Help with Long Last Step

[munsoned]

We have tried everything I can think of to get one of my vaulters last foot down on the takeoff. She hits the mid everytime, can do sliding box and hit takeoff and mid. However, when we vault her last step is consistantly 7-10inches under. We have tried the takeoff roll which does help a little, does anyone have any suggestions. This vaulter is very talented, 11'0 as a soph with potential to go much higher dependent on her takeoff step. I will take any suggestions.. Help

[thaone600]

my friend has the exact same problem but no one knows how to fix it either my advice is scoot them back and tell them the still have to take off so they atleast take off from the right spot the let them get used to that spot and try to make it all consistant

[Rhino]

I have to put my jacket or something on the runway for my daughter to stay behind. After a couple of vaults, I can remove it and she'll be OK.

[ADTF Academy]

1. Watch the video, does your vaulters top hand move infront of their chin durign the plant at all. If the hand does move forward the pole will create additional forces that will be applied on the hands pulling them forward even further. This in return applies additional forces on the shoulders which will cause them to lean forward if your vaulter can not support the weight. The body must compensate for this forward leaning of the shoulders by reaching out the foot so that you do not fall over.

2. Watch the video, does your vaulter make a breaking action at the plant meaning the heel is way out infront of their shoulders. Hence, they are more leaning backwards. If so, this tells me one of two things. One they do not understand the importance of leading with the chest and finishing the final stride. They need to work off the pits. If you have a spring board this will aid in the process of them feeling the correct possition. The chest and square upright shoulders must be allowed to rotate over the hips and lead at the plant. Practice this by simply making a jumping action either into the pits if you have a spring board or into the long jump pit.

Secondly, do they understand that the final stride will be shorter than the previous ones. Because of this they must cycle the foot through quicker. Since the knee drive of the final step will be lower it will not allow for a complete stride to take place. Therefore, they must realize that if they do not actively claw the foot through on the final stride and simply allow the foot to drift out in front of the knee, because the body is use to the stride taking longer. If this occurs they will plant under and cause more of a braking action as well. A double edge sword.

So watch the video.

Does their top hand move out infront of the chin druing the plant?
Do they have a negitive takeoff lean?
Does the takeoff foot drift out infront of the knee during the final step?

The only other place to check would be the first step taking. Do they explode out of the back the same every time. Even a slight change in the way they accelerate will put their entire approach off. Consistency needs to be established from the first stride on till the takeoff.

If yes to any of these go back to running mechanics off the runway. They have a technical error that will cause them much pain and fustration. Fix these issues and the plant will be more solid with the foot under them. The reason people have success with placing a towel down or hitting their mark off the runway is for two main reasons. One they do not have to aim for the back of the box. Usually when an athlete hands move out infront of their chin they are trying to find the back of the box, which shouldn't be done it is not going anywhere. The reason they can hit a towel with their foot is because it focuses them to cycle their foot. They are not sure why except that there is a target to hit. Teach them why and they will start to make the transition.

Just a starter, good luck

[souleman]

This may or may not help but I'll submit it anyway. If you go to www.bubbapv.com and look at the backyard setups you'll see the one that is in Wyoming,MN. That's my backyard setup. What you'll see on my runway are two ropes that wrap around the tape and then right before the pit you'll see a pad. That pad is a foam material that's about 3/8" thick. Now once you've seen it I'll tell you what I do to work on not being under or stretching the last step. The foam pad is set out at the take off point perscribed by DJ's chart. I will go back to a long run (for me it's only about 65 feet at this point in my jumping comeback trek). I set the pole down and run at the pit. I make sure I hit my mid then it's onto the take of point. At take off, (running as fast as I can, and correctly as I can) I take off like super man with my arms stretched out and basically diving into the pit. When I'm finished with the run and jump, I go back to the foam pad and look to see if there are any spike marks in it. If there are, I mark them with a black magic marker and try again until there are no new unmarked spike marks. Once I've got that down I pick up the pole and try it with the pole. If I'm creamin' the pad with spike marks using the pole I go back and do them again with no pole. (Obviously I don't try to dive into the pit when I'm using the pole. I just do a normal take off and pop up or jump). Being out (or rather being in the correct take off position) is still pretty new to me because back in my vaultin days, we took off under, so under is comfortable to me. Maybe this will help your vaulter. Later..........Mike

[bvpv07]

I always think of the last three steps before take-off as being more like the "high knees" that we do for plyos. Somehow, thinking of doing them really up/down shortens them up, gets me tall, and makes me finish the acceleration like I'm supposed to without reaching and taking off under...I would also recommend using a small piece of foam where she is supposed to take off and have her try to take-off without touching it.

[ADTF Academy]

To simple put a mark on the track not to hit does not answer the question of why they are doing it. You are given them a false sense of what is correct. Teach them why they are doing it wrong and why it is occuring and they will have a chance to fix it the right way. Simply giving them a false sense of what is correct and they will continue to have the error in their vault for a long time, they will just simply learn how to make an adjustment at the level they are at. When they get faster or on longer poles the error will still be there and it will become more pronounced. In the end you are doing them no favors by showing them a shortcut to fix their problem.

