Dear Friend,
You are about to go with me deep inside the pathetically twisted world of the "International Association of Athletics Federations" where we will uncover ALL of the secrets behind USA Track & Field's deadly corruption relating to the event of pole vault.
First, I want to point out to you that, for many decades, USA Track & Field "insiders" have purposely never shared life-saving pole vault facts of which "they" have been fully aware. For example, USA Track & Field "insiders" intentionally ignore the fact that, in FLEXIBLE pole vault, FULL SPEED APPROACH RUNS ARE DEADLY! Additionally, my documentation brings to light MANY other lethal concepts that are being deliberately and malevolently promoted within the corrupt schemes of the extremely profitable TRACK & FIELD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
In 1948, Bob Mathias and his high school track coach, Virgil Jackson, began seeking solutions to replace bamboo and metal vaulting poles. Bob had never pole vaulted before the summer of 1948, when Coach Jackson persuaded the naive 17 year-old to participate in a major decathlon event at the Los Angeles Coliseum. This would not only be Bob's first-time experience competing in pole vault, it would also be his first ever decathlon.
Pole vaulting for the first time in the early summer of 1948, Bob used a heavy metal pole retrieved from his high school field house. Bob Mathias provided his firsthand information during my interview with him at his home near Fresno, California, in 1993. While describing the first vaulting pole he used as "heavy and thick," Bob also recalled his original discussions with Virgil Jackson regarding the challenges Bob encountered attempting to apply the vaulting poles available in 1948.
In 1949, Virgil Jackson, was responsible for the development of the "Sky Pole," a name he coined and established as the trade mark of the original fiberglass vaulting poles. The price of the first fiberglass poles was set from $34.75 to $38.75 for one of the three models, each of which was manufactured in six different flexions. While Virgil Jackson was correct in his perception of flexion principles, lethal "TRADITIONAL" pole vault methods were NEVER capable of practically applying Coach Jackson's flexible pole specifications.
In 1991, forty-two years after the first fiberglass vaulting poles were produced, as evidenced at the beginning of the above video, I discovered why these implements had become the most needlessly catastrophic weapons ever created. The deadly consequences are the result of the arrogance and negligence of careless self-centered principals charged with the oversight of track and field's pole vault. These DEADLY BAFFOONS continue spreading archaic insanity worldwide as reflected in the following statement by "insider" coach, UCS National Pole Vault Summit "EXPERT" & "FEATURED SPEAKER," Shawn Michael Francis:
"You have to hit it with everything you've got and, if you really do break a pole, and it, and you break it a good way, you'll land in the pit anyways. So, don't be afraid to break the pole, that just means you're super awesome and you probably need the next stick anyways. So, in, in reality, I guess I look at a pole-break as a graduation, ah, to being even more awesome!" (Shawn Francis-YouTube-F8J4ytXaVu0)
DON'T BELIEVE ANYONE COULD BE THIS NEGLIGENT? PLEASE, PLAY EACH VIDEO BELOW!
THIS IS A DEATHLIST OF ONLY 24 PREVENTABLE FATALITIES I WAS ABLE TO VERIFY. THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE. MOST OF THESE YOUNG DEATHS ARE THE AVOIDABLE CONSEQUENCE OF ABSOLUTE GROSS NEGLIGENCE!
UCS National Pole Vault Summit's featured "expert" quest and "speaker" (in the video below), Shawn Michael Francis, directly confirms answers to very troubling questions. Here's one obvious clue: UCS manufacturing sells vaulting poles for more than $600 each. After viewing Shawn Francis and hearing his statements, does it appear to you that the UCS company knowingly participates in PROMOTING VAULTING CONCEPTS THAT DESTROY THEIR OWN HIGH-PRICED PRODUCTS at the peril of intentionally misinformed consumers?
Mr. Francis couldn't be sitting at the UCS National Pole Vault Summit "Experts' Table" (shown above) because he so brazenly ENCOURAGES athletes to BREAK vaulting poles, could he? Any responsible person should be alarmed KNOWING such lethal negligence is rampant within the expansive corrupt confines of the INTERNATIONAL TRACK & FIELD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!
The entire BLAME for the needless deaths and injuries suffered by a ever-expanding list of casualties falls entirely upon atrocious "traditional" pole vault fallacies being purposely promoted by UCS (United Canvas & Sling) and other pompous athletic equipment manufacturers around the world. The fact is that the pieces of the puzzle revealing how to pole vault properly have been intentionally suppressed by the very same nefarious community of "insiders" carelessly charged with the responsibility of overseeing the safety of international track and field participants!
Now, you are about to discover for yourself the hidden pieces that, for decades, would have easily prevented countless avoidable catastrophic injuries and deaths suffered by male and female athletes alike. The facts are revealed to you right here.
And listen carefully, this is the real story... the true story that only I can tell you.
WARNING: This story gets ugly. The situation has only gotten worse as infantile adults and intellectual midgets within the track & field "community" get really weird upon being bestowed unbridled power and authority from which they PROFIT.
Actually, there's a lot more to it. This is just a rough idea of how intense the immoral complicity between major athletic equipment manufacturers, sports media, educational institutions, medical professionals and the USA Track & Field "Establishment" has become. That's identifying just a few United States entities. The resulting unethical impact upon a complicit international sports community has only become further inflamed by insider cliques such as the "International Association of Athletics Federations." I'm going to show you exactly how today's deadly "traditional" pole vault flaws would have never been allowed to exist under the watchful eyes of morally responsible "adult" supervision.
Primarily, in 1991, when I was forced to seriously look into this event, TWO specific types of flexible vaulting poles were available. The NON-UNIFORM DIAMETER fiberglass "competition" pole design was the much higher priced of the two styles, while UNIFORM DIAMETER "pultrusion" processed flexible poles were the much lower priced of the two. The economical UNIFORM DIAMETER flexible "pultrusion" poles, we applied for proper training, SAVED MY SON from exposure to the innumerable NEEDLESS RISKS of NON-UNIFORM DIAMETER flexible poles.
NON-UNIFORM DIAMETER FLEXIBLE "COMPETITION" VAULTING POLES PRESENT DEADLY HAZARDS to any athlete who has not previously mastered flexible vaulting pole fundamentals applying UNIFORM DIAMETER FLEXIBLE POLES. Fully aware that they are prioritizing PROFIT over SAFETY, today's leading manufacturers, UCS, ESSX, GILL and others, avoid producing UNIFORM DIAMETER FLEXIBLE POLES while they promote only high priced NON-UNIFORM DIAMETER FLEXIBLE VAULTING POLES.
June, 2017, I was informed, via principals at UST-ESSX vaulting pole manufacturing, that "pultruded poles are not popular" and, relative to their manufacture, "the cost is prohibitive." This is a poor excuse since these poles were selling for one-third the price of expensive "competition" poles in the 1980s and early 1990s while they were being heavily promoted by Jan Johnson, renowned pole vault "expert."
Lower cost uniform shaft flexible fiberglass pole technology was introduced more than 50 years ago. I was first exposed to the Thermo-Flex "Dial-a-Pole" in the early 1960s. Later, in the early 1990s, because they are unsurpassed for their safety, price, durability and universally superior training applications based on the same 1960s uniform diameter construction principle, I purchased FiberSport "Maxima HS" fiberglass vaulting poles. Jan Johnson, 1972 Olympic medalist, introduced me to FiberSport vaulting poles in 1991, just a few years prior to his participation in the ELIMINATION of their production.
QUESTION: "Why did Jan Johnson instigate the TOTAL EXTERMINATION of cheaper, more versatile and much safer pole vault implements?"
ANSWER: "FOLLOW THE MONEY!"
As an integral part of my mission, you will be shown every detail of how to achieve our SAFER, EASIER, SUPERIOR pole vaulting execution. But, before we go further, we need to set the record straight.
We're only at the beginning of this story and you've already heard some remarkable statements. And if I were you, I'd be wondering...
And you're absolutely right to ask that question.
Look, if I wasn't the person who invested my time and effort to drill deep inside this completely misunderstood deadly track & field event and saw all of this happen with my own two eyes, there's no way I'd believe it was true either. In other words, I know how you feel.
So let me put your mind at ease by clearing the air right now and showing you exactly what transpired. You'll hear about what actually goes on within the bowels of the world's deadliest sports deception, including my own son's exposure to senseless lethal "traditional" pole vault risks, along with our many amazing solutions, and everything in between.
How does DANGER THRIVE so uninhibited in this event? To answer that question, here is a prime example: One of the DEADLIEST MISCONCEPTIONS that the irresponsible UCS NATIONAL POLE VAULT SUMMIT teachings continue to inflict upon their hapless victims is confirmed as reiterated by 2014 UCS SUMMIT "expert" featured speaker Dave Johnson's following statement: "You begin by carrying the pole and running like a madman, which is exactly what you must be to even try this event." If your intentions are to injure yourself or someone else, simply follow "DANGER" Dave's and UCS Spirit's irresponsible advice as my son had foolishly ALREADY DONE in 1991. You can watch the video below to see the consequences suffered by "speedster" Ryan Brady applying UCS SPIRIT'S LETHAL TEACHINGS in 2010! Simply click the "play" button and, please, think seriously about the preventable consequences you are seeing with your own eyes.
