Ryan Adler Accident 2005

Discussion about ways to make the sport safer and discussion of past injuries so we can learn how to avoid them in the future.
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blakedow
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Unread postby blakedow » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:54 pm

Rhino wrote:Come On! Don't blame the facility! The pit is fine. No pit will protect you if you drop on your head in the box!


I am not blaming the equipment, I am just saying that with bad equipment and facilities the likelihood of injury increases more and more... If you watch the video, that pit is not fine, I would say that it is far from it... I am just glad that there havent been any other serious injuries there, that is all... I know that nothing can save someone from hitting your head in the box, but other safety precautions can be taken to ensure that other injuries dont happen... Better qualified coaching, better technique and better equipment is the key to making this sport as safe as possible...
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Unread postby CHC04Vault » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:30 pm

Honeslty, the pit looked perfectly fine. If you wish to say Hay does not do anything, i will seriously question whether u are sane. Street luge speeds go from 40 to 60+MPH and all that they have is a skin suit, a helmet and hay to protect them, hay is meant to break apart with 100 pounds of force, so again, stop knocking hay, i would considor going down on a flimsy lunch with wheels ALOT more dangerous then pole vaulting, and you never hear them complaning about hay (unless they use barely, in which its alot harder but im gettin off subject.)
"Good my jump, it will be done" Bubka

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Unread postby blakedow » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:14 am

CHC04Vault wrote:Honeslty, the pit looked perfectly fine. If you wish to say Hay does not do anything, i will seriously question whether u are sane. Street luge speeds go from 40 to 60+MPH and all that they have is a skin suit, a helmet and hay to protect them, hay is meant to break apart with 100 pounds of force, so again, stop knocking hay, i would considor going down on a flimsy lunch with wheels ALOT more dangerous then pole vaulting, and you never hear them complaning about hay (unless they use barely, in which its alot harder but im gettin off subject.)


I am well aware that street luge uses hay, but when there are many companies that sell large foam pits specifically designed for the sport, it just seems like more can be done than just throw a couple of bales of hay out behind the pit. I am not knocking hay, although i dont really understand your obsession, I am just saying that it is the 21st century and we can do better than hay now. And thank you for all the useful info about hay.
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Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:22 am

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05116/494404.stm

Injured pole vaulter showing signs of progress


Tuesday, April 26, 2005
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

KDKA-TV
Ryan Adler is shown in a photo provided by his family.
Click photo for larger image.

The jiggle of a toe. The flutter of what his mother called "his little nose." These were encouraging signs yesterday for the family of Ryan Adler, who remains unconscious a week after the Knoch High School freshman fell roughly 9 feet in a pole-vaulting accident.

"He's doing better than he was," Lisa Adler said yesterday at Children's Hospital, where her youngest son came out of a medically induced coma over the weekend but still hadn't regained consciousness, remaining in guarded condition. "He was basically one level the whole week. I'd say within the last hour he's got his little nose twitching a little bit. His leg. His toe. ... Some really, really small movements. But a little nose twitch will do.

"Today's a real small step in the right direction."

Adler, 15, was injured in a vault at a WPIAL section meet April 17 at North Allegheny. His sister, Maria, was preparing elsewhere on the track to compete in the 200-meter dash and his mother, a middle-school teacher in the South Butler district, was behind a fence snapping digital photographs while her son dashed down the runway.

Adler, a relative newcomer to vaulting who successfully cleared 10 feet, 6 inches in a previous meet at Pine-Richland with a new pole, headed toward a 9-foot bar in a preliminary round. He stalled near the apex of his vault and tumbled into the pit. He landed on his head and shoulders in the padding but was instantly knocked out.

His sister and mother swear they heard him snoring, apparently straining to breathe, once they reached the pit area.

"From my understanding, he didn't quite plant [the pole] in the right spot he needed to plant it," said Lisa Adler, whose oldest son, Chris, 19, pole vaulted early last spring as a Knoch senior until his ankle was injured after landing awkwardly near the pit's padded edge. "[Ryan] just fell sideways into the pit. I've seen people fall into the pit before. I said, 'Oh.' But he didn't get up.

"He was out as soon as he hit. He's been out ever since."

Lisa Adler wore a gray Knoch track sweatshirt at her youngest son's bedside yesterday in the Children's intensive-care unit. She was joined by Chris, who works for a construction company, and her husband, Dan, the owner of a tree-service business -- both of whom spent two days last week, including 27 hours in planes, trying to return home early from the Thailand island of Phuket, where they were 10 days into a two-week church mission to rebuild homes lost in the tsunami. Maria competed yesterday at a school track meet.

Doctors initially placed Ryan into a chemically induced coma to prevent brain swelling. They started to remove him from that state Thursday, but the swelling increased and caused pressure in his skull. They restored the treatment until removing it again Sunday. Yesterday, Ryan showed traces of activity.

The physicians have told the Adlers that a precise diagnosis remains unknown until he fully awakes.

"We won't know until Ryan shows us," his mother said. "It's going to be a long journey. We wait and see to what extent that is."

They believe paralysis isn't an issue. He flailed his right arm while being placed in an ambulance at the track, something his sister figured was a reflexive movement by her younger brother subconsciously thinking he was still pole vaulting. His mother saw him wave his left arm at a nurse. Just the same, nothing yet is definitive.