Taking a short cut here and not correcting the plant and approach the right way is the last thing you want to do. Take an honest look at my post and evalulate your athlete. As a college coach this is one of the fears I know I have, "what shortcuts did a vaulter take in their youth to acheive a height before they come to work with us."

Good luck

[munsoned]

1. Watch the video, does your vaulters top hand move infront of their chin durign the plant at all. If the hand does move forward the pole will create additional forces that will be applied on the hands pulling them forward even further. This in return applies additional forces on the shoulders which will cause them to lean forward if your vaulter can not support the weight. The body must compensate for this forward leaning of the shoulders by reaching out the foot so that you do not fall over.

2. Watch the video, does your vaulter make a breaking action at the plant meaning the heel is way out infront of their shoulders. Hence, they are more leaning backwards. If so, this tells me one of two things. One they do not understand the importance of leading with the chest and finishing the final stride. They need to work off the pits. If you have a spring board this will aid in the process of them feeling the correct possition. The chest and square upright shoulders must be allowed to rotate over the hips and lead at the plant. Practice this by simply making a jumping action either into the pits if you have a spring board or into the long jump pit.

Secondly, do they understand that the final stride will be shorter than the previous ones. Because of this they must cycle the foot through quicker. Since the knee drive of the final step will be lower it will not allow for a complete stride to take place. Therefore, they must realize that if they do not actively claw the foot through on the final stride and simply allow the foot to drift out in front of the knee, because the body is use to the stride taking longer. If this occurs they will plant under and cause more of a braking action as well. A double edge sword.

So watch the video.

Does their top hand move out infront of the chin druing the plant?
Do they have a negitive takeoff lean?
Does the takeoff foot drift out infront of the knee during the final step?

The only other place to check would be the first step taking. Do they explode out of the back the same every time. Even a slight change in the way they accelerate will put their entire approach off. Consistency needs to be established from the first stride on till the takeoff.

If yes to any of these go back to running mechanics off the runway. They have a technical error that will cause them much pain and fustration. Fix these issues and the plant will be more solid with the foot under them. The reason people have success with placing a towel down or hitting their mark off the runway is for two main reasons. One they do not have to aim for the back of the box. Usually when an athlete hands move out infront of their chin they are trying to find the back of the box, which shouldn't be done it is not going anywhere. The reason they can hit a towel with their foot is because it focuses them to cycle their foot. They are not sure why except that there is a target to hit. Teach them why and they will start to make the transition.

Just a starter, good luck

I would say the first one, their does seem to be a slight hand in front of chin action, at our next practice I will mention this. This is something we talk about and drill often, however, lately we have focused so much on her long last step that I believe we overlooked it. She does come out of the back the same every time, hitting her mid is not a problem at all, its always been that long last step, she does know it should be shorter than the others, there also is no braking action as she takes off. I think you may be on to something in regards to her top hand being infront of her chin at takeoff. Its funny because its one of those things we drill all the time, just never really connected it. I guess sometimes you overfocus on one thing that you can forget maybe someting else may be causing it. We will give it a try, thanks for the post.

[munsoned]

we have tried a takeoff roll, done the towell, and used the foam. She hits the mid literally everytime, and knows the importance of a shorter last step following penultimate. She may be reaching forward slightly with top hand, we are going to spend the next practice on a smaller pole, maybe two lefts, and stay their until she hits a takeoff that connects with her handhold. Any more ideas please post, see you at Reno!!!

[METAL MAN]

This can be a tough problem to solve. I had a 12 foot HS girl who did exactly the same thing. Often times this problem begins at the mid as the vaulter begins the active pole drop phase. The torque of the pole as it rotates down will cause the torso to move farther forward than it should be to maintain good front side running mechanics causing an overstride. What I mean by that is when the torso and head move forward the pelvis moves back. This creates a situation where the athlete is forced to overstride to maintain running balance. The foot should remain in a dorsiflexed position throught the whole running motion and strike the ground below and slightly in back of the athletes center of gravity which is located in the pelvic girdle. A foot strike forward of that point will cause "blocking" or a horizontial braking forces that cause the vaulter to slow, overstride and be under on the plant.
Possible solutions are to work on core strength that helps to maintain erect posture throughout the planting phase. Come into the plant with the hips high and forward. There are several sprinting drills that promote this and I might suggest that you try some of them on a regular basis with your girl. Also every workout have her do some 20/20 pole runs. Those are runs where they have to run 20 steps with the pole in 20 meters. The steps are short but she can do it. Don't move her step back yet. This usually makes the problem worse. Their minds eye tells them they have to get even longer to get into the plant. Work on the running mechanics first.
I hope this helps....

[MadeinTaiwan]

in my experience with myself and other vaulters i train with, a long last stride leading to taking of under when the mid is always on, is often a confidance/habit problem rather than a technical problem.
often just starting do drills from 1 left then 2 lefts etc and making sure they take off a little "out" will slowly get them used to taking off less under.