A free helmet for a promise
The Ian Tilmann Foundation was formed in 2006 by Ian's parents, and in memory of Ian who died from traumatic brain injury suffered from a skate boarding accident. The Foundation’s mission is prevention of traumatic brain injury, with focus on skateboarding. their approach is simple and direct…If a skater will promise to wear a helmet they give them one…..FREE. Since 2006 the Foundation has given out over 1,600+ helmets to skaters on the Florida west coast and south Louisiana.This is an incredible idea, and I'm impressed that the Tilmanns have taken this on themselves, but they need help. They raise half the funds for helmets from private donations (both corporate and individuals) and half through skate event productions including amateur, sponsored and soon professional skaters. The program operates both on-line and in six Florida public skate parks. The on-line program allows any skater willing to make a promise to register for a free helmet and have it shipped to them at home for $7.00, OR skaters can register for helmets and pick them up for delivery at a participating skate park.
Can you help them out? They are looking for contributions (it costs about $25 to put a helmet on a kid), volunteers, and groups, companies or philanthropists who will help the program with sustaining funds. In 2008 the Foundation is expanding the helmet program to public skate parks and they plan to place over 2,500 helmets. For more info, check out the Ian Tilmann Foundation website.
- There's also a contest being held this weekend, the Ian Tilmann Memorial Skate Jam, set for Saturday, May 16, 2009 at the Ian Tilmann Skate Park in Safety Harbor, Florida. Here's what they say to expect at the contest:
Open skating starts at 10:00am and Registration starts at 10:30pm and the Skate Contest starts at 11:30am. $5.00 to Compete. Introducing the SUPER GROM JAM for 8 & under. Skate Trophies and prizes for winners and lots of raffle prizes to raise funds for the Helmet for a Promise program.
Comments
That’s awesome.
Wonderful pursuit, anyone know how Ian died? My understanding is that there are very few skateboard deaths each year, and those there are come mostly from being pulled by a car. In the end though, I’d like a helmet but surely cant make this promise without breaking it. Here is a great legal article about skateboarding, pads, skate parks and limiting liability for skateboard injuries:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Flaw.bepress.com%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1108%26context%3Dexpresso&ei=7UMaSLWECYOkoASH9J2uDg&usg=AFQjCNFLJGbBKHNWw-nA69OlP3Wayp-kMw&sig2=_cFurt5WN3_d-NZUIvK1VQ
Read
more knee injurues are formed (PER CAPITA and in numbers) each year from running than skateboarding; about 20 times as many. running is a dangerous recreational activity and should be banned. America is the land of the free; why should an American art be restricted? its un-patriotic.
btw, if you didnt notice any sarcasm, you should be castrated. RIP friend!
Ian Tilmann was longboarding on his favorite street run in Clearwater, Florida. The run is known as Cemetary Hill (there is an old family plot that splits the street). Skaters hit 20-25mph on the run.
Ian hit a street reflecter that set in speed wobble. As he corrected for the wobble he had a wheel bite that threw him forward. His head hit pavemen and fractured the back of his skull.
Ian was in NICU for ten days and died on May 26, 2005. He was 28 years young.
There is only one proven cure for traumatic brain injury…..it’s called PREVENTION.
A7777, obvisouly you are not a parent, but instead all knowing on the important issues and facts of life. you took the time to read the article and yet you felt the need to insult the great work the tilmann parents are doing to channel their greif. put a feather in your cap, but be sure not to take a spill on your board because the cap won’t protect your shallow cranial cavity.
I have two teenage sons who skateboard everyday, the only way they wear a helmet is if they visit a skate park that requires it. It’s great to see younger skaters wearing helmets because their parents make them, but how many skaters over the age of 12 do you see wearing a helmet? No amount of free helmets will change their minds unless the culture of skateboarding as a whole changes. How many times have we gone to a skate competition and the announcer makes fun of the one kid wearing a helmet. The only way this will change is if the culture changes. Besides vert skaters, how many professional skaters do you see wearing helmets? Have you ever seen a professional skate video where the street skaters are wearing helmets? In the minds of many skaters only “posers” wear helmets. It’s a sad mentally but it’s the truth and we can criticize them, criticize parents, but it’s the truth. The only way this will change is if the culture changes; how does that happen? Maybe if the larger more well known venues such as the AST Dew tour requires all their pro skaters wear helmets, making it more acceptable, if the pros begin to wear helmets, if stricter laws are passed requiring helmets, maybe if laws are passed that even privately owned parks require skaters to wear helmets, if somehow helmets become “cool” or if more people heard Ian’s story. I don’t know, I don’t have the answer. All I know is what the skaters tell me and it is not cool to wear a helmet. God bless the Tillmanns for the work they do, only God knows the lives they may have saved.
Do you know how to have fun on your Skateboard?
