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If you have a 210 pound pole, please contact me. I have a 14-200 but this kid is about 208 and the stupid weight rule forces him to a bigger pole (or maybe the rule will force him out of vaulting altogether). Still, trying to help the boy out, at a neighboring school. Can trade or buy outright.
Thank you!

I get it the weight rule exists - but there are not to many dudes who can jump on 200lb pole. Safety and what is in the best interest for the the athlete are important - and you as the coach needs to recognize that - I'm stating right here and now - Lie about his weight - find a pole that he can use



but also

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=64715

The weight label will not keep a kid from breaking a pole! bad form and coaching will. get rid of the weight label rule for high school or give a test option for coaches who can recognize when a jumper is reaching the limit of the pole...... and make coaches who are clueless abide by the rule. I hate this rule and I hate to have to be a rule breaker when i dont have the pole or any poles for a kid who is big. I hate seeing jumpers be limited by the fact that most high schools can not afford to by an $800 pole for a once in a decade if your lucky or rather unlucky kid.
Good luck finding a pole that big I had this problem a few years ago and had to use a longer under the jumpers weight pole and that was at a state comp. Call your universities......they are your best option for coming up with something that will work for your jumper....be warned you may be looking at a longer pole that is underweight. Better this then not jumping at all.
I feel your pain!

Thank you both - we are definitely in agreement that the weight rule is a bad one, but one we are forced to live with.

My argument is that:
1) If a kid can safely jump on a pole slightly under his body weight, say 160 pound kid jumping on a 155 pole, that is the coaches decision.
-- It won't lift him as high, but he can be safe.
2) The rule - FORCES a kid onto a pole he isn't safe on and ACTIVELY CREATES A LIABILITY situation because he wouldn't jump on that pole otherwise.
3) The manufacturer won't warranty a pole for that weight - because it is just a guide. Yet idiots created a rule so they can sell more poles.
4) This has created catastrophic weight-obsession problems with the girls and has resulted in eating disorders, use of diet pills, and other unhealthy habits that are so harmful to kids I can't believe they do this to High School kids.
5) It is completely backwards anyways in that the bulk of PV injuries come from kids coming down in the box. A tiny percentage is because they overshoot the pits. It needs to be up to the coach, not the rules committee.
6) In Maryland and Virginia they put kids on the scale, and I've witnessed (repeatedly) kids from all over (all schools), starving themselves, not eating, using laxatives, and other methods to "make weight".
-- Because they weigh the kids, can't lie about it. NFHS rules say the coach should certify the kids are on the right poles, but VA and MD added a rule forcing kids on the scale.
Dumb & dumber.
7) Nobody considers that a kid is holding 12' on a 14' pole and the way that changes the weight rating. They never consider reality.
8) The end result is - fewer and fewer kids are pole vaulting because they can't be "legal" on the pole.

Bottom line, the only 210 pole I have is a 5.20m (17') pole and no way is this kid going to do anything but stick vault on it.
-- footnote, he jumps well on the 13'190, clearing about 13'6" - he is just a big kid.
Thanks guys! Keep up the good work.

Update: the kid quit because there was no pole he could legally jump on and there is no provision in the rules to allow any flexibility.

Several of his friends quit too. They will all go play Lacrosse instead.

Weight rule hurts the event, drives kids away. Sad to see,

My 6'5" son has several 200+ poles from his college days (up through 2009). Unfortunately, they are in the 16' to 16.5' lengths but they would be "legal" for your purposes. They are in decent condition. He would probably part with them. They are in San Diego. E-mail him at lvotapka100@gmail.com.

BTW, the same thing happened to my son at the 2005 CA State meet. When he checked-in, the official told him he was overweight at 203 for his 200 pole (biggest pole in his bag thanks to a loan from Ty Harvey no less, a week earlier). The official had him run two laps reweighted him and declared him legal. He had to compete that day on a new pole he had literally only jumped on maybe 2-3 times before that day with no access to any of his "lead-up" poles. I thought he would NH but he ended up clearing two heights. A lot of stress on a 17 year old at the biggest meet of his life at that time, but he came through. I was very proud of him that day.