One death in any sport is too many. But do 11 deaths in 15 years
of high school pole vaulting exceed the "acceptable range" of
fatalities in an event with obvious inherent risks?
"You bring up a point that's difficult to comment on," said Dick
Schindler, the assistant director of the National Federation of State
High School Associations. "The (same) question is often asked in
football. Even though there are fatalities, it seems to be within an
acceptable range based on the number of (participants) and the fact
that it's a violent sport.
"(With the pole vault), you have to weigh the risks against the
benefits of vaulting. For vaulters, it's a challenging and
competitive event, one that is interesting to participate in. But
it's more susceptible to injury because of the nature of the event.
Accidents are going to happen.
"Whether it's an event that is going to be dropped because of
fatalities remains to be seen. Some states might be contemplating
it."
In recent years, the national federation has revised its
regulations on pole-vault competition to make it safer, including
increasing the amount of padding and the size of the pit. But
accidents still happen.
Mandatory helmets and a larger landing area are two possible
revisions to the safety regulations under consideration after two
more fatalities this year.
"But there are limits to what can be done," Schindler said.
"You could pad enough areas so there would never be a chance (of a
head injury), but you'd probably price yourself out of the event.
Schools couldn't afford to run the event."
Iowa and Alaska no longer have the pole vault in their state
meets. But at least 10 states have girls pole vaulting as a scoring
event at their state meets, Schindler said.
In Illinois, some coaches have lamented "that the pole vault
would go the way of the trampoline (a gymnastics event eliminated in
1978), but that's not true," said Don Robinson, the associate
executive director of the Illinois High School Association. "I've
had the question twice this year from people coaching girls track
(about girls pole vaulting). That's not enough to (consider) having
it. But people are beginning to discuss it."
Several area high schools have their vaulters using helmets as a
result of the accident that killed Bloom pole vaulter Willie Moreno
on March 8. But making helmets mandatory or revising existing
regulations is not imminent.
"My understanding from talking to Bloom and the national
federation is that all the safety (precautions) were in order,"
Robinson said. "It was purely an accident. Because of that, I'm not
sure there's any need to adjust the rules."
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