When “REAL SPORTS” first visited the PBR’s Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) in 2009, the debate over requiring riders to wear helmets to help prevent concussions and other traumatic brain injuries was heating up. In January this year, correspondent Jon Frankel visited the 2014 BFTS season opener in New York City, which featured the world’s Top 35 bull riders. “REAL SPORTS” and its cameras captured a progressed PBR in which most of the top riders have traded in their cowboy hats for helmets and new riders are required to wear them.
Bull riding is a very raw, gritty, dangerous sport, often referred to as “the toughest sport on dirt.”
“The safety of our riders is very important to the PBR. We will never stop looking for ways to improve our present methods of protection or to develop new devices to protect the sports’ athletes,” said PBR Chairman and CEO Jim Haworth. “Making this sport as safe as possible for these men is one of our main priorities”
All riders under the age of 18 as of Oct. 15, 1996, are required to wear helmets.
Pads have been added to the chute doors to lessen head injuries to the riders as they prepare to ride.
As technology advances, so does the PBR’s safety practices. Riders who sustain concussions must go through a three-part examination before they are allowed to return to competition. The assessment involves computerized cognitive function testing and computerized balance testing, as well as a clinical evaluation by a physician. All results are compared to the riders’ baseline score – their scores before the concussion. They are not released to compete until they have met their baseline.
Cody Lambert, co-founder of the PBR and its livestock director, developed the vest the bull riders wear during competition. The vest offers some protection during impact and helps prevent serious cuts and contusions from bulls’ horns and hooves.
The PBR is the only Western sports tour that travels with its own sports medicine team consisting of a doctor and three certified athletic trainers. The trainers are certified through the National Athletic Trainers Association, the same association that MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL use. Also, in each city a local EMT crew is on site as an additional part of the sports medicine team.
To watch the “REAL SPORTS” feature, tune-in to its networks on the dates and times listed below.
Other HBO playdates: March 28 (9:30 a.m., 5:00 p.m.) and 29 (10:45 a.m., 12:45 a.m.) and April 3 (1:30 p.m., 8:00 p.m.), 6 (9:30 a.m.) and 9 (7:00 p.m., 1:30 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: March 27 (5:15 p.m., 8:30 p.m.) and 31 (3:15 p.m., 1:00 a.m.) and April 2 (7:00 a.m.) and 13 (3:15 p.m., 11:00 p.m.)
HBO On Demand® availability:March 26-April 14.
Courtesy PBR Media
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