Help, VERY new to pole vaulting, bending my second week....

[SRpolevaulter]

and i really need some tips. It's my second week and I hit 8ft so my coach decided to get me bending and my first attempts weren't very pretty. I really need some pointers and one more thing if anyone has some tips on how to rotate correctly on straightpole I would really appriciate it. I'm really struggling with rotating around and cleared 8ft without rotating a smidge but I know it's gonna be a problem later on. All help is appricated!

and If this has any bearing on it I'm a girl I'm about 5'6" wiegh 114 lbs. right now im on a UCS spirit 11'6" 120lbs. pole and the bend is 29.8... i think

[rainbowgirl28]

When you say rotating, do you mean turning over the bar? Like you went over 8' backward? That's pretty common for beginners.

[altius]

Just stop trying to bend the pole!!!!

[Andy_C]

Hi

Try not to bend the pole, this will always cause beginners to do some very bad things technically. Remember this is 'pole vaulting' and not 'pole bending'!

The best way to "learn" the bend is to actually keep vaulting on stiff poles while gradually increasing your grip as you get better. The pole will eventually bend as you grip higher and higher. Fundamentally, you should not do anything differently to a bending pole than you would on a straight pole. Of course it's going to feel different and things with the pole will happen differently but you shouldn't be trying to do anything different!

The best thing you can do right now is raise your grip on your pole by improving your technique on the ground (run, plant and take off). When you jump comfortably and become confident at a certain grip, raise the grip. Eventually the pole will just bend on it's own once you reach a certain grip.

To make an analogy, it's best not to throw yourself into the deep end of the pool by just picking up a pole and trying to bend it. Be comfortable at the shallower end first before you go into the deep end. Your technique for swimming should not be any different between the shallow end and the deep end! But if you take a beginner swimmer and throw them in the deep end, it makes learning good technique VERY difficult because the first thing they'll do is the wrong thing - splash around and struggle! Same with the pole vault, the first thing you do when TRYING to bend the pole will almost inevitably be wrong. This is because the focus no longer becomes to vault over a bar, but to bend a pole! These are two fundamentally different goals! Don't get me wrong, bending the pole is part of it all - but it's not your ultimate goal.

IF for whatever reason you have to go into the deep end - just remember - try not to do anything differently than on the stiff pole. If you're on the stiff pole and you want a bend, change to an appropriate smaller pole. You shouldn't change your technique - run, plant and take off. Just jump, if the pole does not bend it doesn't matter. It will bend eventually as you improve your grip.

-Andrew

P.S. Everything in the air will come much easier once you take care of things on the ground! - just keep that in mind. As far as rotating goes, it's something you'll get with practice. Same with the rest of the vault I might add. I understand that you may have competitions coming up very soon, but great things do take time to build. If you really love the sport I suggest finding a club to train with over the off-season if your coach does not provide training during that time.

[souleman]

To make an analogy, it's best not to throw yourself into the deep end of the pool by just picking up a pole and trying to bend it. Be comfortable at the shallower end first before you go into the deep end. Your technique for swimming should not be any different between the shallow end and the deep end! But if you take a beginner swimmer and throw them in the deep end, it makes learning good technique VERY difficult because the first thing they'll do is the wrong thing - splash around and struggle! Same with the pole vault, the first thing you do when TRYING to bend the pole will almost inevitably be wrong. This is because the focus no longer becomes to vault over a bar, but to bend a pole! These are two fundamentally different goals! Don't get me wrong, bending the pole is part of it all - but it's not your ultimate goal.

This is one of the best analogies for beginners I've ever read. Great job Andy.
Mike

[SRpolevaulter]

Ya I do mean backwards. And thanks for all the help guys I sriaghtpoled 8'6" today, and started getting the rotation down better. I can do it at lower hieghts perfectly but once I got to 7'6" that all dissapeared. And I did more bending today, but it wasn't much different because I was holding like a foot below the end anyway to make 8'6". I have my first meet tomoro and I was wondering If there was any other tips I need.

[Andy_C]

Thanks Mike!

SR, please understand that it is quite difficult for us to give you very specific tips without knowing you all that well. In fact, many "quick tips" in the pole vault don't really help out much at all since we would be trying to give you very simplified advice for what is technically a very complicated event. It's a case of "there's more to it than just that" - as a result it will take more time and a thorough build up to develop your technique properly.

However, as far as useful advice goes I think it's best to give you a good idea of what you're trying to achieve. Always remember, one of your primary goals is to always move the pole up and forward. You're not trying to bend it, you're trying to move it up and forward. As far as what's in the air, one big beginner mistake is to worry too much about the bar, this leads you to doing lots of funny things in the air - unlike what you would normally practice. So my advice, don't worry too much about the bar. Just do what you practiced. But in the end, I think you'll improve your airwork a lot over time, it's got a lot to do with experiencing the sensation and getting confident with it.

Also, one more thing that's VERY VERY important - don't forget to have fun!

-Andrew

[SRpolevaulter]

Dispite the fact that you say it's very difficult to give tips, that was all really helpful. Thanks I'll try to remember that. And don't worry I'm having SOOOOO much fun I love this more than any sport I've ever done and I've done..... 13 different sports all for varied lenghts of time (from 1 year to 9 years).