Will Baseball, Softball, Little League's Adopt New Sports Injury Prevention Device?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sacramento, California, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) September 2, 2010 -- (SACRAMENTO, CA) Baseball has always been a dangerous sport. The most obvious danger is a rock hard baseball being hurled in the direction of a largely unprotected human body at close to 100 mph. The batter swings a heavy wooden club or metal bat that can rifle the ball back at twice that speed. The players wear spikes on their feet and slide into fixed bases that can break ankles. And in the outfield, a solid wall awaits to do bodily damage to the unwary.

To combat these inherent dangers, baseball rules at every level--from major league baseball, to high school, and Little League--have changed over the years in order to try and protect players from the dangers that baseball presents. Batting helmets were created to protect the head, breakaway bases now exist to protect the legs, and there are dirt tracks to give players warning that collision is imminent.

But a significant problem remains with the outfield wall in that it still remains a source of injury and in rare cases even death if the collision with the outfield fence is hard enough. Warning tracks are a nice innovation, but as one works their way down the lower levels of baseball—the high school, junior high school, Little League and other youth leagues warning tracks become less and less common. And, even where they do exist, there is still nothing to prevent a young baseball player from a dangerous headfirst collision.

Now, however, the dangerous of serious injury from an outfield fence collision may have been greatly reduced. A Sacramento, California man has invented a unique sports device which may prove to reduce sports-related injuries during baseball, softball, and Little League games. The sports device, called a “SportaFence” by its inventor, is a portable outfield fence that actually “gives” when a player makes contact with it. As a result, warning track or not, the risk of being severely injured by running into the outfield fence are significantly reduced. The SportaFence—which has already made its national debut on ESPN—may be destined to change the face of sports and sporting events on several fronts.

The SportaFence was originally designed to allow single-use athletic fields (a field only designed for baseball or football for example) to become a multi-use sports facility in a matter of minutes. But it quickly became apparent that there were additional benefits to the design—increasing safety by reducing the risk of injury being one of the major advantages.

“I originally created the SportaFence to allow athletic facilities and recreation and parks districts with synthetic surfaces or artificial grass to have a realistic outfield fence for baseball or softball games,” says Gary Siewert, inventor of the SportaFence. “Baseball and softball fields with artificial grass or synthetic surfaces can't have post driven through them to erect a traditional outfield fence, and the other temporary fence designs that were out there were simply inadequate and unsafe. So I found myself having the opportunity to design something that would not only increase the efficiency of sports fields but also something that would help limit baseball and softball injuries.”

Creating a new outfield fence design was not something new for Siewert. He is the co-owner of S&S Fence Company, Inc. (www.fencing-contractors.com), a leading Sacramento, California-based fence company, and designing custom fences for special needs is a part of the job. So when a local director of a softball field complex with an artificial surface approached S&S Fence with a unique softball outfield fence request that did not exist on the market, Siewert was up for the challenge.

“The design specs called for a softball outfield fence that was sturdy and strong enough to withstand impacts, was easy and fast to erect, could easily be moved from field to field, and was durable enough to last,” explains Siewert. “And most importantly it could not damage the newly installed synthetic sports field. Nothing on the market really fit those criteria, so we were going to have to design and manufacture the outfield fence ourselves. Fortunately, we do a lot of sports fencing projects like baseball and softball diamonds so I did have a good feel for what was needed.”

A life-long baseball and softball player himself, Siewert put pen to paper and then began to develop a new outfield fence design that had never been seen before in the history of the sport. The result was the SportaFence. The basic design of the SportaFence is a panel unit made of a sturdy metal frame 10 feet long and 5 feet high, with chain link fence fabric attached to the side facing the playing field (according to Siewert, the 5' X 10' panel unit dimensions can be manufactured in different heights and lengths depending on the need of the user). The panel unit has a bracing system so it can withstand impacts and a unique wheel system so that the panels can quickly and easily be moved on or off the softball field. When in place, the SportaFence panel units interconnect to form a unified singular outfield fence that looks very much like a traditional outfield fence with posts driven into the ground.

“When the SportaFence panel units are connected, the fence is amazingly strong because it acts like one long arched outfield fence virtually indistinguishable from a traditional outfield fence in terms of function,” Siewert notes regarding the remarkable strength of the SportaFence and its ability to take hard impacts and remain standing. “You can't knock it down and it can take the force of a player running into it without damaging the fence. The arch makes it very strong, but the interlocking panel units creates a “give” effect when there is a collision because it moves just enough when there is impact, but hold it's form and doesn't break As baseball, softball, and Little League officials become aware of the built-in safety of the SportaFence they will be amazed at the reduced risk of injury”

The “give” effect can easily be seen when the SportaFence is in place. At the Woodland, California sports complex facility where the first SportaFence was installed, Siewert's son Paul Siewert begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting demonstrates this by making contact with the SportaFence. A husky 240 lb baseball player, Paul Siewert runs and jumps into the fence full force while catching a fly ball. The SportaFence easily takes the force of the collision, and the younger Siewert bounces off the outfield fence unscathed. “I've injured myself before colliding with outfield fences while playing the outfield,” remarks Paul Siewert, “but I really don't see how you could get badly hurt with the SportaFence. It gives you a lot more confidence when you know you're getting close to the fence. I know I can be a lot more aggressive and not worry so much about getting hurt when going after the baseball.”

In addition to being safer, the SportaFence is also portable--the primary purpose for which it was originally designed. It is a fascinating sight to watch and see just how quickly the SportaFence can be removed from one field, and erected on another. Workers at the sports facility move several panel units at a time using a small electric utility cart to tow the units. The entire SportaFence was moved from one field to another in the space of an hour, transforming the softball field into a soccer field in a matter of minutes.

“The wheel system moves up and down, raising the fence panel off of the ground for easy transport, and lowering down again when in place. This prevents damage to the playing surface and allows an entire outfield fence to be put into place in a very short period of time,” Siewert says regarding his patent pending design. “As a result, a sports field could literally host a football or soccer game in the morning, and then serve as a baseball or softball diamond in the afternoon. And it works just as well on a grass field as a synthetic or artificial turf field. This means that a single sports field can serve the purpose of several, which means equal access to athletics for everyone. A city, school district or recreation and parks district with limited funds can now offer sports programs for all ages and genders without having to spend a fortune.”

The SportaFence website, which can be found at www.sportafence.com, shows how the outfield fence works and just how quickly the SportaFence can be moved.

The SportaFence was an immediate hit and worked as advertized. The new portable outfield outfield fence concept was so popular, in fact, that Siewert created a separate company to begin manufacturing the device. One of the first sales was to the Amateur Softball Association headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the SportaFence made its national debut on ESPN during the women's collegiate softball tournament.

In addition to the cost savings by enabling sports-minded groups to get the maximum use out of their sports fields, the SportaFence may save money in another arena: the cost of liability insurance and judgments from lawsuits as a result of injury.

“We would like to get a study showing just how safe the SportaFence is versus other types of outfield fences out there—especially permanent structures,” says Siewert in closing. “I am willing to bet that the risk of injury is significantly lowered with the SportaFence, and I can see the day when our invention becomes commonplace on baseball fields and sports injuries from outfield fence collisions becomes a thing of the past. That's my hope anyway.”

More information can be found online at http://www.sportafence.com

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