Byline: Todd Wills
DALLAS _ Mark Brady breathes a little easier these days.
For the first time in 15 years, the pole vault pit at DeSoto High School is abandoned during practice. No one came out for the event this spring.
Brady, a respected boys track coach, no longer worries about his son _ or anyone else's child _ getting injured in track and field's most dangerous event.
"I was always scared when my kid pole vaulted," said Brady, whose son, Cory, the District 8-5A pole vault champion, graduated last May. "In fact, I often told Cory to back off from being aggressive, even though he knew what he was doing."
Pole vaulting is attracting attention, but not because of record-breaking efforts. On Monday, a 17-year-old high school pole vaulter died in Wichita, Kan., two days after falling on his head during a meet. It is the second pole vault death in the last six weeks. A Penn State pole vaulter died after a fall during the Big Ten indoor meet Feb. 23.
According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, there were 15 fatal pole vaulting accidents at U.S. high schools from 1983 through 2000. Seven other accidents resulted in permanent disabilities.
The pole vault puts its participants at the mercy of a thin fiberglass pole and the foam pads around the pit. The event requires the skill of an elite gymnast and a daring high diver. Once airborne, one awkward twist or turn or snapped pole could mean disaster. The best area boys high school pole vaulters clear 16 feet. The best girls in the area clear 11 feet.
In the wake of the accidents, the most frequently suggested safety measure is requiring competitors to wear helmets.
Samoa Fili II, a 17-year-old senior at Wichita Southeast High School, fell 12 feet onto the safety mat, bounced off and hit the back of his head on the ground Saturday during the Wichita East Relays. He was not wearing a helmet.
Neither was Penn State vaulter Kevin Dare, who died Feb. 23 after a fall during the Big Ten indoor meet in Minneapolis.
Fear not an option
Few pole vaulters wear helmets.
"Fear hasn't stopped me, and I don't see how anyone who does this could be scared," said Rockwall's Jennie Sewell, a longtime gymnast who does not wear a helmet. "The object is to jump higher than your opponents."
Sewell, who has one of the area's top vaults at 10-6, said she knew of the dangers before she ever tried a jump. It hasn't stopped her in the first season that girls pole vault is sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League, Texas' governing body for athletics.
Dare's death prompted a bill in New York state to require helmets for high school and college pole vaulters. The measure is pending.
The Wichita school district is reviewing Fili's accident, spokeswoman Susan Arensman said. She said the pole vault pit and mat met state guidelines.
Before Fili's death, one track and field fatality was on record at the UIL. It happened in the pole vault.
El Paso tragedy
El Paso Montwood track coach Joe Vazquez is still haunted by his first season coaching in 1994. That spring, pole vaulter Eric Campbell suffered a head injury, went into a coma and died.
Vazquez, two other coaches and a trainer witnessed the accident. "We had it well-supervised," he said. "It can happen to anybody. It's a really dangerous activity."
The end result: Montwood banned the pole vault for two years.
When the school brought it back, Vazquez himself went out and bought kayak helmets for $35 each and mandated that his pole vaulters wear them. The school district also spent between $10,000 to $15,000 on landing mats.
"Helmets should be mandatory," Vazquez said. "The talk died down, but maybe it will kick up again."
The UIL's stance
Helmets will be a topic of discussion when the UIL's medical advisory committee meets April 21, said Charles Breithaupt, UIL director of athletics. The committee has already made its focus dealing with head injuries.
Making helmets mandatory was recommended to the UIL legislative committee in 2000, but the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association advised that the state await a helmet that met the group's qualifications.
"They really kind of stood up and said they weren't sure of it because it might be lulling kids into a false sense of security," Breithaupt said. "They really pushed for a better piece of equipment."
The UIL has developed a relationship with NOCSAE _ the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment _ specifically in regard to football helmets. The committee also has not given its stamp of approval on a specific helmet for the pole vault.
Reluctant to change
Hewitt Midway senior Haley Blount said most vaulters refuse to wear helmets because they think it affects their jumps. But after being forced to use a helmet this summer at a camp run by retired Abilene Christian coach Don Hood, who coached legendary vaulter Billy Olson, Blount changed her mind.
"At first, I thought it was ridiculous," said Blount, a former competitive gymnast. "But it doesn't hinder your ability to vault."
Ironically, Blount suffered a minor injury during practice Tuesday when the crossbar dislodged and struck her in the face. "And I wanted to go right back out there," she said.
Other precautions, aside from requiring helmets, should also be taken, said Mark Behrens, who coached pole vaulters for 11 years at South Garland before being named the football coach at Sachse High School.
Behrens wants the UIL to regulate the size of pole vault pits. He remembers one accident a few years ago in which the pit was smaller than usual, and a boy bounced off the side and onto the track. The boy was not injured.
He said the most important thing is for coaches and athletes to stay educated and focused.
"It needs to be supervised at all times. ... It is a very technical sport," Behrens said. "It has to be the safest possible situation for the kids."
Injuries part of the game
Richardson Pearce's Chad Andrews, the area's top boys vaulter, was injured recently after flying into a standard. He sustained a hip compression, but he says he will be ready to jump at this weekend's Texas Relays.
"It is always in the back of your mind that you might get hurt," Andrews said. "You take the responsibility every time you jump."
He has been jumping since he was in the seventh grade and has been coached by his father, Buzz, a respected pole vault coach.
Andrews, whose best effort this year is 15-1, only jumps when he has a coach present. He says injuries are inevitable because of the nature of the sport. It is not uncommon for a pole to snap, he said.
"It is going to happen, you just have to let it happen," Chad Andrews said. "The safety comes more from the coaching. To coach it right, you have to know what you are doing."
He agrees that a helmet would be safer, but he isn't eager to use one.
"When you are flying around from 15 (feet) down, anything can happen, and you just have to be ready," he said.
The latest tragedy
Samoa Fili II had competed in the pole vault for two years. He had never been hurt vaulting before, his father said.
According to The Associated Press report, the elder Fili was photographing his son during the Wichita East Relays.
"He planted the pole and went up, but he went up at an angle," Fili told AP. "I could tell he tried to stop it, but he was just going too fast and too strong."
His son landed on the back of the mat, but his head hit the pavement. When paramedics arrived, Fili was conscious and responsive, said Capt. Scott Hadley of Sedgwick County Emergency Services. Fili's health deteriorated in the ambulance.
For Mark Brady, it is a moment he has played out a few times in his head in his 20 years as a track and field coach.
Brady, for one, has been convinced helmets should be mandatory after taking his team to Lubbock for regional meets and seeing athletes from West Texas wearing helmets, in many cases in direct reaction to Eric Campbell's death.
The fear of watching Cory pole vault only convinced him more.
"They should make them wear helmets," Brady said. "They should make it a rule."
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(Staff Writers Blaine Bybee, Todd Boyd, Devin Hasson contributed to this report.)
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