So right now, I'm going to begin breaking it all down for you and expose to you the real culprits behind the lethal schemes employed by the profiteers thriving within the "Deadliest Sport In America." Simply stated (in plain language), one primary problem is that "scammers" within the "pole vault community" are fully aware fresh "victims" will always be perpetually accessible to them. Their naive "marks" are willing to foolishly "swallow" failed "traditional" pole vault teachings they've been conned by "experts" into believing are "legitimate." These ludicrous misconceptions are reinforced by the false narrative that investing money in expensive athletic equipment can somehow magically solve problems. "Establishment" insiders operate without fear of repercussions as they push their highly profitable lethal agendas. Thus, completely overwhelmed by their desire for illicit self-gratification, these manifest "scammers" take full advantage of their immoral impunity while taking advantage of minor children in open view.
Let's begin.
First, we'll reference the following St. Petersburg Times article, "The deadliest sport in America" (published March 12, 2002). This article mentions ONLY TWO preventable deaths that year, when, in fact, there is much more to this story. It is very important that you understand, besides the TWO AVOIDABLE FATALITIES of Jesus Quesada, 16, and Kevin Dare, 19, (the individual deaths noted in this St. Petersburg Times article), there were additionally TWO MORE DEATHS along with TWO OTHER PERMANENTLY MAMING INCIDENTS resulting the same year. Thus, there were actually FOUR FATALITIES combined with TWO MORE LIFE-ALTERING AVOIDABLE CATASTROPHES of which we are aware occurred in 2002.
As concerned human beings, we need to ask ourselves: "What is the common source from which all of these needless tragedies are being generated in the first place?" The answers are painfully obvious: For many decades, elites of the "pole vault community" have been positioning themselves within the track & field "power pecking order" while maximizing their self-serving monetary acquisitions by manipulating the "system" to fit their own twisted egomaniacal desires. Underhanded proceeds are acquired from naive participants who believe these elite "con artists" are providing legitimate services in exchange for valued currency. The list of provisions includes ever-increasingly expensive vaulting poles, mats, pads, athletic shoes, "live" training camps/summits along with an abundance of other overpriced dangerous useless training equipment and deadly teaching misconceptions.
With that being said, please, allow me to dissect "The deadliest sport in America" topic in detail for you.
Let's begin with 1972 Olympic medalist, Jan Johnson, since he is identified in the "deadliest sport" article as a premier "USA Track & Field" pole vault "EXPERT" and outstanding "pole vault community" profiteer.
I first met Jan Johnson ELEVEN (11) YEARS before the 2002 St. Petersburg Times article was published. When I met Jan Johnson, in 1991, I was completely unaware of Johnson's true underlying motives while I naively exposed my son to Jan Johnson's lethal teachings (for which I paid good money). It was during our 1991 experiences that my son and I realized Jan Johnson's pole vault concepts are deadly!
Inevitably, it became obvious that we had to come up with our own solutions... and we did. TEN YEARS prior to Jan Johnson's statements in the 2002 St. Petersburg Times article, my son and I had already proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Jan Johnson's fallacious pole vault teachings are the PRIMARY CAUSE of preventable "catastrophic injuries" in this deadly track and field event. Thus, I was very disturbed by the stunning Jan Johnson references published in the 2002 St. Petersburg Times article. Here are specific examples:
"I wasn't that shocked there were two deaths within a week," said Jan Johnson, chairman of the USA Track and Field pole vaulting safety committee and an author of the AJSM study. "We are going to continue to have catastrophic injuries until we change some things in this sport."
Based upon my firsthand experiences dealing directly with Jan Johnson, please allow me to point out for you that SAFER PROPER vaulting METHODS have NEVER been implemented by Johnson. He has a long history of promoting EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT changes while ignoring all else. In fact, while Johnson has been avoiding our revolutionary safer vaulting concepts for decades, the primary "things" Johnson advocates changing are only "things" that typically advance himself and/or enhance his bank account. As confirmed by the facts exposed in the St. Petersburg Times article, the most imperative "things" that concern Jan Johnson are his own financial prosperity and his exclusive position within the "power pecking order" of the USA Track & Field Industrial Complex.
Taking full advantage of his privileged status as Track & Field "insider," Johnson's pattern is to perpetually introduce, vehemently advocate and shamelessly promote constantly changing expensive equipment requirements and regulations. Track & Field "insiders" acquire dubious financial benefits by mandating their own arbitrary rules while applying their unrestrained power to dictate equipment pricing, product requirements, etceteras.
The "insiders" arbitrarily decide amongst themselves what is approved or disapproved. These self-absorbed miscreants have unjustifiably prohibited and arbitrarily eliminated products from which they cannot themselves pocket excessive profit. In total control, "industrial complex" profiteers openly manipulate their captive marketplace. This is a remarkably unscrupulous enterprise in which "buyers" are mandated to purchase expensive products that are created by "sellers" who create the rules of the game while also dictating the prices "buyers" are demanded to pay.
When my interest in pole vault was rekindled in 2011 (after over a decade-and-a-half of not giving any attention to this event) I, too, found the overwhelming evidence I was discovering hard to believe. At the time, it was unfathomable to me as to how badly the event had been intentionally allowed to deteriorate into such an extent of corruption. With the aid of information now accessible on my computer, that wasn't available in the early 1990s, it became very apparent that purposely misinformed athletes had continued being senselessly killed, catastrophically maimed and needlessly injured. It was evident that during the many years I had ignored this track & field event, pole vault profiteers continued inflicting their SENSELESS HARM unchallenged and uninhibited.
The "official" list of preventable catastrophic injuries and deaths, researched and published by Jan Johnson himself, is mind-boggling. It is not at all difficult to confirm that Jan Johnson has thrived upon instigating preventable catastrophes, for decades, to benefit himself. I also want to make it crystal clear that Johnson certainly didn't create this lethal devastation without the willing assistance of many other unethical participants. The facts are absolute, as supported by Johnson's own documented relationships with the American Journal of Sports Medicine, his own documented patents, Johnson's lucrative associations with sports equipment manufacturers and the blatant lethal misconceptions from which they all profit.
Jan Johnson's Death List of Victims killed as the result of uninhibited gross negligence contains the majority of fatalities listed here! Note: My purpose in exposing this carnage is completely contrary to Johnson's and his associates... I WANT TO END THIS INSANITY AND THEY DO NOT!
There is extensive history of Johnson's illicit endeavors where he persists in advocating rule changes that promote expensive equipment requirements which, in turn, provide tremendous financial ingratiation for himself and the "status quo." All of this while members of Track & Field's Industrial Complex persist in avoiding ANY advocation of changing the "things" that have proven to be the true underlying SOURCE OF DEADLY TRAGEDIES: LETHAL POLE VAULT CATASTROPHES occur as a consequence of "ESTABLISHMENT" profiteers continuing to do all the wrong "things" for all the wrong reasons...
Ever since my first encounters with "elite" coaches Don Hood, Bob Fraley and Jan Johnson in 1991, it has become increasingly obvious that one of the most LETHAL concepts being "sold" by all "USA Track & Field" profiteers is the implication that vaulting "HEIGHT" is the PRIMARY OBJECTIVE of the event. "Personal Record" is one of the deadliest deceptions in "traditional" pole vault vernacular from which industrial complex "insiders" shamelessly continue to accumulate currency. "Establishment" propagandists consistently use the term "Personal Record" to convince their ignorant "fraternity of daredevils" to falsely assume that "topping" a crossbar height is the pinnacle of vaulting success. That self-gratifying erroneous imprudent "assumption" has repeatedly proven to be DEAD WRONG!
USA Track & Field insiders' purposeful cavalier promotion of profitable reckless "daredevil" mentality has consistently proven itself LETHAL to pole vaulters throughout the world. The 2002 deaths and catastrophic injuries inflicted upon those young athletes, along with the demise of countless other gullible victims since the 1960s, are the consequence of a barbaric inept "coaching" system. Already convinced of their own invincibility, it is not at all difficult to persuade youthful "daredevils" (males and females alike) to foolishly risk "life and limb" in sole pursuit of "HEIGHTS" rather than achieving the execution of PROPER POLE VAULT TECHNIQUE as the safer and more distinctly intelligent primary objective. Check it out for yourself by perusing a related "USA TODAY" article once posted on the "UCS Spirit" vaulting pole manufacturing website (click here to see the highlighted article) in which UCS principals nakedly BROADCAST the extraordinary extent of their DEADLY LACK OF CONCERN!
Early 1991, in Tulare, California, top world "elite" pole vault coach, Don Hood, sat on my living room couch to address my concerns regarding this deadly event. That day, I learned from Don that two (2) high school boys had already lost their lives attempting to pole vault during the ongoing 1991 track season. Naively confident in Coach Hood, I agreed to send my son to Texas for Don's next scheduled weekend pole vault camp. When my son returned home from Don's Texas camp, there were no vaulting improvements, whatsoever.
