Just wanted to take a minute to thank all the coaches and individuals who have supported my efforts during the past year to draft a revision to the current ASTM Standard for box collars. We nearly had the present standard withdrawn but came up one vote short on the full committee ballot.
After 20 plus years of proposing box collar padding and inventing many different models and designs to facilitate the safety of the plant box, I have been on this ASTM roller coaster for the past year and have decided its time to get off.
I was encouraged by messages received recently from our sub committee leadership that have proposed to include dynamic collars in the proposed revised standard. This will possibly pass the sub committee at the upcoming Nov. meeting. Should this happen then it will go to the full committee to be approved in February.
The evolution of my design has outpaced the ASTM and during the last year I have worked hard to refine the parameters that are necessary to provide a pad that offers nearly full coverage of the plant box after deployment. At the present time consider the required box collar covers less than 10% of the hard surface of the box, as it is a static collar, covering the hard edges only. This leaves the slide area wide open with no protection from the possible 10,000 HIC ( Head Injury Criteria).
This essentially means if someone crashes into the box and strikes their head on the open and exposed slide area of the box the result will be death.
In order to provide a better solution I have suggested a one sided pad that when deployed after the pole is planted, would cover the slide area. The pad I have designed and patented is made of 2" closed cell foam, the same type as the present approved collars. The unique feature of my pad is that when deployed it bridges the plant box, resting on either side of the present box collar. It would collapse when struck increasing the reducing the HIC value to under 1,000. I designed it specifically as a supplement to the already approved collar and not as a full collar.
I named it the "Angel Wing' and it would be available to all high schools, colleges, clubs and private individuals who would elect to have the option to provide additional protection for their vaulters. I have designed it to operate manually with a simple pull cord. This gives the coach the responsibility to activate the collar or the option to assign the responsibility to a designated parent or official. The collar also has a trigger that can be used to activate the collar when necessary.
Overall I think it goes the furthest in solving the problem of protecting the hardest area of the plant box and does it in a simple and easy operation. Although the process and development and testing has taken several years, I believe as do many others who have seen the supplement, that it is a worthwhile and logical next step in the future of plant box protection.
I am available to send emails and pictures to any interested coaches or clubs who desire more information about my product. my email is
jerryhock@hotmail.com Thanks again to everyone who helped in the development of this great new product.
Jerry Hock
