need a coach! ;)

[MillerTime]

i have a video, hopefully it works.

http://www.geocities.com/familyguy66666/IMG_0008.AVI
(you might have to right click and click "save target as")

i know my run through is bad, im on some other school's pole i never used before with no steps and a pulled quad muscle, i just mainly need advice with when im up in the air. should i stay vertical longer? do i need to push off the pole more? any advice would be great!

thanks!

[MillerTime]

did the video work for anyone?

[Mecham]

The video works great for me. I was wondering if you had a video with a side shot? Not right where you start, but maybe where you start the plant? It would be easier to see and help out that way.

[MillerTime]

ill try to get a closer shot this saturday. any idea why im not really getting over the top of the pole? like i see all these good vaulters that get their bodies 1-2 feet higher than the top of their pole. ive never been able to do that. do i need more upper body strength, better form, or do i need more speed, or does it have to do with the poles i use and their flex #s?

[rainbowgirl28]

If you're going to be a pole pusher, don't run with your bottom hand on the pole. Let that arm swing like it normally does when you run, then grab the pole about two steps out. You'll run a lot faster doing that. If you can't time that up, you should really work on carrying the pole.

If you have to practice/compete in facilities where you can't wear spikes, invest in some cross country racing flats. They are light like spikes, but have little rubber nubby things on the bottom instead, so they won't hurt a gym floor.

And good grief, don't vault in sweat pants. If it's too cold to wear shorts, get some spandex tights, or at least some less bulky, tighter fitting pants.

You're leaning way far forward when you run down the runway. If you run with only your top hand on the pole, I think it will help get your posture taller.

Can't see much else from this angle. It's not a bad jump, but there are a number of things you can work on to generate more speed down the runway.

[LHSpolevault]

video didn't work for me =\


i think i'm gonna try pushing the pole once outdoor starts... becca makes it seem effortless

[rainbowgirl28]

I only push the pole because I am too mental carrying it. I wanted to carry the pole indoors, but it came to the point of either quitting the sport or pushing the pole. I was pole vaulting better when I was carrying it this fall.

[MillerTime]

good info becca, thanks. normally i would have worn the speed suit, but that meet was just like a practice to me, i didnt really care and ill start carrying the pole again in outdoors. now that i look at it again, i see how hunched over i am, and did you see my plant? im like a foot under, I think steps will solve that problem.

[rainbowgirl28]

did you see my plant? im like a foot under, I think steps will solve that problem.

Can't tell from the camera angle

[advath]

In these photos you can see both vaulters in a good Bubka position on the pole. The the vaulter from the video shoots to go over the crossbar, and the second vaulter, Tim Mack, works to stay in line with the pole.

In this second group of pictures you can see that the first vaulter's feet are moving away from the pole in the direction of over the crossbar instead of staying in line with and close to the pole.

In these photos you can see that there is bend in both poles still. The vaulter on the left is pulling with his top arm before the pole has a chance to recoil. Tim Mack times his Bubka move to where both his body and pole become straight close to the same time. This timing helps the body stay in line with the pole. If you shoot too fast out of the Bubka position the feet tend to shoot away from the line of the pole.
Coaching tip: Use your energy to stay in line with the pole and wait until your pole to recoil. Only they can you be agressive pulling up the pole, but by that time the pole will have you moving so much faster vertically that it will be easier too. If you do this correctly you will blow through the pole your vaulting on now and will need a bigger pole.
Read more about this subject in "How to Get Past Vertical" in http://advantageathletics.com/2005/?page_id=78

Above is Pole Vaulter Shayla Ballentine, Morro Bay High School
13′ 8″ New National High School Girl’s Pole Vault Record
from the 2001 California State Meet
Photos complements of Tim Werner and Advantage Athletics.

[fx]

At the top of the vault, dont you want to keep your momentum going up once you finish inversion by dropping your shoulders and start pulling right away? This way you can keep all the momentum that you had so you can vault higher. If you stop and wait for the pole to recoil, what happens to all that momentum that you had before? It dissappears right?

[advath]

The extension out of the pike position is the work being done.
As you can see in the pictures above the vaulter on the right is pulling when there is too much bend in the pole still. He is pulling when his body has not had a chance to extend. His poor timing doing the Bubka drill on the pole (and/or his swing was too slow and/or out in front of the pole too much and/or he rowed his top hand too far forward causing his shoulders to rise up behind the pole...) did not allow his shoulders to get under his body when the pole was recoiling.

The vaulter on the left above did pull aggressively. The problem was his center of mass (or horizontal body) was out in front of the vertical line of forces being applied to the opposite end (his shoulders). He was in the flag position on the pole when he pulled. That causes the body to rotate into the crossbar.

The vaulter above was vaulting on a pole way too light.