach knows that you get what you reward. It only makes sense to reward safety and punish dangerous jumps. I have no idea why we haven’t done it yet.

that is a rather enlightening idea that i had never even contemplted! what else could you do besides use a crossbar with a "low" middle, DQ for missing the pit or declaring misses outside of the coach's box (which many pits dont have)?

ideas?

[rainbowgirl28]

declaring misses outside of the coach's box (which many pits dont have)?

ideas?

Very easy to make. Spray paint, athletic tape, pin one down, etc.

I am not in favor of calling it a miss, I am in more favor of a three strikes rule. Miss the PLZ and you are done with the competition, you clear whatever height was your best, but you don't get to keep jumping and trying to kill yourself.

I am not saying I necessarily want that rule to happen, but I still like it better than any other idea I have heard, short of more coaches education.

[Tim McMichael]

The ends of the bar could be encased in rolls of foam rubber. These rolls would be about four feet long and several inches thick. This would leave the middle of the bar as the only viable option for clearance. The wieight of the bar would not substantially change, and the cost of doing this would not be prohibitive. It could be done to existing crossbars. This might be a good training aid if nothing else.

The ends of the bar could be made rough and tacky (Think the rough side of velcro.) so that a close attempt over the side would be more likely to fail.

[Bruce Caldwell]

Sometimes you just have to do what a person has too do!
IN 1967, at Raytown South High, that tells you this post is from an old fogy right.
We set up the back yard vault with the scraps found in the foam room and then stuffed them into a pillowcase. It was an art to land right on the strategically placed pillowcase full of foam.
I vaulted 14’ as a junior and landed on that pillowcase 100% of the time.
Then there was the homemade standards that is another story about 2 by fours and nails.
Nevertheless, the point of the story is no helmet, just commonsense vaulting always with safety in mind, because if you got hurt you could not go to the meets.

HOCK BOX protector available soon at $199.00 waiting for Patent pending to issue. HOck BOX will add protection when moving to bigger poles!
Bruce

[achtungpv]

Usually, the kids that hurt themselves don't out-of-the-blue have an accident, they've had tons of close calls.

Coaches should intervine early and often and if a kid's still a danger to himself, put him in a distance event instead. No amount of equipment is going to replace good coaching and common sense.

[2-15-46]

Sometimes you just have to do what a person has too do!
IN 1967, at Raytown South High, that tells you this post is from an old fogy right.
We set up the back yard vault with the scraps found in the foam room and then stuffed them into a pillowcase. It was an art to land right on the strategically placed pillowcase full of foam.
I vaulted 14’ as a junior and landed on that pillowcase 100% of the time.
Then there was the homemade standards that is another story about 2 by fours and nails.
Nevertheless, the point of the story is no helmet, just commonsense vaulting always with safety in mind, because if you got hurt you could not go to the meets.

well put!!!!...... next they will want seat belts on poles........

Do it right the first time, then it won't take as long!!!

HOCK BOX protector available soon at $199.00 waiting for Patent pending to issue. HOck BOX will add protection when moving to bigger poles!
Bruce

[SlickVT]

I like Tim's idea for foam ends on a bar for high school only.

[bel142]

General question, even if Kevin had a helmet on, would that have saved his life?

Big 10 now has all pole vault pits have a box coller however if that rule was put in place when he was jumping would that have saved his life? Just throwing it out there for discussion...

[rainbowgirl28]

General question, even if Kevin had a helmet on, would that have saved his life?

Big 10 now has all pole vault pits have a box coller however if that rule was put in place when he was jumping would that have saved his life? Just throwing it out there for discussion...

Kevin's dad believes that if Kevin had a KDMax helmet and a softbox that he would have walked away.

I don't know anyone who agrees with him.

[master]

Seat belts don't save the lives of all crash victims that wear them. Sometimes the crash victim might even die because of the seat belt. But that doesn't keep most thinking people from using them.

Unfortunately, to date there isn't much data regarding either the benefits or hazards of using a helmet when vaulting. Therefore it is not as easy to be confident in your choice; but I submit it should be a conscious decision each vaulter should make with the best evidence and knowledge currently available. And don't forget that common sense has a place in the evaluation.

- master