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Hello, I am a highschool junior and I have a problem. I don't know why, but recently once I plant, I keep on getting sucked into the pole. To the extent that sometimes when I plant, my body and my bottom arm is infront of the pole, which is a really bad thing. Then when the pole unbends and reaches 90 degrees, I'm basically stuck at the top with no momentum and I fall down. It is sometimes scary because I can fall right into the box or land on the standards. My coach tells me to drive through, however, I don't know how to do that. I don't know if it's because of late planting, not stiffening the bottom arm, or not jumping. I really want to know what is causing this and how to prevent this from happening. Please help, Thanks!

You need to get a video of yourself and post it on here.

I learned that you must always land in the middle of the mats. That means if you're not landing in the middle of the mats, then lower your grip untill you do, or get a lighter pole.

When you plant, your arms should be outstretched

make sure you are getting a good punch with the bottom arm, and drive in with your chest. Keep your chest up and your trail leg long, and jump off the ground. Tall plant, big punch, big drive...to put it simply.


...some video would be really helpful too. google video or youtube are good sites to host your videos.

Getting sucked under is generally caused by two things:
1. Collasping the bottom arm too much
2. Take-off step is under ( probably by a decent amount, like 4" - 6" or more )

slpolevault wrote:Hello, I am a highschool junior and I have a problem. I don't know why, but recently once I plant, I keep on getting sucked into the pole. To the extent that sometimes when I plant, my body and my bottom arm is infront of the pole, which is a really bad thing. Then when the pole unbends and reaches 90 degrees, I'm basically stuck at the top with no momentum and I fall down. It is sometimes scary because I can fall right into the box or land on the standards. My coach tells me to drive through, however, I don't know how to do that. I don't know if it's because of late planting, not stiffening the bottom arm, or not jumping. I really want to know what is causing this and how to prevent this from happening. Please help, Thanks!

It sounds like you are also gripping too high.

gripping too high and getting ripped off the ground.

and yes, video would be very helpful

If you're not consistently landing in the pit, you are overgripping. Drop your grip 6" and see what happens.