Thus, to see for myself what was going on, I signed up my son for Don's next camp to be held in California, which I attended with my old VHS camcorder in hand to document the occasion. At least two Jan Johnson camps were also added to my Don Hood experiences, all achieving the same nonproductive results. Notably included at Johnson's camps, was his complete lack of shame in sharing his arrogant ill-considered prejudices with his captive young students. My early video recordings, that I began accumulating decades ago, provide my own firsthand documentation history. This vast information bears witness to the devastating teachings being negligently propagated for the purpose of systematically advancing illicitly acquired profits for USA Track & Field scammers.
One of my most significant take-aways, after paying lots of money to the "pole vault community," is this: I finally recognized their perverted obsessions with striving to "brainwash" easily deceived minors into believing "it's all about vaulting height." Pursuant to that, insider "elites" arrogantly proceed to sell the asinine fantasy that they, as pole vault "experts," are capable of "magically" teaching students to conquer "heights" and master this event in just a few short days. These hoaxers are purposely propagating extremely dangerous "traditional" negligent pole vault philosophies that are actually cultivating the potential for the extremely lethal consequences the "expert" education they are selling is supposed to avoid.
Here is a remarkable example of not letting a "traditional" self-induced pole vault crisis go to waste. This is a real-life blatant profiteering sequence contrived and executed by pole vault "expert" Jan Johnson:
First, Johnson deliberately TEACHES lethal methods that CAUSE vaulters to dangerously land in the "PLANT BOX."
Second, Johnson then invents a costly "BOX COLLAR" promising to be the "security blanket" for all the vaulters who are convinced each will inevitably fall into the plant box while applying the deadly methods that Johnson taught them in the first place.
Third, after Johnson's teachings inevitably exacerbate pole vault calamities, Johnson applies his "insider" influence to mandate his high-priced "BOX COLLAR" as another expensive officially "required" safety prophylactic.
Fourth, Johnson's insatiable appetite NEVER satisfied, the pole vault "expert" insider proceeds to introduce his new EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE BOX CRISIS REMEDY HE MARKETS AS THE "SOFT BOX"...
In addition to Johnson's profitable "box collar" concept, he now concentrates his efforts into promoting the "SOFT BOX" as the next money-making venture he intends to mandate as a "required" equipment purchase. Keep in mind that this is just one of many deplorable examples directly involving USA Track & Field, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and other profiteering members of the TRACK & FIELD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
IT IS EASY TO SEE THAT JAN JOHNSON PROFITS FROM INCREASING THREATS OF "PLANT BOX" CATASTROPHES WHILE PURPOSEFULLY TEACHING LETHAL METHODS THAT INEVITABLY CAUSE VAULTERS TO FALL INTO DEADLY "PLANT BOXES" IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Circa 2012, the intense eagerness by the TRACK & FIELD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX to DISCLOSE catastrophic pole vault injuries, suddenly evaporated! If you are wondering WHY this occurred, here is your answer: For many decades, USA Track & Field "powers that be" regulated/demanded the implementation of incredibly EXPENSIVE and endlessly EXPANSIVE measures from which corrupt "insiders" perpetually profited. By 2012, rules requiring huge "pit" sizes, including high-dollar foam mats that endlessly extend up the SIDES OF RUNWAYS, excessive padding around the standards, increased plant box protection costs, etceteras, reached "saturation" levels. It was now necessary that the "profitable" concepts initiated by "regulators" within the pole vault industrial complex begin to appear somewhat successful. Publicizing "CASUALTIES" had run its course and was no longer such a major "benefit" for the "profiteers." The glaring fact also still remained that the "insiders" regulating this deadly game NEVER remedied the underlying LETHAL METHODS that actually CREATE PREVENTABLE POLE VAULT CATASTROPHES!
Another reprehensible example, stemming from the St. Petersburg Times 2002 article, is that Jan Johnson also later testified in a court case as a pole vault "expert" in OPPOSITION against one of the permanently maimed young victims injured in 2002. Not mentioned in the St. Petersburg Times article is Brandon White, a 2002 high school senior paralyzed from the chest down while applying the lethal "traditional" teachings of Jan Johnson.
In 2009, seven long years after the occurrence of Brandon White's avoidable tragedy, despite the OPPOSING sworn testimony of "experts" Jan Johnson and his business associate, J. Russell VerSteeg (attorney), Brandon White won $6.4 million in damages from the Connecticut affiliate of USA Track and Field.
This was an extraordinary case based on the fact that nearly every vulnerable athlete who falls prey to lethal "traditional" pole vault gross negligence is "buffaloed" by Track & Field Industrial Complex propaganda into believing there is little, if any, legal recourse available to victims suffering the devastating irreversible consequences of these perverse tragedies.
To see with your own eyes Johnson's and VerSteeg's lethal coaching methods in action, you do not need to search any further than the following link to view the self-evident truths. You will see for yourself undeniable video evidence as to how and why the "traditional" vaulting concepts these "experts" continue to promote are dangerously absurd and incompetent: Lethal Pole Vault Stupidity.
NONE of the "TRADITIONAL" pole vault "experts" will debate face-to-face with me. They know they can't debate with me as I represent truth, logic and common sense!
I encourage you to peruse www.polevaultpower.com which is operated by Rebecca G. Peter, who is tightly interlaced with Dr. Barry P. Boden, Jan Johnson and the American Journal of Sports Medicine. The site lists one-sided posts denouncing the 6.4 million dollar lawsuit WIN by paralyzed "traditional" pole vault casualty Brandon White. Included are comments posted by the attorney who opposed White's case in court where Sky Jumpers principals Jan Johnson and Russ VerSteeg ganged up to testify AGAINST their permanently disabled young victim, Brandon White.
The following quote is from Rebecca G. Peter. Her words confirm that the main objective of Peter and her malevolent allies is certainly NOT the elimination of the entirely preventable consequences that forever altered 18 year-old Brandon White's life in 2002. Peter is crystal clear in communicating that she is PRIMARILY CONCERNED with the threat that the successful legal action of Brandon White will cause a rise in USATF "insurance rates":
"Does this lawsuit matter? You bet it does. This could potentially make USATF's insurance rates increase. It could make it much harder for entities not using USATF (like schools) to get liability insurance. We had better all pray that this can somehow be overturned on appeal." (Posted by "rainbowgirl28" aka Rebecca G. Peter, www.polevaultpower.com, May 15, 2009)
Please, keep in mind that Rebecca G. Peter and her closest associates profit from their promotion of lethal "traditional" pole vault absurdity. These aloof miscreants DESIRE that status quo remain as is. I have all of the real history, all the real facts, all the data. The cowardly pack of reprobates who control the USA Track & Field Industrial Complex CAN'T debate with me. They are allergic to all of the historical and current information I possess. But the truth will get out there, in spite of these terrified goons who hide in fear, petrified of TRUTH, while cowering together to avoid any confrontation with proven lethal facts revealing their overwhelming deadly gross negligence.
Devastating lethal consequences of pole vault "status quo" have been perpetuated, remaining unchanged, for at least the past thirty years while millions of dollars continue being funneled into the coffers of the corrupt "pole vault community." This sporting event's decomposition continues while needless avoidable injuries and deaths have accumulated as a result of deeply rooted greed and purposeful negligence. USA Track and Field's Industrial Complex reeks of a most disgusting stench, which is the inevitable outcome of uninhibited deception and corruption.
July 30, 2015: European Championships Pole Vault Finalist Paralyzed
Austrian female vaulter, Kira Grunberg, on July 30, 2015, suffered spinal injuries as the result of another preventable track and field life-changing tragedy. During her practice session, applying deadly "traditional" vaulting methods, Kira Grunberg now found herself to be just one more "paraplegic" victim of negligent lethal teachings promoted by the "pole vault community." Precipitated by this avoidable disaster, is a preponderance of explicitly damning evidence further exposing the barefaced purposeful negligence of self-absorbed athletic elite scoundrels.
Rice University pole vault coach, David Butler, writing as a member of the USA National Pole Vault Development Staff, contacted me December 10, 2014. In his declarations, Mr. Butler bragged that he is closely associated with the principals involved in the manufacturing of UCS Spirit pole vault poles. Butler identifies himself as an "expert" pole vault coach in his proclamations. These facts are substantiated by documentation exchanged between myself and this noteworthy self-admitted associate of influential USA Track and Field insiders.
In December of 2014, Rice University pole vault coach, David Butler, received from me emails in which I attempted to convey my crystal clear warnings to him that his lethal "traditional" pole vault teachings would continue negligently causing death, paralysis and serious injury to gullible young men and women in the future.
Please, allow me to reiterate: December, 2014, after contacting me identifying himself as a member of the USA National Pole Vault Development Staff, I communicated directly with Rice University pole vault coach, David Butler. He is documented having chosen to scoff at my WARNINGS regarding the senseless perils of his coaching methods that endanger gullible athletes. Seven months and three weeks after Coach David Butler turned a deaf ear to my warnings, Kira Grunberg's preventable tragedy occurred.
Here is WHY I hold Butler responsible for Kira's avoidable tragedy! Rice University pole vault coach, David Butler, sent the following message to me regarding Kira Grunberg after she was paralyzed using Butler's flawed vaulting methods. In Butler's written correspondence, Butler disdainfully brags, "one of my closest friends in the PV world is her mentor and coach, having worked with her and her father for years."
I can only conclude from his message to me that Butler's ARROGANCE must have preempted his desire to warn this girl's coach (Butler's close friend) of the LETHAL FLAWS in her vaulting methods of which I personally spelled out to Butler only months prior to Kira's preventable catastrophe. With friends like Butler, who needs enemies? KIRA GRUNBERG IS PARALYZED as a result of what is now another irreversible tragedy that could have easily been prevented.
IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) published a follow-up story on their website about Kira Grunberg, October 21, 2015, that clearly demonstrates the degree of lunacy residing within the nauseous thoughts and sick minds of the "Establishment" elite. Prior to her preventable spinal injury of July 30, 2015, former European Championships finalist, Kira Grunberg, had been looking forward to participating in the IAAF World Championships. Her dreams ENDED abruptly in just a senseless fraction of a second. That's a fact.
The ludicrous statements in this IAAF article should be alarming to any reasonable person having been exposed to knowledge of the purposeful negligence that is the needless cause of the absolutely preventable consequences suffered by this naive young lady.
Kira Grunberg is quoted in this IAAF article as saying, "That's the thing, no one can quite imagine how the fall happened ..."
To publish the victim's naive perspective that "no one can quite imagine how the fall happened..." is completely NUTS! UCS Spirit (the maker of Kira's vaulting poles), David Butler and other members of the pole vault industrial complex are documented as having been fully aware of my detailed warnings to them as to exactly how and why these senseless tragedies are entirely avoidable. The crucial fact is, as long as negligent "profiteers" remain in charge of this track and field event these senseless preventable catastrophic tragedies will continue to occur. My detailed WARNINGS to the pole vault industrial complex began in 1991. The entirety of my futile efforts to STOP these ruthless scoundrels from proliferating their deadly idiocy has been thoroughly chronicled.
Sadly, regardless of Kira Grunberg's undeniable physical consequences, this poorly informed paraplegic victim of negligent "pole vault community" indoctrination remains completely oblivious to the truth. All of this, while the IAAF continues to relentlessly push its lethal propaganda that their deadly pole vault methods are indeed safe. Seeming completely unconcerned with the deadly faults of "status quo," the IAAF shamelessly proceeds to exploit Grunberg's preventable tragedy as an opportunity to promote their own agenda by taking full advantage of the victim's total ignorance as to ACTUALLY WHY SHE BECAME PARALYZED.
Continuing on with a question that received a deeply revealing response from Kira Grunberg, the IAAF article interviewer thoughtfully asked Kira, "WOULD YOU DISSUADE YOUNG GIRLS FROM TAKING UP POLE VAULTING?" Kira's answer is, curiously, "No!"
How much gall is required by the IAAF in taking advantage of this completely gullible victim's ignorant perceptions in their efforts to CONCEAL THE TRUTH as to the actual cause of Kira's entirely avoidable tragedy? Now, paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair due to the obvious consequence of IAAF LETHALLY FLAWED injurious pole vault teachings, Kira Grunberg, still perceived as a IAAF "expert" vaulter, ignorantly attests to the world, "...pole vault isn't dangerous!"
Impervious to any sense of responsibility, the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) continues undaunted in blatantly promoting lethal misrepresentations to deceitfully lure future catastrophic injury candidates into their ill-conceived lucrative deadly trap. If you are gullible enough to buy into this athletic "Establishment" propaganda, you might also be convinced that preventable permanent paralysis is simply a minor mishap.
The fact is, this track and field event is inherently dangerous BUT, there is a glaring factor that athletic "Establishment" insiders continue to intentionally EVADE. That is: It has already been overwhelmingly proven that pole vault becomes EXPONENTIALLY DANGEROUS when applying primitive "traditional" idiotic lethal flexible pole vault misconceptions.
Kira Grunberg sustained permanent bodily injury by MISusing the "UCS Spirit" vaulting pole, the deadliest self-endangering weapon ever created by human beings. For decades, "UCS Spirit" vaulting poles have displayed a bright orange rectangular "WARNING" label. In glaring contrast, to the UCS warning label, the IAAF article knowingly promotes Kira Grunberg's message that, "...pole vault isn't dangerous!" At the same time, the article, which is clearly a IAAF depraved cover-up publicity ploy, is flagrantly contradicting the glaring WARNING affixed to Kira Grunberg's "UCS Spirit" poles on the "UCS WARNING" labels!
You can "take it to the bank" that these bright orange "WARNING" labels are pasted on at least some, if not all, of the lethal flexible "UCS Spirit" competition vaulting poles Kira had been negligently taught to use improperly. Thus, the Kira Grunberg and IAAF message completely contradicts the "UCS Spirit" patented label warning that states: "POLE VAULTING IS A DANGEROUS ACTIVITY. SEVERE INJURY, PARALYSIS, AND DEATH HAVE OCCURRED."
Peruse the IAAF article: Click here to see for yourself the grave facts regarding Kira Grunberg's catastrophic experience.
2014, November, Jeff Schwartz, CEO of UCS (United Canvas & Sling), also a "UCS Spirit" vaulting pole manufacturing principal and 1960s inventor of UCS foam padded landing mats, "texted" to me the message displayed on my telephone screen image shown here:
I had been previously informed that Mr. Schwartz would be contacting me for the purpose of discussing pole vault "expert" Jan Johnson. Thus, after receiving this text message from Jeff Schwartz, I telephoned him on Tuesday, November 25, 2014. At that time I entered into a lengthy conversation with Mr. Schwartz regarding Jan Johnson (as Johnson was the only reason Jeff Schwartz wanted to speak with me in the first place).
Jeff Schwartz was extremely interested while listening to my documented potentially damning knowledge regarding Jan Johnson, since this was the information Mr. Schwartz had the desire to hear from me. But, to the contrary, when I began sharing with Mr. Schwartz DEADLY facts I have chronicled regarding Mr. Schwartz's favorable business associates, Mr. Schwartz showed far less enthusiasm. Thus, Mr. Schwartz left me with an impression that identical DEADLY facts become categorized by order of those which benefit Mr. Schwartz and those that do not.
I followed up my conversation with Mr. Jeff Schwartz by writing a letter to him relative to our telephone communication as promised. The seven-page letter I sent to Mr. Schwartz detailed my own firsthand experiences, beginning in 1991, with Mr. Schwartz's own UCS Spirit vaulting pole manufacturing business associates. Click here to see my November 25, 2014, seven-page letter to Jeff Schwartz. As my intentions are moral, I openly expressed to Mr. Schwartz substantiated facts relating to this lethal subject. Yet, strangely enough, I never again heard from Mr. Jeff Schwartz, as a preeminent UCS principal or concerned human being for the safety of his products. After he spoke to me on the telephone, Tuesday, November 25, 2014, Mr. Schwartz avoided all my future efforts to contact him.
Also, November, 2014, besides speaking with Mr. Schwartz, I received a telephone call from the "head state official for pole vaulting in the states of Hawaii and California." On Thursday, November 20, 2014, Rick Foster, identifying himself as a "veteran coach and pole vault consultant," telephoned me for the purpose of obtaining information he was seeking relating to Jan Johnson. Mr. Foster said that Johnson was a former associate of his but Johnson's questionable business tactics were now causing Mr. Foster to express his concerns.
As was the case with Jeff Schwartz of UCS, Rick Foster's interest during our telephone conversation remained intense as long as the discussion focused on the lethal faults of Jan Johnson. Mr. Foster's intensity quickly dwindled when I mentioned the deadly "traditional" pole vault methods being taught at Punahou School, in Hawaii, that are openly published on the "punavision" YouTube Internet world-wide video sharing site for all to see. Mr. Foster was ready to end our hour-long telephone conversation regarding Jan Johnson after I began pointing out the same deadly pole vault flaws were being negligently spread under Mr. Foster's pole vault jurisdiction and supervision.
Also, as with Jeff Schwartz of UCS, this turned out to be the first and last time Rick Foster ever communicated with me. In common with Schwartz, Mr. Rick Foster had now discovered the validity of my genuine safety concerns were NOT ONLY LIMITED to Jan Johnson's incriminating deadly pole vault history but also included those of Mr. Foster himself.
My subject matter directly exposes Mr. Foster's own personal deadly pole vault doctrines. Taking a closer look, unveils Rick Foster's disparities that threatened to uncover his own individual insider "benefits." These would appear to include physician and pole vault "expert," Dr. Spencer Chang, assistant medical counsel for the USA Track and Field's pole vault development staff in 2002, "traditional" pole vaulter and University of Hawaii pole vault coach; Tom Hintnaus, former "traditional" pole vaulter and Calvin Klein model; UCS sports equipment manufacturing, along with other lucrative pole vault "relationships" Mr. Foster cultivated throughout his years of involvement with the corrupt track and field pole vault industrial complex.
Undoubtedly, Mr. Foster should have been concerned that his special "connections" might be in danger of exposure to the light of day since, it is clear that, each of Mr. Foster's self-serving alliances happens to thrive entirely upon the relentless promotion of primitive lethal "traditional" pole vault teachings. At the end of the day, these are the very same philosophies that are dead wrong and continue to senselessly injure vulnerable trusting athletes around the world.
