I Need of Beginning Pole Vaulting Advice

[baggettpv]

Very funny ye old knowledgable one! No one listen to him on this one...haha.


Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[Tim McMichael]

I take your point Altius. Unless a vaulter is willing to do hundreds upon hundreds of repetitions of fundamental movements, they will not improve much. There is a great book called “Zen and the Art of Archeryâ€Â

[altius]

Before we get the inevitable -"In my situation it is impossible to ask kids to do it right - they just want to jump" - I would point out again that I do live in the real world - I suspect that Tim does as well - so I realise that the 'context' in which a coach operates will have a major impact on the way they go about their business.

However I met at least twenty boys on my recent tour who DESPERATELY wanted to become good vaulters and just wanted to know how to go about it. Some were incredibly talented and - as I believe I may have indicated elsewhere on PVP -there were boys 6'3 tall with great body awareness whose PR was 13' - 13' for goodness sake when tiny girls of 14 can jump that high! Any one of the lads I saw could have jumped 5.00m inside 18 months with any kind of direction -and of course access to the poles they would need for such rapid progress..

The talented girls by and large were more on track but still needed direction. Those who had come from a gymnastics background already knew what was required -- so please dont tell me kids dont want to make the commitment. In fairness i have to say that several youngsters wanted to improve simply because they knew a college scholarship would solve a lot of problems for themselves and their families. That is an incentive that the rest of the world does not have by and large. Enuf said.

[rainbowgirl28]

In fairness i have to say that several youngsters wanted to improve simply because they knew a college scholarship would solve a lot of problems for themselves and their families. That is an incentive that the rest of the world does not have by and large. Enuf said.

They would be better off focusing on academics and aiming for academic/need based aid if they think getting a scholarship will "solve a lot of problems." Pole vault scholarships are few and far between, and most are token amounts at best.

[altius]

Sorry SWMBO -- Should have said -"they thought" - not 'they knew'!

[baggettpv]

The kids in my conditioning program keep coming back for more. They sweat and puke but they keep coming back.....Kids all over want to get better and will work their tails off to do it. They strife on the challenge.The ones that don't won't (unless you lower your standards...) If you do that then the other ones won't want to be there. Think about it. No Child Left Behind.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC

[Sebes]

Wow, I haven't revisited this post in a long time...and I had no idea that it turned into a battle ground. Anyway, I had severe technical issues with my vaulters when I posted this. However they improved during the 2 months I worked with them. But you need a lot more time than a few weeks to get these kids to understand the right knowledge. I appreciate everyone's help...and if you didn't help....well I guess I was entertained!

Sebes

[GeorgeN]

the first year, jus tget them used to vaulting and teach the 3 step split C.
That's all you can hope for. They can vault on a steel pole and it won't make a difference.
I straight poled 10'6" as a hs frosh. The next year I felt coordinated enough to try and bend the thing.
People have straight vaulted almost 16 feet. Don't allow the lack of a bend to be an excuse for poor vaulting.