Sometimes when someone asks you a question, you have to respond with a question right back at them…..If someone asks you in a derogatory way “hey what tricks can YOU do?” ….Try ignoring their question…let your skating do the talking, and ask them “Do you know how to have fun on your Skateboard?”
Skateboarding, in my old as dirt opinion.. should always only be about having fun. I don’t care what kind of skating you’re doing, if you’re having fun, you’re skating….if you are out there trying to impress other skaters with your tricks or teasing other kids for not “Skating as good as you” that’s not all that cool…actually kinda lame …If someone we’re to ask me what I’d like to see in Skateboarding….I would say just go out and have fun…be creative..who cares what other people think…..”who’s more foolish the fool or the fool who follows”??? Go out skate..think of cool tricks or just cruise down the street…..some people might know every tech trick, but they can’t just cruise…if you are skating for the right reasons…you’re having fun, if you’re out there trying to be the best skater with all the sickest tricks and making fun of everyone else in the process…then you’re in it for the wrong reasons and you don’t understand skating for how I think it was meant to be…it’s not a competition when you are out there with your friends….so think about it…do you know how to have fun on your skateboard?…that’s the best trick in your bag if you do.
What a wonderful idea! Nothing gets people’s attention like FREE! Serious injuries can and should be prevented, and laws should be in place to enforce these ideas. This is very creative, and it also spreads safety to the less fortunate communities, where it is needed the most.
Diana – how about we get to make our own decisions? Keep your laws off my body, please. True, certain tricks can cause brain injury. Riding 25 down a hill is one of them. Vert skating is another.
The way I skate, with my old bones and brittle back, is very calm. I only do tricks I am comfortable with, and I push myself very minimally. At 3 miles per hour, jumping a few feet in the air is no more dangerous than walking across a street or walking over a patch of ice. I am simply not at a great risk of head injury. Wrists, knees, ankles, and skin are certainly at risk, but my head…nope.
I said before, I’d love a free helmet but I cant live up to the promise. This got me to thinking – maybe, just maybe, the fact that only 1600 helmets have been given away speaks directly to the honesty of skaters in america. If they are really the lying, stealing, punk-ass criminals everyone makes them out to be, then why wouldn’t they all lie and get the free helmet, maybe sell it, maybe burn it, who knows. Point is they could, easily, and all they would suffer is the pain of telling a lie. But they don’t. I am taking that as proof that skaters are not what they are made out to be.
It is sad that someone died skateboarding. It is sad that people die in cars each day. It is sad that people die from cancer, from plane crashes, from walking down the street, from slipping in the bathtub, from tennis, hockey, basketball, baseball, from anything, especially when they are young. But let’s not use our emotions to cloud our judgment. The day you are required to wear a helmet to drive to the store and take a shower is the day I will accept a law that tells me how to ride my skateboard.
I think there is something to be said about promoting safety but generally agree with t-rad- i think its a bit extreme to pass laws to regulate skate parks.
I attended this past Saturday with my kids and a few of their friends. We had a great time; the Tilmanns are wonderful people who have left a lasting legacy in honor of their son Ian. It was a great turnout with almost 80 skaters! A great time, the contest was fun to watch. They really do give out helmets, nice ones too. It is so good to see the young kids wearing them. There will always be people with a negative attitude towards helmets, old dudes that want to think they are living their ““rebellious” youth, without their helmets. Whatever, it’s their choice, it was just good to see that wearing a helmet is beginning to be accepted and if a free helmet and the promise to wear one saves just ONE life, then it’s well worth it. Don’t criticize, do what you want, that’s the beauty of skateboarding, just please don’t criticize a kid that accepts a free helmet and promises to wear it, because that helmet may really save that kids life.
I think this was a horable acident. This should make a big impact on the world to wear more helmets when doing extreme sports like:
Skateboarding, skating, snowboarding, or bmxing. This will truly change the world.
I feel obliged to respond to Diana. In her words:
Post 1 – “The only way this will change is if the culture changes; how does that happen? . . . if stricter laws are passed requiring helmets, maybe if laws are passed that even privately owned parks require skaters to wear helmets.”
Post 2 – “There will always be people with a negative attitude towards helmets, old dudes that want to think they are living their ““rebellious” youth, without their helmets. Whatever, it’s their choice”
Clearly she is attacking me, as an old dude, in post 2. Whatever. I can take it.
What I cannot take is her internal contradiction – she rides away acting as if she only wants people to do as they wish, while promoting laws requiring helmets. I don’t think I need to explain the contradiction. I just hope she doesn’t go to sleep at night thinking she is a supporter of free choice as she drags her children to city counsel meetings to implement helmet laws. Fact is, Diana is acting like she is everyone’s mom, not just her own childrens’. I have a mom to deal with, I don’t need 500,000 more backed by the power of the state.