Dr. Spencer Chang's and Mr. Foster's misguided "expert" opinions promoting deadly "traditional" pole vault teachings can be viewed at the following link displaying a 2002 Honolulu Advertiser newspaper article relating to this subject. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Apr/08/sp/sp01a.html
I followed up the telephone call I received from Rick Foster by emailing further communiques to him because, after all, Mr. Foster, as did Jeff Schwartz, first portrayed himself to me as being "genuinely" concerned about putting an end to the spread of misguided pole vault methods that are needlessly causing naive athletes to be killed, paralyzed and otherwise seriously injured.
I never again heard from Mr. Foster since the conclusion of our telephone conversation on Thursday, November 20, 2014. Based upon my own decades of firsthand data, this despicable cowardice is typical behavior of pole vault industrial complex scoundrels.
Although, I began exposing deadly "traditional" pole vault misconceptions decades ago, my warnings and information have been systematically obstructed by unscrupulous athletic "Establishment" profiteers who continue to "rig" the lethal administration of track and field's pole vault for their own gains. BUT, the undeniable TRUTH is, they have never been capable of preventing the real consequences that continue coming to fruition, revealing the extraordinary degree of purposeful negligence being propagated by this group of underhanded track & field industrial complex "profiteers."
Since 1991, my warnings have been quashed and ignored by athletic "Establishment" insiders while they have relentlessly continued negligently promoting deadly pole vault stupidity. While avoiding my simple practical advice, that could have easily prevented countless ongoing pole vault catastrophes, the deceptive underlying purpose of "WARNING" labels pasted on DEADLY UCS SPIRIT flexible "COMPETITION" vaulting poles, has proved to be successful only in assisting the company's evasion of its legal liabilities.
To date, the PRIMARY purpose of vaulting pole "WARNING" labels has proven itself to be the AVOIDANCE of perils to monetary profit rather than focusing on the SAFETY of purposely misinformed pole vault victims. FIRST AND FOREMOST, UCS "WARNINGS" ARE INTENDED TO AVOID LAWSUITS... NOT TO PREVENT LETHAL POLE VAULT INJURIES!
Eleven years prior to the preventable death of 19-year-old Penn State pole vaulter, Kevin Dare, exactly as the deceased's father apparently remains to this day, I was also completely unaware of what is actually going on behind veiled deceptions of USA Track and Field. I was blessed to discover the truth and avoid the same identical fatal perils that also needlessly threatened my own son. Yet, still today, the world remains utterly oblivious to the avoidable disastrous concepts endangering hapless victims of deadly ongoing lies being relentlessly propagated by track and field's ruthless industrial complex racketeers.
More than ten years prior to Kevin Dare's preventable death, which resulted directly from lethal "traditional" UCS pole vault teachings being applied on deadly "UCS Spirit" vaulting poles, we had already begun specifically informing these athletic "Establishment" racketeers that the lethal pole vault misconceptions they promote are DEAD WRONG!
Achieving "AIR STRIKE" pole vault safer solutions resulted soon after our first "WARNINGS" to the athletic "Establishment" insiders. This all began in 1991 when we IDENTIFIED the root causes of preventable pole vault catastrophes. At that time, we commenced by presenting our own deadly facts to athletic equipment manufacturers, coaches and other "traditional" pole vault "experts" who purposefully avoided our evidence that demonstrated WHY they are DEAD WRONG! CLICK HERE to see Chris Toledo's Story for yourself.
Had each and every single documented pole vault victim NOT been attempting NEGLIGENT "traditional" pole vault teachings, NONE of these fatal and catastrophic incidents would have ever resulted as they did. Had our warnings been heeded by the principals involved, all related negligent injurious pole vault incidents could have been prevented after 1991.
In 1962, a pole vault crossbar height of 16 feet was officially exceeded for the first time in sports history. This highly acclaimed feat, once believed to be impossible, was achieved by applying the suddenly popular fiberglass vaulting pole innovation. At the conclusion of 1962, a total of five athletes had vaulted higher than 16 feet using fiberglass vaulting poles.
Thus, these historical circumstances immediately triggered lethally flawed "flexible" vaulting pole assumptions based entirely upon the blatant ignorance of egomaniacal self-proclaimed "experts" dangerously obsessed with crossbar heights rather than correct vaulting technique.
Please, keep in mind, some twenty years prior, Cornelius Warmerdam, vaulting with a crude stick of bamboo, routinely exceeded heights merely a few inches less than 16 feet. Putting this in perspective, Warmerdam's highest official vault, using a previously scrapped stick of stiff bamboo, was only 3.5 inches short of the 16 foot fiberglass pole vault heights of 1962.
By 1962, pompous athletic "Establishment" insiders were already in the process of replacing "true" physics with their own disastrous perverted versions of "make-believe" physics. This malfeasance concocted one of the deadliest flexible vaulting pole fallacies ever introduced by unscrupulous pole vault "experts" early on, which is the senseless concept of applying "full-speed running" to generate flexible pole "load" in order to "force" flexing poles to bend forward.
Our AIR STRIKE "HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION" concepts, we introduced in 1992, are universally applicable to all flexible vaulting poles ever created because our principles are based strictly upon manifest laws of physics, NOT ill-conceived delusions. NOBODY should ever be coached to "run full speed" or "force flexing poles forward." This determination is based on the fact that our AIR STRIKE flexible pole vault system is rooted firmly within definitive "linear elastic behavior" physics principles in which "traditional" methods are NOT.
The opportunity to apply AIR STRIKE flexible pole vault physics extends back more than seven decades, when the very first modern fiberglass vaulting poles, trademarked as "Sky Pole," were introduced. The "Sky Pole" brand name was coined by the pole's inventor, Virgil Jackson, high school athletics coach of sports history's greatest all-around athlete, Bob Mathias. Bob first used Coach Jackson's flexible fiberglass poles "officially" during the National Decathlon Championship in June of 1950.
The primary ill-conceived belief, at the time Bob Mathias was introduced to the first modern fiberglass vaulting poles, was already that "full-speed running" is the key element to achieving "higher" vaults. Therefore, beginning in 1950, based upon the pole vault methods Bob Mathias had already been taught, Mathias was focused ENTIRELY on the strength to weight ratios of his vaulting poles because vaulters were primarily motivated by the desire to apply "lighter" vaulting poles to create faster running speed down the runway.
The fact is, when Bob Mathias applied the first modern fiberglass vaulting poles, manufactured and branded as "Sky Pole" by his coach, Virgil Jackson, there was no consideration given at all to the idea of adjusting vaulting style for the "flexible" poles. Bob Mathias applied his brand new "flexible" poles as "RIGID" implements because, according to Mathias, nobody was fully aware of how to apply the "flexible" capabilities of the poles. Mathias did NOT (nor did anyone else) know how to properly utilize the intrinsic "linear elastic behavior" principles that his newly innovated fiberglass poles were actually capable of providing.
I want to note here, Bob Mathias first used one of Virgil Jackson's EXPERIMENTAL "glass" poles at a Tulare, California, decathlon competition in 1950. Forty-four years later, when I video recorded our interview with Bob in 1994, he recalled that the first fiberglass poles quickly deteriorated and were very dangerous because they broke easily. Many years after the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympic Games, where Bob Mathias applied the first updated versions of "Sky Pole" brand fiberglass vaulting poles, the "experts" finally began realizing archaic "rigid" pole vault methods were NOT efficient when using "flexible" poles. The "traditional" flexible pole vault adaptations subsequently carelessly introduced by the "experts" were lethally miscalculated and have proven DEAD WRONG for all vaulters who've been catastrophically injured attempting their perilous application ever since.
In 1962, when John Uelses became the first athlete to exceed 16 feet applying a fiberglass vaulting pole, the world's top pole vaulters were doing little more than just slightly bending the fiberglass poles they were using. This new generation of "flexible" pole vaulters had now begun perilously mixing archaic "running speed" misconceptions and primitive "rigid" pole vault tactics together while creating entirely misunderstood fundamental processes of "loading" modern-day "flexible" vaulting poles.
Pole vault "experts" started from the beginning with a complete ignorance of basic "linear elastic behavior" principles inherent in fiberglass poles. Thus, obstinate "traditional" ideologues NEVER figured out that the most significant factor, relating to every flexible vaulting pole ever created, is the "stabilization" of bend-leverage. Ultimately, the "experts" proved themselves incapable of ever recognizing how to properly apply leverage to "load" and "cock" flexible vaulting poles. This lethal primitive "traditional" ineptitude continues as the indisputable cause of the vast array of preventable catastrophic suffering by naive pole vault victims.
Every flexible vaulting pole ever produced displays two primary characteristics dictated strictly by the manufacturer of each pole. These two critical characteristics are: POLE LENGTH & POLE TENSION. Properly implemented LEVERAGE principles have always been the key to achieve the safest, easiest, most correct and successful application possible of every "flexible" vaulting pole ever created. The basic lack of thoroughly comprehending these simple physics principles has proven lethal to countless overconfident misinformed pole vaulters. The cavalier "traditional" misunderstanding of "COMPETITION" vaulting pole principles has proven particularly hazardous.
