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This is my first year trying out for polevaulting. I just had a meet and I had trouble with my technique. I have trouble with placing the plant at the right time and have trouble with the knee drive also raising my arm fully. I have a few times in practice whens its perfect but its not consistant. If anyone could give me some helpful advice it would be great.

There are drills to help practice the placement and timing of every aspect of the vault. Practice the drills OVER AND OVER and over again. The more you do it, the more natural it will feel. You'll then turn that into muscle memory making what you do naturally. It takes time an practice - so be patient, work hard - and you'll do just fine.

I would say to start off that you should do a lot of walk plants to get the timing and muscle memory together. After that you can do 2 step vaults and then move back to 2 lefts, 3lefts, and so on. 2 and 3 left vaults are about the best thing that I can do in practice. They really make you work on technique and timing. They will also allow you to work longer in practice instead of going to a full out run everytime. I also do walk plants everyday and before every meet. Good luck with the rest of your season!

ya i agree and id place the pole in the box and get ur takeoff mark form there(for a short 2-3 step) and then id do the walk plants and 3 staps over and over wthout looking at ur take off mark but trying to plant at the right time.

i agree that a 2-3 step drop is the best way to get timing and a feel for it. just take it slow and work on the technical side. it's good for practice, as the guy above said, it saves time and doesn't drain you as much.

I'm guessing your just learning to drop into the box. I was forced to run the lines on the football field and drop hundreds of times before I took it to the runway. Just put a shirt or something where your "box" would be and run your steps back from there, then run it like you would if you were going to jump and do it over and over again.