PoleVaultPower.com

My name is Chris Blackburn and I am a junior attending McIntosh High School in Peachtree City, GA. For my gifted english class, I have been assigned a project that will take place over the course of the year. I have decided on pole vaulting to be the focus of my project. I am in the process of trying to create a National Pole Vault Safety Campaign aimed at the junior high/high school vaulting community. I've recently had a friend suffer a rather serious injury vaulting, and it has ended any further vaulting in his future.

I would appreciate it if any of you would care to answer a few questions for me that are the base for an informational booklet on vaulting safety, which is the context of the campaign. Please include your contact information, so I can contact you and give credit to any information I may use in this campaign. If it is not okay with you for me to utilize any mentioned quotes from you from these questions, please let me know so I can paraphrase the material and pass it by you to make sure it has your approval before any publicizing/publication of the booklet.

Thank you all very much for any of you who care to take part in this project and dedicate your time, cooperation and support for this campaign to happen.

Chris Blackburn

National Pole Vault Safety Campaign
2005/2006
Questionnaire:

1. What is your view on pole vaulting helmets? Are helmets beneficial or a nuisance?


2. In your opinion, what are the most important aspects of the vault that safety needs to be focused on the most?


3. What are some safety-tips that you have picked up over time?


4. Have you had any injuries in your vaulting career? If yes, how many and what was the severity of each?


5. What is your level of vaulting?

I wrote this a couple years ago. You can probably pull some good quotes from the survey I did, just make sure you cite everything properly.
http://www.dyestat.com/features/pv-index.htm

You definitely should contact Jan Johnson. He is the pole vault safety chair for USA Track and Field pole vault development staff. His email can be found on his website http://www.skyjumpers.com/

He has an online coaching certification http://www.pvscb.com/

Chris,

I teach Sports Law at New England School of Law in Boston. I've written 3 academic articles (a 4th is in press now) relating to legal and safety issues for the pole vault. If you give me your contact info, I can either send you paper or electronic copies. In those articles, I've cited a lot of sources. Good luck with your project.

Chris,
Reading your questions, they seemed to be slanted towards vaulters and not coaches. Would you like to hear from coaches in your questionnaire?

Oh, by the way, at Summit last year, I took a safety clinic with Jan Johnson and Russ. Listen to what they have to say. Many years of experience.

Speaking of the summit and the safety clinic. If I were to attend it would that then qualify me for Jan's safety certificate? Later.......Mike

souleman wrote:Speaking of the summit and the safety clinic. If I were to attend it would that then qualify me for Jan's safety certificate? Later.......Mike

I don't think so. You have to pass a test online in order to get the certification, not just attend a clinic.

That's what I thought but I bet if I went to the clinic that the on line test would be easier. Later.........Mike

Just to keep things in perspective. More young people die in skiing accidents every year in Coloarado alone than have died in vault accidents in the past twenty years. Ditto hunting accidents/gun accidents. Double ditto car accidents. So while any death is to be mourned the fact is that we are into risk management - not risk avoidance.

However there is little doubt that the best way to avoid injury is to learn to vault properly in safe conditions with good facilities and the right poles.

altius wrote:Just to keep things in perspective. More young people die in skiing accidents every year in Coloarado alone than have died in vault accidents in the past twenty years. Ditto hunting accidents/gun accidents. Double ditto car accidents. So while any death is to be mourned the fact is that we are into risk management - not risk avoidance.

However there is little doubt that the best way to avoid injury is to learn to vault properly in safe conditions with good facilities and the right poles.

I'm aware of the fact that there are other activities that cause more deaths per year than the history of the vault; however, for the small amount of vaulters there are, vaulting is one, if not the most, dangerous high school activity that a student-athlete can participate in. The goal of this project is to promote safety awareness so hopefully there will be less accidents. I haven't mentioned deaths. On the topic of deaths, deaths are tragic, especially when it's a fellow vaulter. But, if my memory serves me correctly, the last time there was a death in vaulting was with Jesus Quesada then followed by Kevin Dare. Yes, there have been deaths. What I am trying to promote is safety. 32 out of every 35 deaths in the vault could have been prevented with proper safety measures. Since 1971, the major reported injuries/accidents in the vault included: 43 head injuries (which all fatalities resulted from these injuries) and 2 spinal cord injuries. In regards to landing locations: 18 of the back of the pit (10 deaths); 10 of the side (15 deaths); 13 in the box (4 deaths [KEVIN DARE]); 2 in the pit (no deaths); and 2 unknown (1 death). For non-castastrophic injuries, ankle sprains were the most common injuries, mostly caused from landing on the feet in the pit.

Overall, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not going to create some project preaching about all the deaths in the vault and saying how it needs to be focused upon and I'm not going to write some completely nihilisitic lexis telling vaulters what they need to do. I'm writing a booklet, making this campaign, to advocate proper vaulting technique and safety in hopes that maybe I can make some difference by making proper technique known to novice vaulters. If I can help just one person, save their life or prevent them injury because of something that I include in this pamphlet, I will view this project as a success. It's tragic about car accidents and skiing. It's also tragic about vaulting accidents. All three of those activities I take part in on an daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Vaulting is a risk in itself, that's why safety needs to be advocated to new, inexperienced vaulters. This is a risk management campaign, not risk avoidance. You cannot avoid risk because life is about taking risks. You take a risk getting into a car and driving to work every day. You take a risk crossing the street when the light turns green for the pedestrians to go. You never know what may happen; however, if you take certain risk management steps, you can greatly lower your chances of getting injured. This project, hopefully, will help at least a little in those awareness steps.

Hopefully you can clarify some of these points and have a better Idea of what your going for.

Since 1971, the major reported injuries/accidents in the vault included: 43 head injuries (which all fatalities resulted from these injuries) and 2 spinal cord injuries. In regards to landing locations: 18 of the back of the pit (10 deaths); 10 of the side (15 deaths); 13 in the box (4 deaths [KEVIN DARE]); 2 in the pit (no deaths); and 2 unknown (1 death). For non-castastrophic injuries, ankle sprains were the most common injuries, mostly caused from landing on the feet in the pit.

How many of those have occured in the last 2 years since the increased pit size?
I believe its about 2

however, for the small amount of vaulters there are, vaulting is one, if not the most, dangerous high school activity that a student-athlete can participate in.

I think more reasearch needs to be done with that statement, it might look the most dangerous, but might not be the most.
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I think it's great what you are doing, just remember that you don't need to reinvent the wheel. There are lots of people who have already put considerable time and energy into promoting safety in the pole vault. Take advantage of the resources already available and adapt them to what will be most beneficial to your area.

Coach James at UGA is the development chair for your region, I would recommend talking to him about your ideas as well.