June of 1992, Chris Toledo was documented as the first athlete in pole vault history to properly "LOAD" a FLEXIBLE "COMPETITION" vaulting pole to correctly "COCK" the bent pole vertically end-over-end. This revolutionary process can be performed only by applying the AIR STRIKE system's "HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION" techniques. During those brief moments in 1992, this unique accomplishment finally proved EVERY self-ingratiating "EXPERT" has been spreading completely erroneous pole vault information from the beginning while all of these "experts" are actually thoroughly clueless of the "real" natural physics involved.
Looking back, it is crystal clear that all of the erroneous pole vault information available to me (and everyone else in the early 1960s) was being propagated by so-called "experts" who had no idea of what they were talking about. Our research documentation painstakingly confirms the reprehensible fact that "expert" pole vault propaganda has literally always been promoted primarily for the purpose of SELLING POLES and POLE VAULT EQUIPMENT, not vaulter safety.
As a very self-evident example, the 1960s fiberglass "SKY POLE" was manufactured by the well-respected Browning Arms Company. While promoting the "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole," this influential company published sensationally ridiculous information describing completely bogus "fantasy" physics misrepresentations that we 1960s "useful idiots" naively bought into as factual. Back then, that's what the "experts" told us and, after all, who would dare be audacious enough to question the wisdom of the "status quo" Browning Arms Company which was engaged in manufacturing the world's #1 selling "flexible" vaulting poles?
Today, our decades of documented facts prove the 1960s Browning Arms pole vault teachings to be extraordinarily careless as the company profited from its self-serving promotion of lethal "flexible" vaulting pole propaganda. Our research also exposes exactly how the same deadly negligence is still being perpetrated by every modern vaulting pole manufacturer today. The enduring ill-conceived premise at the center of lethal "traditional" flexible pole vault methods is rooted in primitive 1960s philosophies. "Establishment" deadly teachings are founded entirely upon erroneous "expert" opinions that have been promoted incessantly ever since.
It was in the 1960s when perverse pole vault "experts" first introduced their incredibly misguided fatal opinion that every flexible vaulting pole "stores power on the way up." Please, take a moment to think about that! The fact is, this completely idiotic "expert" assertion flies in the face of "real" physics principles relative to the "linear elastic behavior" inherent in all fiberglass vaulting poles. RECOILING flexible poles are EXPENDING "power," NOT "storing" it. This is the pinnacle of drastic "traditional" propaganda promoting "fantasy physics" concepts that evolved by applying archaic "rigid" pole vault methods to "flexible" vaulting poles.
The "on the way up" portion of the above 1960s quotation also relates to ominous "expert" conclusions formed by applying the same methods to "flexible" poles that had been used for "rigid" pole vaulting. Hence, forcing "flexible" poles straight-forward in the same old ways that had been applied to "rigid" poles caused "experts" to define "on the way up" as an erroneous universal description of the upward movement of all vaulting poles.
When either a "flexible" or "rigid" pole is being forced straight-forward (both poles held with the identical "grip" as the other) the result is that, during those moments the angle is widening between the lower portion of the pole and the horizontal plane on which the pole's bottom tip rests, the angle will be greater for the "flexible" pole. Thus, misguided "experts" have always decided to assume "forcing" flexing poles forward is an advantage based on deadly flawed pole vault illusions derived from both misapplied actual physics and their own make-believe physics.
Decades ago, pole vault "experts" carelessly began muddling "rigid" pole behavior with their own "made-up flexible pole behavior." To this day, negligent "traditional" pole vault "experts" continue propagating the same senseless premise that "forcing" a pivoting bendable lever straight-forward is absolutely proper when, in fact, this is a proven utterly absurd lethal fallacy.
Vaulters in the 1960s were only slightly bending fiberglass poles when it was observed that "flexible" poles produced a modest forward "collapse" of the arc pattern formed by the top ends of "rigid" vaulting poles. Thus, fallacious "expert" conclusions immediately began forming and the unconscionable catastrophic motivation to force "flexible" poles to bend forward was illogically accepted as the right "thing" to do. Ever since then, misguided so-called "experts" have remained focused entirely on re-applying archaic "traditional" pole vault methods to "flexible" vaulting poles based upon ill-conceived primitive "rigid" pole "fulcrum" theory.
Today, primitive "traditional" catastrophic pole vault philosophies continue being negligently promoted by athletic "Establishment" elites whose fatal misconceptions were erroneously formulated decades ago. All of today's deadly "traditional" pole vault concepts are rooted in the very same flawed philosophies to which I was first exposed in the 1960s. The ineptitude of these "experts" had sunk to such an extremely low level that their published instructional information even neglected to factor in the crucial 8 inch gradient decline into the ground of the plant box.
The sample illustrations you see in the animated image shown below are nearly identical depictions to those of the "experts" in the 1960s. Each "GRIP-HAND PATH" illustrated in "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" 1960s comparisons of the "METAL POLE" to the fiberglass "SKY POLE" appear EXACTLY as shown here:
Notice the ground-level pole-tip and exclusion of the plant box in these illustrations.
The deadliest flaws associated with these sketches are rooted in the "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" propaganda that accompanied the manufacturer's original 1960s promotional materials. Browning-Silaflex applied these sketches to irresponsibly promote the lethal philosophy that, "the vaulter's forward momentum is absorbed in the Sky Pole as it bends." The keywords to note here are, "forward momentum." The promoters of "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" started out completely on the WRONG track while NOT recognizing the TRUE physics of their own deadly vaulting poles. Their printed words support the fact that they erroneously focused entirely on "utilization of the power and speed of the vaulter" to flex fiberglass poles while they completely OVERLOOKED how to properly "load" and "cock" flexible competition poles vertically end-over-end.
Since the beginning, exposing their deadly negligence, pole vault "geniuses" have been wallowing in the depths of deception while being predominantly distracted by their reckless obsessions with "new world records, faster approach speeds and higher hand holds." Once you become aware of the real physics of flexible vaulting pole application, you will easily comprehend how academically deficient phony "traditional" pole vault "scholars" actually are.
Throughout the decades, NOTHING HAS CHANGED FOR THE BETTER in track and field's lethal "traditional" pole vault because primitive mythical views do not take into consideration all of the ACTUAL PHYSICS of flexible vaulting poles. Already ignorantly obsessed with "running speed and straight-forward" pole movement, early 1960s pole vault "experts" became distracted primarily focusing on the fact that jarring of the vaulter's hands, arms and shoulders was somewhat reduced by "flexible" poles. As a result, all of the lame-brained "experts" who've followed since then have expended little effort to realize other possibilities for themselves.
In 1992, the revolutionary AIR STRIKE debut of "HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION" proved how "flexible" vaulting poles could have been PROPERLY APPLIED throughout the 42 PRECEDING YEARS since Bob Mathias first used Virgil Jackson's "Sky Pole" brand fiberglass vaulting pole in 1950. Contrary to lethal "traditional" pole vault teachings, our successful 1992 execution of "HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION" confirmed that "flexible" vaulting poles can only function according to manufacturers' design specifications when NOT FORCED TO BEND FORWARD!
Overlaying the "AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path on both primitive "TRADITIONAL" grip-hand paths "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" published in its early 1960s sales materials, the superiority of AIR STRIKE "HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION" is easily visible. As a consequence of forcing the flexible vaulting pole to move straight-forward, the "TRADITIONAL FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path of the "Sky Pole" culminates horizontally, in stark nearly 90 degree contrast to the VERTICAL direction of the "AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path. Contrary to the primitive flexible "Sky Pole" movement rooted in lethal "traditional" vaulting methods, the superior "AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path is produced by allowing flexible poles to immediately bend to the side of the vaulter's forward direction. 1960s archaic "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" misconceptions based on "rigid" pole "arcs" are negligent lethal "traditional" teachings that the "experts" should NEVER have applied to deadly flexible "COMPETITION" vaulting poles.
The little known fact that Coach Virgil Jackson is the actual inventor of the modern fiberglass vaulting pole, is really very well documented. Coach Don Hood, in 1991, sitting on my living room couch in Tulare, California, was the first person to inform me that Coach Jackson (former high school athletic coach of both Bob Mathias and Don Hood) was the inventor of the modern fiberglass vaulting pole. Later, Bob Mathias himself personally informed me of the same.
My favorite book that reiterates Coach Virgil Jackson as the modern fiberglass vaulting pole innovator is "BOB MATHIAS – Champion of Champions," by Jim Scott. The book publisher is Prentice-Hall, Incorporated, New York, printed in 1952. On page 218, referring to the 1952 Summer Olympics, it is stated that Bob Mathias "was using a glass pole invented by Coach Jackson..." (My honored father, Manuel Toledo, is also mentioned in this book.) Aubrey Dooley's THESIS, he composed when applying for his "Degree of Master of Science" at Oklahoma State University in 1966, also substantiates the above facts.
John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) was the son of Jonathan Browning, a Mormon pioneer who established a Ogden, Utah, gunsmith shop in 1852. John M. Browning manufactured his first firearm at age 13 and later established the world renowned Browning Arms Company. Some of Browning's most outstanding firearm designs are the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), the Browning "fifty" caliber machine gun and the Winchester Model 1894.
