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SKYDEX Makes Great Leaps In Pole Vaulting Safety

http://www.gopsusports.com/genrel/062403aab.html Penn State, Hi Performance Athletics in NJ are Among First Customers for Pole Vault Products Made of SKYDEX, a Revolutionary New Cushioning Technology Centennial, Colo. - Motivated by last year's death of a Big 10 junior champion pole vaulter, SKYDEX Technologies, Inc. has created three new padding products that take pole vaulting safety to new heights. Available to track and field programs for this season, the SKYDEX protective products are designed to significantly reduce the potential for critical injuries among pole vaulters by absorbing impact several times better than existing products. SKYDEX, a breakthrough cushioning and protective technology is already being used in a variety of important applications ranging from playground surfaces and athletic shoes to the U.S. Military, is now the essential safety component in three new pole vault products, including a Vault Soft Planting Box; Vault Box Collar; and Pit Extension Pads. The products currently are distributed exclusively by Gill Athletics. The first customers for the new SKYDEX pole vault products include Penn State University and Tom Davis, a well-known independent vaulting coach and owner of Hi Performance Athletics in New Jersey, who trains top-performing athletes from more than 38 local high schools and colleges. Clearly, a great need exists to enhance pole vault safety. According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, 15 high school students died while pole vaulting between 1983 and 2001, in addition to seven high school pole vault accidents that resulted in permanent disabilities and six others that caused serious injuries. Ed Dare, father of Kevin Dare ?C the junior national champion pole vaulter whose death just over one year ago while competing at the Big Ten indoor championships thrust the sport and its safety issues into the national spotlight applauds the safety advances being made in pole vaulting. SKYDEX products use new technology to greatly attenuate shock and prevent injury,?? said Dare. ??I encourage coaches across the country to learn all they can about these products and others that promote pole vault safety. Our company's mission is protecting what matters, and nothing is more important than guarding young athletes against severe physical injury and even death,?? said Stuart Jenkins, CEO of SKYDEX Technologies, Inc. Pole vaulting is an incredibly challenging, dramatic sport whose participants deserve greater protection than has been available to date. We??re proud that new SKYDEX pole vault padding offers these brave athletes the safest, most effective protective cushioning available anywhere, while still enabling vaulters to perform as well as they do using traditional pads and vault boxes,?? said Jenkins. Cushioning Performance and Injury Risk Pole vault landing surfaces are tested using a device that simulates the impact of an athlete??s head and measures the shock of impact. One important measurement used to rate surface performance is G-max, which measures the maximum shock produced by an impact. Fall height for surface materials is defined as the maximum height from which the metal headform on the testing device, upon impact, yields no more than 200 Gs when tested in accordance with ASTM F1292. In comparative testing SKYDEX repeatedly delivers significantly greater levels of protection than standard pole vault padding and surfaces. For example, at a fall height of 20 feet, the SKYDEX Vault Box yields a G-max of only 163, substantially below the 200 G maximum for safety. Incredibly, a standard vault box yields a G-max of more than 500 at a fall height of six inches. Similarly, the SKYDEX Vault Box Collar yields a G-max of less than 70 at a fall height of seven feet, while a standard vault box collar far exceeds the 200 G limit at the same height. Lightweight, strong and custom-engineered, SKYDEX replaces old-fashioned, less protective cushioning ?C such as foam and rubber products. SKYDEX is capable of absorbing unprecedented amounts of shock through a unique double-hemisphere design. Slated to become the Gore-Tex of cushioning, SKYDEX technology already is used by some of the world's most innovative consumer brands, including Nike, Burton and Airwalk, as well as the U.S. Military. SKYDEX Technologies, Inc., is a privately held company based in Centennial, Colo.