Accident in Oregon

[rainbowgirl28]

went over the back of a small pit on a blow through:

arm folded in 90 degrees. paralyzed wrist to elbow
http://lythargic.com/john/images/arm1.jpg

http://lythargic.com/john/images/metal1.jpg

http://lythargic.com/john/images/neck1.jpg

Those are pictures of his x-rays for those of you who are nervous to click on the links.

Ouch!!

[blazerunner121]

omgod, no wonder some schools around my town don't allow pving at all. things like this scare them. i hope she has a fast recovery.

[VTechVaulter]

my point on certified coaching was made based on the quote in the article that said the coach told her when in trouble to free her hands and then them down in front of her. Also, maybe that was just a freak jump, but if she had been shallow for a few jumps in a row, it would seem to me that its time to move down a pole.

[rainbowgirl28]

You are not going to be able to break a fall from any pole vaulting height with your hands. If you put your hands down, you are just asking to break your hand/wrist/arm/elbow.

[das_1971]

I always go to the meets early to warm up long and slow, and one time I caught a couple guys from a team jumping on the front pads to make sure they were firm enough for when they got rejected. If this is the kind of mentality someone brings to vault, they really need to think about staying home and drilling. We have a big problem in ohio of too much competition and not enough intelligence, which results in bad competion. I have yet to be at a meet where nobody came short... ever. Its very easy to go very high but if you can't make the pit you will not be jumping long

[vaultmd]

Maybe we oughta reinstitute bail out competitions, where whenever someone has to bail out they get style points for a good one. That way maybe people will at least learn how to do a basic bail out. They might even have a lower threshhold for bailing out.

[lythargic]

bad idea vaultmd. i was doing something like that the time before i had my accident. i think that if i didnt have that whole motion of coming off the pole in my physical-memory, i wouldnt have come off the pole and it could have been prevented.

[VTechVaulter]

but from what i have heard from eye witnesses, your accident was simply being a function of being on a pole way to small for your run and height, especially on a smaller pit.

[lythargic]

i am 180, and it was a 13 160 and i was choked down a foot. not too unsafe, esp for a warmup jump

[Decamouse]

Gee - now if you are in HS - real bad idea - illegal according to all rules - was the pit legal? - Even if not HS - sure sounds like it was unsafe - anything more than a few steps and you could -- A. - jump right over the bend in the pole - B. blow right through (sounds like one of these must have happened) - and definitely ended you warm-ups earlier than planned
it is these type of "preventable accidents" that hurt the sport.

[VTechVaulter]

the point is your tall enough and fast enough that holding at 12 feet you will never even flex the pole, just jump right over it. your bout the same height as me and for me holding anything less than 15' -15'2 and i jump over the bend.

[lythargic]

i know, it wasnt smart. thats why it was an accident. i made a bad judgement call and payed for it