This is an interesting article highlighting some mistakes to avoid in coaching http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/a ... pshame.htm
Here is the part that mentions pole vault:
6. Inappropriate facilities
A football coach demanded a hard surface be installed at the bench area of the field to prevent damage to the grass. He agreed that the surface should be at least 15 feet off the sideline. The athletic director put it 20 feet off the field and extended the hard surface to encircle the pole vault landing pit so the facility would have a more finished look.
It did make the pole vault area look good. Unfortunately, it also made the area more dangerous.
In the spring, a vaulter bounced off the landing pad and struck his head on the hard surface, suffering a fractured skull, with complications. If turf or additional mats (which were available and used at other meets) were used, it would have significantly reduced the likelihood of this injury. (The case helped strengthen the rules regarding hazards around pole vault landing pits.)
When you attempt to improve one environment, make sure you are not creating hazards to another one.
Hall of Shame
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- rainbowgirl28
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- Lord of the Poles
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- rainbowgirl28
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hurstiger wrote:I would have hated to have been the "javelin marker" in this story!!!!! OUCH!!!!!!
A kid from WA got hit in the head with a jav during warmups at State a few years ago. Luckily our state uses tips on the end of the javs that make them blunt, otherwise the jav would have pierced his brain!
- Robert schmitt
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Hey Becca, last year at Mount Vernon HS, WA during practice there was a piece of paper that was blowing accross the field that some javlin throwers were throwing at and impailed an athletes calf. I new there was a reason I decided not to coach there.
An optimist is one who sees a light in darkness....a pessimist blows it out.
- rainbowgirl28
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