Ironically, in spite of the millions of "firearms" John M. Browning participated in developing and manufacturing, the MOST LETHAL WEAPON ever produced by the Browning Arms Company is the deadly FIBERGLASS VAULTING POLE. Based on a ratio of individual user application volume, flexible vaulting poles have proven more hazardous and deadlier than any firearm. The flexible vaulting pole's deadly statistics are the needless result of negligent "traditional" lethally flawed pole vault teachings.
As fate would have it, the legacies of John Moses Browning, Bob Mathias, Virgil Jackson and Herb Jenks came together in the early 1960s. More than a decade after Herb Jenks merged his fiberglass manufacturing expertise with the extraordinary ingenuity of Virgil Jackson and the outstanding talent of Bob Mathias, Browning Arms Company became involved in this unique narrative.
By 1963, the Jackson/Mathias modern fiberglass vaulting pole innovation evolved into the "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" upon Herb Jenks' sale of the modern fiberglass vaulting pole concept to the Browning Arms Company. In the early 1960s, Mr. Jenks appeared on national television broadcasts and was featured in well known magazine publications, including Sports Illustrated, promoting the "Sky Pole" brand name. Advocating himself as a premier "flexible pole vault expert," Mr. Jenks was setting the stage for the avoidable lethal consequences that would initiate the plague of preventable deaths and countless catastrophic pole vault injuries to occur throughout the coming decades.
In 1963, fantastically publicized, Herb Jenks appeared on the popular "What's My Line" national television show as "Sky Pole developer and manufacturer." There were also many highly publicized articles relating to "Sky pole," which include a February 26, 1962, related story in this issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. The evidence found in the "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" articles and ads of the early 1960s reveals the absolute source of avoidable pole vault deaths and injuries that have plagued ignorant pole vault victims ever since that time. The illustrations below are reasonable facsimiles based upon "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" drawings of the early 1960s.
First (below), is a GIF animation of "Sky Pole" misinformation depicting the ill-conceived "expert" perspective of the "grip-hand path" applying the original "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole." You will notice that the "TRADITIONAL FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path was actually not accurate as illustrated in the original 1960s ads. The "TRADITIONAL FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path was rigged to appear "smooth" at "strike." That is a false portrayal of something that is absolutely impossible because at the moment of "strike" both the "rigid" and "flexible" pole positions will be exactly the same. Thus, a "TRUE TRADITIONAL FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path is overlaid to show how the original should have been depicted.
You'll also notice, again, the 8 inch gradient decline into the ground of the plant box is excluded. "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" principals intentionally published the erroneous favorable "grip-hand path" for the purpose of increasing their vaulting pole sales while evidencing little, if any, concern for the safety of pole vaulters. The "AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE POLE" grip-hand path shows the correct way to "load" and "cock" flexible vaulting poles. COMPARE the RED grip-hand path with the GREEN.
The deadliest flaw confirmed by 1960s "Browning-Silaflex Sky Pole" illustrations is the academic idiocy of so-called "experts" who believe "flexible" poles should be applied based upon perilous "TRADITIONAL" pole vault principles as displayed here. The permanent lethal result of this athletic "ESTABLISHMENT" flexible pole propaganda (Fig 001 below) is the deadly DIAGONAL ascension of pole vaulters above the runway and plant box.
AIR STRIKE flexible pole methods, teach vaulters to invert past the 90 degree VERTICAL THRESHOLD, safely above the landing mats, as they ascend VERTICALLY. Included below is the "AIR STRIKE RIGID POLE" grip-hand path illustrating the extreme superiority of "rigid" and "flexible" AIR STRIKE methods over primitive lethal "TRADITIONAL" pole vault methods.
READ ON...
Pole vault RIGID "LEVER" physics principles relating to RIGID vaulting contrast vastly with "LEVERAGE" physics principles relating to FLEXIBLE AIR STRIKE pole vault. For example, AIR STRIKE "LEVERAGE" methods intelligently transform FLEXIBLE vaulting poles into vertically "COCKED" TORSION SPRINGS by applying controlled "LEVERAGE" to MANIPULATE FLEXIBLE vaulting poles into desired optimum "RECOIL" positions. Thus, AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE pole vaulting techniques utilize "LEVERAGE" principles that AIR STRIKE RIGID POLE methods DO NOT. There are many critical differences between RIGID "LEVER" physics principles and AIR STRIKE'S FLEXIBLE "LEVERAGE" physics principles.
WARNING: RIGID vaulting poles, by any definition, are simply RIGID LEVERS that DO NOT BEND. You should be aware that all of today's deadly "TRADITIONAL" FLEXIBLE pole vault methods evolved from ill-conceived archaic primitive RIGID pole concepts of the ancient past. DEADLY "TRADITIONAL" FLEXIBLE pole vault teachings advocate "FULL SPEED" approach runs and "poles should be 'PUSHED' to vertical." NEVER APPLY THESE LETHAL "TRADITIONAL" RIGID "LEVER" COACHING MISCONCEPTIONS WHEN ATTEMPTING FULL VAULTS ON DEADLY FLEXIBLE "COMPETITION" POLES!
Metal pole vaulters, Bob Richards ("Wheaties" spokesman) and Don Bragg (metal pole world record holder), made a clearly over confident open offer of $10,000 REWARD to anyone who can vault higher than 15' 9 1/4" using a METAL vaulting pole. This turns out to be a very foolish offer, since our AIR STRIKE RIGID pole vault techniques make it possible for HUNDREDS of athletes to easily WIN the $10,000 challenge applying just a few weeks of proper training! "TRADITIONAL" ill-informed RIGID pole vaulters have always been unwisely coached to foolishly place the lower arm's elbow outside the pole as the vaulter raises the legs which, in turn, destroys proper body motion. Two of the simplest AIR STRIKE RIGID pole vault solutions are, first of all, JUMP in concert with the momentum of the upward moving rigid pole and, secondly, bring the FLEXIBLE arm's elbow to the inside between the athlete's torso and the pole creating proper body inversion.
John Uelses, world's first vaulter to top 16 feet in 1962, using a fiberglass vaulting pole, had accidentally discovered a clue to properly applying flexible vaulting poles. John Uelses was (according to this 2/26/1962 Sports Illustrated article) the only vaulter in the world thought to have "cocked" the flexible pole in reverse more than 50 years ago.
"I found that out by accident," he said. "The pole bent backward once, and I got a good vertical lift from it."
The pathetic reality is that John Uelses' concept was somehow totally ignored by just about EVERYONE else involved with pole vault. John Uelses was simply allowing the bending pole to begin rotating forward sooner by applying old rigid pole handhold positions. This was contrary to the opinions of Aubrey Dooley, Uelses' U.S. Marine coach. Aubrey Dooley was known at the time for pioneering the concept of "pressing" the lower arm into the bending pole at "strike" with the hands far apart.
Thus, the revolutionary life-saving physics observation John Uelses stumbled upon in 1962 remained obscure until we introduced AIR STRIKE HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION 30 years later, in 1992. Our extraordinary AIR STRIKE innovations were made possible by applying UNIFORM SHAFT FLEXIBLE TRAINING POLES in the early 1990s when flexible "COMPETITION" poles were being bent to a much greater degree than any vaulting poles in the 1960s.
It is another little known fact that, also in the early 1960s, the original UNIFORM SHAFT FLEXIBLE TRAINING POLE concept was inadvertently conceived in the form of a commercial "COMPETITION" vaulting pole. It was known as the Thermo-Flex "DIAL-A-POLE" back then. In the early 1960s, I was simply a young gullible high school athlete who had no clue that basic "DIAL-A-POLE" technology would eventually lead to our revolutionary AIR STRIKE innovations.
UNIFORM SHAFT FLEXIBLE TRAINING POLES (manufactured as either fiberglass TUBES or RODS) allow gradual increased and decreased consistent measured pole-BEND according to grip-HEIGHT location. Athletes can begin training on these poles applying AIR STRIKE RIGID pole methods and GRADUALLY TRANSITION to AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE pole methods as the steadily raised grip location increases pole-bend incrementally. One of the most critical aspects to comprehend during the gradual RIGID pole to FLEXIBLE pole "transition" process, is proper positioning of the lower arm's elbow. The measured increased BEND of a uniform flexible shaft produces controlled gradual transitions into the HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION process. Also, when the pole is FLEXED correctly, the vaulter's lower elbow naturally falls into proper pull-over position as the vaulter's body hangs properly suspended from the rotating flexing pole.
DO NOT GET CAUGHT UP in "TRADITIONAL" flexible pole vault ignorance that recommends a flexible "competition" pole's "soft side" can safely be "turned" off-center at "strike." NEVER DO THIS! This athletic "Establishment" theory is DEAD WRONG! The "soft side" is the inside curve of flexible "competition" vaulting poles (engineered to COMPRESS) while the opposite is the "strong side" (engineered to STRETCH). At the moment of "strike" the inside curve of the flexible "competition" vaulting pole must be facing the vaulter on-center, then allow the bending pole to naturally rotate to the side.
AIR STRIKE'S HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION is applied according to pole manufacturer specifications with their so-called "soft side" directly facing the vaulter at "STRIKE" as dictated by the manufacturers' flexible "competition" pole fabrication processes. AIR STRIKE'S HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION begins the instant of "STRIKE" by ALLOWING the flexible "LOADING" pole to NATURALLY BEND TO THE SIDE away from the forward path of the vaulter. We ELIMINATE the DEADLY STUPID "TRADITIONAL" concept of "PUSHING" flexible poles forward.
It is AIR STRIKE'S philosophy that, PRIOR to EVER applying DEADLY FLEXIBLE COMPETITION vaulting poles, athletes must first learn to emulate CORRECTLY executed full vaults low and close to the landing mats by properly incorporating RIGID vaulting poles and UNIFORM SHAFT FLEXIBLE TRAINING POLES. For the sake of both safety and proficiency, the application of RIGID vaulting poles and UNIFORM SHAFT FLEXIBLE TRAINING POLES are the most imperative fundamental training essentials necessary in constructing the rock solid safer application of dangerously misunderstood FLEXIBLE COMPETITION POLES in this needlessly deadly event of track and field.
It is important to accept the reality that true precision pole vault execution is distinctly analogous to successful trampoline execution. As a comparison, the world's best trampolinists consistently perform basic flips while repeatedly applying exactly the same acrobatic form REGARDLESS of the HEIGHT above a trampoline's surface at which these rudimentary actions are executed. For example, whether a front flip is performed 5 feet above the trampoline bed or 20 feet above the trampoline bed, both of these actions, at completely different heights, appear identical to each other. As with successful trampoline proficiency, perfectly executed pole vault skills come to fruition by continually repeating elementary bona fide basic Air Strike pole vault fundamentals CORRECTLY.
During CORRECT execution of Air Strike RIGID pole vault, perfect body and pole form will always look exactly the same REGARDLESS of the RIGID pole's length or location at which the vaulter effectively "grips" any RIGID pole. During CORRECTLY executed Air Strike FLEXIBLE pole vault, perfect body form will always appear exactly the same while the combination of HORIZONTAL FLEXED POLE ROTATION and LEVERAGE ultimately produce the desired BEND of any flexible pole. AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE "COMPETITION" vaulting pole optimum desired outcome is a UNIQUE product of precise vertical end-over-end "cocked" flexed pole position resulting from LEVERAGE the vaulter applies at the flexing pole's safest MAXIMUM "GRIP" LOCATION.
It is physics reality that increasing FLEXIBLE pole vaulting HEIGHTS can ONLY ultimately be achieved via POLE LENGTH and POLE TENSION after perfecting basic AIR STRIKE vaulting technique. Persisting in attempting to PERFECTLY PERFORM ONE rudimentary MASTER SET of AIR STRIKE pole vault essentials creates the CORRECT FORM upon which athletes can continually expand vaulting heights. Executing recurring uniform rudimentary fundamentals produces the most reliable foundation for outstanding FLEXIBLE pole vault results. Air Strike's logical methodology advocates incrementally controlled application of longer vaulting poles by PROPERLY TRAINED vaulters. Intelligently applied Air Strike methods can only IMPROVE safety and participation in this ancient extremely ill-promoted track and field event.
Keep in mind that learning to apply AIR STRIKE pole vault techniques CORRECTLY is paramount to the athlete's safety. The AIR STRIKE FLEXIBLE pole vault objective is to bend properly manipulated FLEXIBLE poles according to their manufacturers' specifications for the purpose of achieving safer consistently accurate pole vault performances.
The video above displays controlled repeatable athletic technique applied to a horizontal spring that consistently launches the trampolinist precisely skyward time after time. The same holds true in pole vault. Applying proper physics principles, springing vertically skyward while inverted on a flexing vaulting pole is as safe and easy as playing basketball.
CAN YOU NOW COMPREHEND HOW HORRIBLY CONTEMPTUOUS THE "TRADITIONAL" POLE VAULT "ESTABLISHMENT" IS? HURTING PEOPLE IN ORDER TO PROFIT FROM THEIR VICTIMIZATION IS WRONG, DOING IT ON PURPOSE IS CRIMINAL!
For the past quarter of a century the athletic "Establishment" has succeeded in purposely suppressing and obstructing "AIR STRIKE" life-saving information from reaching vulnerable naive athletes. After many years away from pole vault, we have returned, more determined than ever, to again expose the plethora of deadly problems caused by "traditional" pole vault teachings for which "AIR STRIKE" produced solutions decades ago. (Click here for "Portable Data File" documentation detailing facts relative to the entire timeline.)
Why is this necessary? The answers begin with the 1992 video frames you see below in which the "AIR STRIKE" FLEXIBLE pole vault technique is being successfully applied on a "competition" pole for the first time. (This is the only video on record.)
JUNE, 1992, when Chris Toledo was documented as the first athlete in pole vault history to "LOAD" and "COCK" a FLEXIBLE vaulting pole according to the pole manufacturer's specifications, by applying "horizontal flexed pole rotation" principles, we DECLARED that "AIR STRIKE" had just made it possible for ALL athletes, including Michael "AIR" Jordan and dozens of other basketball players at the time, to easily perform vaults surpassing 20 feet.
Here's WHY: Pole vault has always been described as a JUMPING event BUT, PRIOR to our revolutionary 1992 "AIR STRIKE" pole vault innovations, it had been IMPOSSIBLE for "AIR" JORDAN, or any other athlete in history, to execute a FREE unobstructed JUMP when flexible pole vaulting. This is substantiated by the documented FACT that ALL standard "traditional" flexible pole vault styles teach foolish concepts that cause preventable injuries and deaths linked directly to ludicrous primitive ill-conceived notions of FULL SPEED APPROACH RUNS & FORCING FLEXING POLES FORWARD.
You can easily see for yourself in the next animated image a 1994 world-class decathlete who is extremely fast and strong. BUT, at the same time, his superman running speed and JUMPING ability accomplishes NO GOOD since he is applying grotesque "TRADITIONAL" pole vault methods. This outstanding athlete proves the point that, no matter how great the athletic ability is, without proper technique, NO GREAT ATHLETE CAN EVER ACHIEVE HIS OR HER POTENTIAL USING DEPRAVED "TRADITIONAL" POLE VAULT METHODS!
Here are the TWO deadliest "traditional" philosophies reiterated in direct quotes sent to me in 2014 by an outraged "Establishment" elite university pole vault coach proclaiming his opinions that: "I believe in 'running faster' and accelerating/attacking the box. Speed matters!!!" & "a pole must be 'PUSHED' towards vertical." This coach's preponderance of unmitigated LETHAL STUPIDITY is why modern pole vault has remained so long in the deadly "dark ages" of athletic history and why it is crucial to FULLY expose the abject morons strangling this event as athletes are being purposely placed in harm's way due to this extreme level of retarded supervisory negligence.
As you can see in the "AIR STRIKE" model below, the VAULTER IS LAUNCHED VERTICALLY BECAUSE the flexible vaulting pole is rotated into bent end-over-end vertical alignment position perpendicular to the horizontal ground plane according to the pole manufacturer's linear directional specifications. ONLY after "cocking" the flexed pole and crossing the "Vertical Threshold," into a location entirely above the landing mats, does the vaulter begin vertical ascension. It's not rocket science, it's simple elementary physics. Every flexible vaulting pole is pre-bent by its manufacturer for the purpose of creating a permanent linear directional behavior which forever after dictates the pole's MOST effective RECOIL application. As illustrated here, AIR STRIKE methods simply properly align recoiling poles to PULL inverted vaulters vertically skyward, after safely passing the plant box, by cooperating with laws of physics intentionally built into every flexible vaulting pole.
Now, let's look at the REAL PHYSICS as to why "great leapers" are easily capable of pole vaulting more than 20 feet vertically into the air applying "AIR STRIKE" pole vault methods. There are many athletes blessed with the talent to accomplish vertical extension apices exceeding 11 feet (as illustrated next) at the moment the pole tip strikes the back wall of the plant box, then proceed to properly "cock" the flexing pole applying "horizontal flexed pole rotation."
Therefore, based on mathematical conclusions of Pythagoras and established physics principles reinforced by Archimedes (more than 2000 years ago) any of these qualified athletes are capable of routinely implementing unprecedented grip-heights of 19 feet on flexible vaulting poles applying AIR STRIKE techniques. On the other hand, AIR STRIKE also avails extraordinary advantages to compact athletes. Smaller (compact) bodies more often provide increased strength to body weight ratios. There are countless compact athletes capable of accelerating to apices upwards of 6 feet above their "grip" positions when launching themselves vertically skyward from properly "cocked" and skillfully maneuvered shorter flexible vaulting poles.
"WITH OR WITHOUT AIR STRIKE SOLUTIONS, LETHAL "TRADITIONAL" POLE VAULT TEACHINGS MUST BE STOPPED!!!
AIR STRIKE UPDATED REVISIONS ARE REQUIRED DUE TO THE PURPOSEFUL NEGLIGENT ELIMINATION OF FLEXIBLE "UNIFORM DIAMETER" POLES THAT ARE CRUCIAL FOR SAFER FLEXIBLE POLE VAULT TRAINING METHODS AND THE WELL BEING OF ATHLETES ATTEMPTING FLEXIBLE POLE VAULT.
CLICK HERE to see Chris Toledo's Story for yourself.
Please go back to the top of this page and carefully review its entirety to see if you have gained a new Air Strike pole vault perspective.