Sprinter hit with hammer at practice.

It was Indiana State University, don't let your teammates post about it on social media if you don't want people to know.

There isn't "training blocks", the team generally trains together everyday. In this particular case the thrower isn't even on the team anymore, he was training post collegiate, and throwing from the discus cage. No doors, more like a backstop for softball. I wish there were blocks of time set aside for certain events, "especially when training post collegiate" but we don't operate that way. I'll agree that the thrower shared responsibility, but the bulk has to fall on the coaches shoulders. The coach made a poor decision, ignored everyone else's safety and someone was hurt bad.

The good news is that it looks like he's not going to be paralyzed. It broke some vertebrae but the cord seems to be O.K. He's still got a long road to recovery, broke ribs, scapula and a punctured lung etc... What's it going to take before those big cages are mandatory? Someone dying?

Witnessed wrote:

What's it going to take before those big cages are mandatory? Someone dying?

And when are runners going to be banned from running on the street where they are more likely to be hit by a car??!!

You cannot legislate safety. The pole vault world has tried this many times and all it has accomplished is the slow decline (and in some cases elimination) of the event at the high school level due to increased equipment budgets.

We need to educate and stay vigilant in our focus on safety. Athletics doesn't happen in a bubble.

Yes, and vaulters don't land in sawdust anymore. If hammers were landing on the baseball practice field something would be done about it immediately. You can legislate safety. OSHA exists for this reason. In fact safety needs to be legislated, because without legislation we'll always take the cheapest route. It's a shame that safety legislation is needed, but we tend to care about our budgets more than others safety.

PoisonIvy wrote:

Witnessed wrote:

What's it going to take before those big cages are mandatory? Someone dying?

And when are runners going to be banned from running on the street where they are more likely to be hit by a car??!!

You cannot legislate safety. The pole vault world has tried this many times and all it has accomplished is the slow decline (and in some cases elimination) of the event at the high school level due to increased equipment budgets.

We need to educate and stay vigilant in our focus on safety. Athletics doesn't happen in a bubble.

Mandate international cage wrote:

I'm not going to sell the team out, but were a mid major, and pretty good compared with our peers. Why doesn't the ncaa mandate safety measures? It's ridiculous to have to avoid being maimed at practice.

The real problem here is your idiot coach(es) for allowing hammer throwers and other athletes to practice at the same time. I've never been to a meet when the hammer is thrown during running events. Never. So why do it at practice?

dangerous javelin wrote:

A javelin struck an official in the northeast:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/field-judge-at-ramapo-college-track-meet-injured-by-javelin-throw-1.1302879

No.. Jersey is not the Northeast, we want nothing to do with that garbage smelling state. Jersey is the "mid-atlantic."

Sincerely,

Northeast Me.

I took my kids to a track meet this weekend, Junior college invitational. On the end of the track where fans walk around a small 3-4' high fence to get to the stands there was an area where dudes were throwing shot put. Huge oversight not to see that the ball or whatever it is called could clear this little fence and slam a person in the head, most likely with the trajectory, a child. I suppose I should email the sports administrator or the dean.

'Merica! wrote:

I was thinking how can a hammer land on the track? I can not believe the facility allows people to throw hammer without a cage.

^^THIS^^

I actually thought this was a troll attempt, but after a quick google search I found the following:

Reporter killed at 1986 NCAA DII championships:

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-24/sports/sp-7608_1_hammer

Track official at Ithaca College in 2014 indoor weight throw:

Article also mentions a 30+ year old hammer throw incident

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2014/12/10/cornell-track-field-death/20218737/

Athlete survived a 2009 hammer incident:

http://www.daily49er.com/uncategorized/2009/05/26/field-accident-nearly-takes-athletes-life-2/#sthash.cOfAq6Xi.dpbs

It's a real issue. Even waiting until the lane is clear isn't enough. Those things break all the time. We've all been at a meet where a swivel has broke and the ball went off in a strange direction. Throwing without a cage is just plain stupid. I'd own the university if I were the kid.

RunCogRun wrote:

I actually thought this was a troll attempt, but after a quick google search I found the following:

Reporter killed at 1986 NCAA DII championships:

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-24/sports/sp-7608_1_hammer

Track official at Ithaca College in 2014 indoor weight throw:

Article also mentions a 30+ year old hammer throw incident

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2014/12/10/cornell-track-field-death/20218737/

Athlete survived a 2009 hammer incident:

http://www.daily49er.com/uncategorized/2009/05/26/field-accident-nearly-takes-athletes-life-2/#sthash.cOfAq6Xi.dpbs

Concerned Fan wrote:

It's not the throwers fault either. Even if it was clear when he was winding up, people are running around the track and unfortunate timing caused this.

Coaches need to take a more serious look at risk management. Have a separate throws practice with a closed track.

This seems to be the most common sense approach. Our HS built a brand new stadium within the last several years and the throws area is removed from the track and football field. Though I wish they could throw on the field during meets so spectators can watch (with appropriate nets and coordination of course), no one has to worry about being killed while running on the track during practice. That is on the coaches.

They really need a surface-to-air missile system to shoot down the hammer if it goes outside the designated area.

Mandate international cage wrote:

I'm not going to sell the team out

This is the kind of attitude that gets people killed. No need to tell the internet, but you'd better tell somebody, and keep at it until this gets fixed.

Even more functional wrote:

Javelin > newspaper

Shot put > bag of sand

Hammer > tv set or computer

Bad Wigins wrote:

Yes, it would be pretty stupid to throw newspapers and tv's. Sandbags might be interesting.

But the basic projectile for most people is the ball. Not cannonball, but a for-throwing ball, of which the best is probably the baseball.

Javelin > frisbee

Shot put > bag of sand

Hammer > truck tire

I'm pretty sure the athlete can't sue the school. Don't they sign a waiver saying they take responsibility for any injuries that occur during practice?

[quote]Ithaca wrote:

It's a real issue. Even waiting until the lane is clear isn't enough. Those things break all the time. We've all been at a meet where a swivel has broke and the ball went off in a strange direction. Throwing without a cage is just plain stupid. I'd own the university if I were the kid.

[quote]

T H I S wrote:

'Merica! wrote:

I was thinking how can a hammer land on the track? I can not believe the facility allows people to throw hammer without a cage.

^^THIS^^

I went to a school that had a cage around the hammer and yet still the hammer could land on the track. With good enough hammer throwers, it's definitely possible. If it comes off the throwers hands wrong, it can just miss the cage and land in middle or so of the home stretch.

Indiana State has had good throwers in the past, and apparently the thrower had graduated and is still practicing. So the thrower is probably very good and has the potential to launch a hammer onto the track.

Happened at Temple as well and ruined the career of a talented runner.

I don't think that applies. This isn't a pulled hamstring. You can't have the team sign waivers and then avoid basic safety precautions.

Not an attorney wrote:

I'm pretty sure the athlete can't sue the school. Don't they sign a waiver saying they take responsibility for any injuries that occur during practice?

A proper throwing cage that has been set up correctly is designed to only permit throws to leave the cage such that the hammer can only land within a certain triangular area on the infield (an area a bit wider than the area physically marked with white lines).

There is NO way that an athlete, no matter how 'good' he is can throw outside of this area and onto the track unless he breaks the WR by about 30m and throws over the grass entirely.

There is also no danger of the hammer going over the top of the cage as they are designed to be a height that prevents that. Please watch this video from the World University Games 2013 to remind yourself of the size of the cage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6UwokP8BEg

As for the person that said they have never been to a meet where they throw the hammer at the same time as running track; you can't have been to many meets. They even do so at many international competitions.