Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Discussion about ways to make the sport safer and discussion of past injuries so we can learn how to avoid them in the future.
kev44000
PV Pro
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:23 pm
Favorite Vaulter: Jack Whitt & Mark Hollis
Location: norman oklahoma

Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby kev44000 » Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:14 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buNp2wyY4I8

The vaulter was not hurt and laughed it off.

User avatar
drcurran
PV Pro
Posts: 255
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:59 pm
Expertise: Former HS Vaulter, Former College Vaulter, USAT&F Official, PIAA Official
Lifetime Best: 14'
Favorite Vaulter: Brian Sternberg
Location: Springfield, PA

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby drcurran » Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:09 pm

And the rule committee has now reinstated the bungee cord for HS warm up! Maybe that should be in the rules "can be use only if the standards are secured in such a way that they cannot be pulled over" OK just my .02

Dan
I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was!
TK

User avatar
souleman
PV Lover
Posts: 1015
Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2004 5:56 pm
Lifetime Best: 12-7.5
Favorite Vaulter: Bob Seagren, Bob Richards
Location: Wyoming, Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby souleman » Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:46 pm

Bungees will come off if, A. they are hit hard enough and B. they are not wrapped around the front of the standards the way I see most bungees put up. Later...............Mike

Decamouse
PV Great
Posts: 923
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:43 pm
Expertise: Masters vaulter, coach, USATF Official
World Record Holder?: Renaud Lavillenie
Favorite Vaulter: Kate Dennison
Location: Bohners Lake, Wisconsin
Contact:

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby Decamouse » Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:56 am

and having your std base pad protectors in place make it harder for that to happen - oh - should be there anyhow for safety -- ooops
Plant like crap sometimes ok most times

User avatar
CowtownPV
PV Follower
Posts: 499
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 8:29 am
Expertise: HS coach
Favorite Vaulter: Bob
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby CowtownPV » Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:00 pm

If you have no way to bolt them to the ground then you can bolt them to some 2"x6" boards about 5' long and run the boards under the matts. The wieght of the mat sits on board and they won't fall over.
Winners find a way to win, losers find an excuse.

bel142
PV Pro
Posts: 417
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:31 pm
Expertise: Open Post Collegiate, Collegiate Coach, BS - Kinesiology, MEd - Advanced Level Coaching
Location: NY

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby bel142 » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:57 am

I am generally surprised, people post like its their job about pole vault safety. And so far nothing real in terms of safety response...

When ever I get off the plane or bus and show up to the competition site, first thing I do on the pole vault runway is take a walk around. Moving/removing hard items that would cause injury, (Bags, hurdles, equipment boxes), checking the box for lips or awkward angles, and making sure the standards are stable.

With national endeavors to make pole vault helmets mandatory at the high school level, and companies influencing the development of soft boxes, and especially how kevin has influenced the sport, I am sort of baffled by the response that this video evoked...

Barefoot
PV Whiz
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:08 pm
Expertise: High School Coach
Lifetime Best: 15'
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby Barefoot » Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:48 pm

I'll venture a safety response about bungees...

Never ever, I mean ever wrap the bungee or otherwise secure it to the standards!

Prior to my arriving to coach at the high school I presently coach at... the vaulters made a habit of wrapping the bungee once around the standards so it would "stay on"... well one day they had the thing secured to the standard extensions piece... but in their haste seemed to not notice how securely the extension was attached. What followed was a blow-through vault leading to a fully loaded bungee cord, think ballista here, which was followed by the release of the standard extension. The extender landed directly in the kids head.

Cracked skull, internal cranial bleeding... coma.

The kid was fine a year later, but barring the arrival of a full time vault coach, the pole vault "program" was to be dropped from the school as it has been from so many high schools. Both the kid and the school we're lucky to escape the incident.

I can laugh and remember fondly the days of 12 by 12 pads with no front buns, and the metal fence that ran right up to the edge of those pads that more than one vaulter crashed upon... but we did see too many needless, and careless injuries... and if vaulting is to survive for the next generation we had best make it as safe as we can by avoiding the stupid and avoidable practices that increase the risks associated with the pole vault. Sloppy practices never helped anyone jump higher.

Pawelvaulter
PV Beginner
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:22 pm
Expertise: college vaulter
Lifetime Best: 4.52
World Record Holder?: Renaud Lavillenie
Favorite Vaulter: Pawel Wojciechowski

Re: Do not try this at home (why standards should be bolted down

Unread postby Pawelvaulter » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:31 pm

A simple solution is to throw some weights on the base. This happened to us all the time so we just started putting on sandbags and 25lb weights that football players left out. We never had a problem again.


Return to “Pole Vault Safety”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests