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Young kids were enrolled in schools thats only purpose was to excel as athletes if they failed they were sent home. This is gymnastics, swimming, track etc.... They were set up for ideal and perfect development as youth atheltes. Do we get that here in the US? You can get that in the US in gymnasti...

I think as long as we still have so much progress to make with improving coaching education and facilities, that making helmets mandatory is ill-advised. ... I do agree that, if you had to chose just one, and that choice could be fully implemented, then better coaching, better education of both coa...

Annika Becker's pole vault career was ended with a neck hyperflexion injury. Not helmet related, but an injury that likely would have been made worse with a helmet. Are you referring to the injury described in this article? http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=28812.html Because if so, this was n...

@PVJunkie The issue with hyperflexion is that as a vaulter lands on the pit, their torso (due to its mass) penetrates farther than the head (which is less massive), thereby rotating the head forward (i.e., the chin approaches the chest). So I think it actually is the case that this will occur more w...

...So part of the reason a helmet might have helped him is that he wasn't going very high. But the vast majority of college males are going MUCH higher, to the point that a helmet would be less likely to help them in a catastrophic injury. ... This makes no sense, and yet people keep saying it, inc...

It looks like Marietta college will again have 4 indoor HS meets this year for HS aged athletes (which you could enter as unattached), starting January 8th. Marietta OH is located just inside Ohio on the W-VA border, and looks to be about 100 miles from Pittsburgh. So maybe a bit under 200 miles fro...

I'm certainly no guru, but it strikes me that a 2ft wide runway is a bit on the narrow side, particularly for a raised runway, where a misstep could mean a season-ending injury. Two ft is exactly 3/8th of an inch wider than the front opening of the box, which means your runway would only extend out ...

[Update Jan 2: date change for Clemson meet: now Sat Jan 22 (not sunday, Jan 23)] [Updated Dec 31: adding in the Jan 22nd!!! Clemson meet, and on Jan 1 to add McNeese state meet info (note: they are having two meets now; 2nd on Feb 5th)] I've assembled a list of some indoor meets in the Southeast th...

Agree with all of the above, and also I'll note that in the case book (2009 version, 7.5.21 situation B) they comment that the tape can be sticky on both sides, so there is nothing per se wrong with a pole that is sticky.

I gotta agree with ADTF that for a strictly elite competition, the athletes are adults and can make their own decisions about whether or not it is safe for them to jump. If they want to risk their safety, that's their call. Most facilities in Europe are much less padded than the US, maybe vaulters ...

I have just joined after i recently discovered the site, and i came across this discussion.It may interest you to know i was in fact helping out at the competition as i am one of the local vaulters. Now i can understand all the points you guys are making but unfortunately you weren't there, so in m...

Like I said yes safety is important and those should have been covered. Size of pit was what I was referring to not padding on standards. If you drift that far right something went wrong it had nothing to do with the pit itself. 2nd was this meet even sanctioned by the IAAF or following its rules? ...