Was the coach serious?

[sd9066]

My daughter was a level 9/10 gymnast - for various reasons (1)back to back to back to back to back (!!) injuries during the recruiting period 2) desire to go to the best academic school she could get into 3) limited number of schools with gymnastics programs AND her major) she did not pursue the sport in college.

She got into her top choice (Big 10) school...and planned to do club gymnastics but has always wanted to pursue pole vaulting. We had heard that PV coaches LOVE gymnasts - speed, body awareness, flexibility, agility, upper body strenth, lack of fear, etc...She contacted the head coach to see if there was any possibility to train. He passed her email on to the PV coach who contacted her immediately and told her to come see him when she got settled in school...

She is elated.

Could he be just humoring her? What are the chances? Wouldn't his roster be full? Can they train someone not on the roster? I'm guessing he wants to size her up?? or is he humoring her saying yes because it is easier than saying no...?

She is not expecting that she will compete her first or even her second year - she just wants a chance to train and see if it is something can do.

Again just not sure if he is humoring her or if there is a chance...Thoughts?

[dj]

hye

a proven high level athlete is always worth a look and the skills in pole vaulting will not be anything that a level 10 gymnasts' "muscles" have not been asked to do.

Youtube Chloe' Henry..

Level 10 gymnast that took up vaulting.. in the first couple of years she jump 4 meters. Last season with some "run" training and continued vault training, she has jumped 4.30 this spring/summer and may jump higher in the next couple of months..

Good luck.. she should find it fun.. and exciting and challenging'

dj

[VaultMarq26]

It depends on the school if she will get a chance to compete. Some schools in the big ten field larger teams and only allow small teams to travel.

It generally doesn't cost much to take a good athlete and see how they can progress in practice.

If they don't think that she could score at conference by junior or senior year, they likely won't keep here around. If they see potential, she will get an opportunity

[rainbowgirl28]

Could he be just humoring her? What are the chances? Wouldn't his roster be full? Can they train someone not on the roster? I'm guessing he wants to size her up?? or is he humoring her saying yes because it is easier than saying no...?

She is not expecting that she will compete her first or even her second year - she just wants a chance to train and see if it is something can do.

I don't think he would say that unless he was serious. His roster would not necessarily be full, at many schools it is fairly easy to add girl walk-ons. She will not be able to practice with the team unless she has her physical and paperwork all in order. You basically do have to be on the roster to practice, though not all schools publish their full rosters on their website, they might exclude redshirting athletes, for example.

I am a little concerned you guys aren't getting all the information you need. She will need to contact NCAA Clearinghouse and get everything approved with them before she even gets to college. Won't be an issue for her, but it's a thing to do, and you can do it now.

As I mentioned above, she also needs a physical. Major DI schools always do these physicals themselves, and sometimes they take place a few days before classes start. This isn't just a token visit to the doctor, these are all day (or multi-day) affairs that involve going through lots of different stations where they test everything imaginable. At least that was my experience having them done at two different DI schools.

If you are close enough to make a trip up to the school before things start, I highly recommend that. Sometimes pole vault coaches are just volunteers and may not be in full communication with the head coach. Whether you can visit in person or not, a conversation with the head coach to make sure paperwork and such is in order before she gets there is a good place to start.

Finally, she needs to start running. I was a gymnast my whole life through high school. Gymnasts think they are in good cardiovascular shape, but they are not, at least not the kind of shape you need for fall track training at a DI college. I would talk to the PV coach and see what he recommends as far as getting ready workouts, but in the meantime, anything is better than nothing.

Some gymnasts make fantastic pole vaulters and for some it never works out. If she ends up having good sprinting speed down the runway, and can learn how to plant the pole with confidence, she will probably pick up the event quickly.

If the track thing does work out, she would be pretty limited as to how much she is able to practice with the club gymnastics team (if at all). During fall training you are looking at track workouts 5-6 days a week and weight lifting workouts 2-3 days per week and often gymnastics workouts as well. It's often two practices a day (though they may be back to back) and there's not a lot of time/energy leftover to pursue other athletic endeavors.

Best of luck! I hope she is able to give it a shot and that she enjoys pole vaulting

[sd9066]

Rainbowgirl28 - Thanks for your detailed response! This whole thing was very spur of the moment - she so identifies herself as an athlete she is a bit lost. She actually is mostly through the NCAA clearing house process. I think all we needed to do was submit her final transcript. She has been running and doing gymnastics 3x a week this summer. Her vault run was the fastest on her club team so she has good speed. She isn't one of the spidery gymnasts - she is super fit - even better, she is one of those really coachable kids - ha ha or so I have been told. If she has any hope of competing in PV she will give up club gym.

[VaultPurple]

You will rarely ever find a pole vault coach that will turn down an athletic female athlete, gymnast or not. No programs I know of have roster caps for their female sports, they love using track to balance out with football. And every coach has seen girls like Isinbayeva and Feofanova who switched from gymnastics to pole vault and did great right away. Then a girl like Jenn Suhr who did not pole vault till senior year of college and went 15' right away. Or Kat Majester who recently picked up the sport and finished top five at Trials. All coaches want that girl, so when she shows up and wants to be on the team instead of him having to find here he will be very happy.

[rainbowgirl28]

No programs I know of have roster caps for their female sports, they love using track to balance out with football.

There are definitely programs with roster caps for females... or if not roster caps per se, they are very picky about who they allow on the team

But it is MUCH easier for a female to walk-on than a male, and a coach is much more likely to take a chance on a newbie female vaulter. That is basically unheard of on the men's side, unless they are making them a decathlete.

[altius]

You need to make sure any college coach you consider is really serious about taking an absolute beginner - and CAN actually TEACH the event.

[VaultMarq26]

You need to make sure any college coach you consider is really serious about taking an absolute beginner - and CAN actually TEACH the event.

I know of the coaches of many of the big 10 schools that have pole vault.

They all are pretty quality coaches.

[fishman4god]

Well the girls coach at UF Christian Leeuwenburgh (volunteer) has a freshman (last year) girl that was a level 10 gymnast that he has been coaching (she jumped a little in high school). She did not get to travel but he has her on the roster on their site and she jumped with our club this summer. So yeah defenitely it can happen. I asked her what was the hardest thing about switching to a D1 track program and I quote" I have never run so much in my life,that was really hard to get used to". Now with that being said defenitely run.....alot, is good advice along with all the other suggestions. Best wises in her coming pursuit!

[VaultPurple]

You need to make sure any college coach you consider is really serious about taking an absolute beginner - and CAN actually TEACH the event.

Not really. She chose the school for the school and then asked if she could try to pole vault. They said yes and she should give it a shot. Time will tell how things work out, but she should go into things trusting the coach 100% no matter what anyone else in the pole vault community says. She is going to this school regardless, so if the coach says they can jump then welcome to the pole vault community.

[altius]

Sorry - in a rush - did not catch the fact that the school was already settled. But just for interest - can anyone let us know what the best male and female vaulters were in all the Big Ten schools were last year??