Ryan's accident is considered the first serious incident to befall a pole vaulter under new U.S. safety rules -- particularly, requiring the widening of the pit area and addition of extra padding -- instituted since Penn State pole vaulter Kevin Dare and two high schoolers were killed in 2002.

His parents wondered if track rules could be changed to allow a "spotter," similar to gymnastics, who could catch a falling athlete or prop padding underneath one.

"I think something needs to be done when they do fall backward," Ryan's father said. "That is the scary part."

The family talked about being overwhelmed by a show of support from their Penn Township neighbors, Knoch and the track community, and beyond.

"People Dan left behind in Thailand were praying for this boy," Ryan's mother said.

"I think from this point on now, it's going to be a little bit better," his father added, noticing his youngest son's slight movements. "It seems like we're getting some reaction. We're just being very optimistic."

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Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:25 am

rainbowgirl28 wrote:His parents wondered if track rules could be changed to allow a "spotter," similar to gymnastics, who could catch a falling athlete or prop padding underneath one.

"I think something needs to be done when they do fall backward," Ryan's father said. "That is the scary part."


I understand where they are going with this. If he had hung on to the pole, a spotter probably could have given him a healthy shove into the pits.

But he let go. I doubt anybody could have gotten in there quick enough to make much of a difference.

Just my opinion

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Unread postby Rhino » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:43 am

Blakedow,
I haven't heard anyone but you suggest that the pit was not up to specified size. In looking at the video, I don't see bales around the pit, but rather under it. The straw is a threat to no one. The facility is not unsafe.

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Unread postby blakedow » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:08 pm

Rhino wrote:Blakedow,
I haven't heard anyone but you suggest that the pit was not up to specified size. In looking at the video, I don't see bales around the pit, but rather under it. The straw is a threat to no one. The facility is not unsafe.


I never said the straw was a "threat," I merely suggested that there were better forms of padding available and that all kids should be using the best pits available to ensure safety. Im not saying that the kid wouldnt have gotten hurt if the pit was better, but the likelihood of other injuries would be minimized. It even says his brother was hurt on the pit last year.
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Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:38 pm

blakedow wrote:It even says his brother was hurt on the pit last year.


No it doesn't. It talks about another vaulter in the state who broke a leg at a different facility when he landed on his feet.

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Unread postby CHC04Vault » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:42 pm

blakedow wrote:
I am well aware that street luge uses hay, but when there are many companies that sell large foam pits specifically designed for the sport, it just seems like more can be done than just throw a couple of bales of hay out behind the pit. I am not knocking hay, although i dont really understand your obsession, I am just saying that it is the 21st century and we can do better than hay now. And thank you for all the useful info about hay.


Its not an obession for me, u were knocking it and being totally irrational. And yes, this is the 21sy century, but not every school can afford new pads or extra padding that will rarely even be used. Im just asking u to be realistic, sure i would rather see real pads, but hay aint that bad (btw, i used to street luge, hence my weird knowledge of hay lol)
"Good my jump, it will be done" Bubka

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Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:45 pm

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/ ... 81393.html

Student remains unconscious after pole vaulting accident
The Associated Press



PITTSBURGH - A high school pole vaulter remained unconscious Tuesday, more than a week after he became one of the first athletes seriously injured under new safety rules.


Ryan Adler, 15, a freshman at Knoch High School in Saxonburg, fell about 9 feet at an April 17 track meet. The meet was using a wider pit and extra padding implemented at tracks nationwide after three athletes were killed several years ago.


Ryan, who was relatively new to the sport, stalled near the top of his vault and landed on his head and shoulders when he fell into the pit. He was not wearing a helmet, said Josh Shoop, the high school's athletic director.


"From my understanding, he didn't quite plant (the pole) in the right spot he needed to plant it," said Lisa Adler, Ryan's mother. "(Ryan) just fell sideways into the pit. I've seen people fall into the pit before. I said, 'Oh.' But he didn't get up. He was out as soon as he hit. He's been out ever since."




Doctors placed Ryan into a chemically induced coma to prevent brain swelling. When the treatment is stopped, he has been able to move his nose, a toe and his leg, his family said.


Doctors don't believe Ryan has been paralyzed because he moved his right arm while being put in an ambulance and later waved at a nurse.


"We won't know until Ryan shows us," his mother said. "It's going to be a long journey. We wait and see to what extent that is."


Ryan is one of the first pole vaulters to be seriously injured under new guidelines.


The NCAA implemented new safety rules in 2002 after Penn State pole vaulter Kevin Dare and two high schoolers were killed. The National Federation of State High School Associations also implemented new safety rules that year, including a larger landing pit.

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Unread postby blakedow » Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:25 pm

rainbowgirl28 wrote:
blakedow wrote:It even says his brother was hurt on the pit last year.


No it doesn't. It talks about another vaulter in the state who broke a leg at a different facility when he landed on his feet.


Read the article...

"From my understanding, he didn't quite plant [the pole] in the right spot he needed to plant it," said Lisa Adler, whose oldest son, Chris, 19, pole vaulted early last spring as a Knoch senior until his ankle was injured after landing awkwardly near the pit's padded edge. "[Ryan] just fell sideways into the pit. I've seen people fall into the pit before. I said, 'Oh.' But he didn't get up."

No it's not the same situation, but it is his brother, on the same pit, so something must be wrong...
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rainbowgirl28
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Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:29 pm

The facility looked fine to me. It appeared to meet all of the current rules.

The important thing is that it did not appear to contribute to the accident, and I doubt it had anything to do with his brother hurting his ankle.


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