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I am a sophomore in high school. This is the second year that I have been pole vaulting for, and I havent posted here in a while. I am currently about 5"5" 115lbs, and self taught. We do not have a coach for vaulting. I am also the only guy on my team that vaults, along with two girls. The new pole that our school bought that I have been using is a girls Pacer 12' 140 pole, which is the only decent one we have. I have only cleared 8'6 2 meets ago and 9 at practice on it. I hold the pole so that my top hand is about where my bottom hand would be if I held it at the top. The pole bends a tad that I can feel, but not much. Is the pole weight too high for me to go all the way back on it? I have tried it in practice, but both times the pole hit me in the head on the way up and I didnt get good spring. I also know that I am not getting inverted. Also, I must admit, that even though I am a righty, I jump off of my right foot. It just feels a lot more natural than my left, and I get more pop and bend like that giving me more height. What do you think?

I'm no professional, but if your a right handed vaulter, I'd concentrate on jumping off your left before you work on much else

trevor51590 wrote:Also, I must admit, that even though I am a righty, I jump off of my right foot. It just feels a lot more natural than my left, and I get more pop and bend like that giving me more height. What do you think?

Which hand do you have at top of the pole?

That's fine if you want to jump off your right foot as long as your left hand is on top of the pole.

if you can't bend it, then yeah, the pole's probably a bit stiff for you. If you aren't bending it at all than you should try and find a lighter pole- probably around an 11' 130 to start (or even a 120) and then transition back to that eventually. I think you're gonna have a tough time getting inverted on a pole that stiff at your weight. Try to find a lighter pole to learn to invert b/f using a stiff one if you need it.

I was somewhat in the same boat as you were a month ago, but i had to share the pole with two other people, and it was a real pain to get much height

Oh I know im supposed to jump off of my left foot, and my right hand is at the top, and im most comfortable that way. I do have to practice jumping off of my left foot. Dont get me wrong though, the pole bends a little, just not as much as it could if I weighed more. Using a smaller pole really isnt an option because that is pretty much all we have.

Its just that jumping off your right while vaulting righty ain't too great for you...I've got a feeling you're going to spin if you do that.

Its so strange though because I dont spin. I have a meet tomorrow at home, so do you think I should try jumping off of my left during warm ups, or just wait for practice the day after?

if it works for you stick with it for the meet, but kick that habit the day after, and quick

Im glad to say that at practice today, I jumped all off of the left foot. I held at about the 10' mark, and cleared 8'6" so-so. I decided to try the pole all the way up just to see how it would be because I was feeling pretty confident (it is a 12'), and I wanted to push myself a little. Well, im sad to say that that did not work out too well...I got up, and it seemed that right at the peak I had no more foreward momentum, and I came right back down It kinda whacked me out, because as I came up to the peak to turn, I was over the box, and my hands wouldnt let go, so I just twisted my way back down. Tomorrow at practice I will try to move up by 6" incriments with my hand hold instead of two feet. Lesson learned

trevor51590 wrote:Tomorrow at practice I will try to move up by 6" incriments with my hand hold instead of two feet. Lesson learned

Uhh yeah how about 1 or 2" increments. Don't raise your grip unless you are landing deep in the center of the pit.

Well I am raising my grip to try to maximise the most bend and length of the pole I can while still being comfortable. It seems to me the only logical way to do that would be raising my grip little by little, correct?