Brian Mondschein will now be competing for Israel

[rainbowgirl28]

Below is an interview I conducted with Brian Mondschein. He is VTechVaulter on this website, so feel free to reply with any questions or comments you may have for him!

Pole Vault Power: Brian, I hear you have a big announcement. What would you like to tell everyone?

Brian Mondschein: While I was in Israel for a meet this summer, I was asked to consider acquiring dual citizenship and representing Israel in international competitions. After much thought and consideration, I decided that this is a great opportunity for me to do all of the things I dreamed of as a pole vaulter.


PVP: What connections do you have with Israel?

BM: The offer originally came up because my grandfather [Irving "Moon" Mondschein] is one of the more famous Jewish athletes to the people of Israel. He served as the coach of the 1952 Israeli Olympic Team in Helsinki. Being in Israel this summer gave me the chance to meet so many people who shared some really great memories of him. While my grandfather was in Israel preparing for the Olympics, my father was born in Tel Aviv. Under Israeli law, this gave me citizenship, though I did not discover this until recently.


PVP: When did you begin to consider competing for Israel?

BM: It all happened really fast this summer. One of the athletes here at Virginia Tech got the ball rolling. He has lived in Israel since he was about 8 years old after moving there from Moscow. He talked to the VP of the Israeli Athletics Federation about bringing me over for the Maccabiah Games this summer, and literally after getting off the plane and being picked up it was the first thing they asked me. I told them that it was a big decision and I would have to think about it. I was there for about 10 days and they treated me so well the entire time. They even paid for my flight from the US to Tel Aviv, and then from Tel Aviv to Stockholm for my next meet, and my flight back from Europe to the US later in the month. While in Israel I had a meeting with the president of the Athletics Federation, and they outlined some of the benefits to competing for them. After a lot of thought and talking to my coaches and parents, I decided that it was both a great opportunity for me and a chance for me to help them too, since they only had two athletes acquire the B-standard last year.


PVP: What was the toughest part about making this decision?

BM: I have had so many dreams about making a US team and getting all the USA gear, and the general pride that came from being a US vaulter. I can't even say the number of times I've watched A Pole Vaulter's Dream with Tim and Toby draped in the American flag, and Brad's World Championship win in Osaka. Knowing that this would effectively end that dream was tough.


PVP: What will the best part be about competing for Israel?

BM: From a purely pole vaulting point of view, being an Israeli opens up so many doors for international competition. If I jump an A standard they have promised me a World Championship spot, and an Olympic spot in 2012. It also will allow me to get into higher class meets such as the European Championships that are worth major points for IAAF rankings.


PVP: What are some of the other opportunities you will have by competing for Israel?

BM: It will be a great chance for me to learn more about myself and where I come from. My great-grandfather was Jewish and immigrated to New York. My mother is not Jewish so by Jewish law I am not either, but there is still a lot of Jewish heritage there. Being in Israel this summer and getting to explore Jerusalem in particular, was really an eye opening experience.

Another really great advantage is the financial support that was offered to me, which includes a monthly salary, bonus structure for performances, and travel compensation. This will allow me to focus my efforts on my training and not have to worry so much about making ends meet. However, I definitely feel an elevated pressure to start jumping more at my potential. If I continue to jump 5.55s and 5.60s I feel like I would be letting these people down who have shown tremendous support for me already.


PVP: Will you be eligible to immediately compete for Israel?

BM: Yes, since I never jumped an A standard, Israel was able to get me released immediately from USATF with no waiting period. We are just wrapping up my final paperwork.


PVP: What kind of material support have you received between graduating college and switching nationalities?

BM: Since graduating, I have basically funded myself through graduate school. Virginia Tech has a really great assistantship program for those lucky enough to get a position. Unfortunately, I am now in my final semester and I wasn't offered a position so I am trying to scrape together enough to cover the out of state fees.

I have had some support from Pole Vault Power, Runabout Sports in Blacksburg, New Motion Fitness in Philadelphia, and donations from PV Power members. My parents have also helped to support me when it was needed. But I am definitely just scraping by.


PVP: If you had been receiving the same level of financial support from USATF, would you have switched nationalities?

BM: That definitely would have made the decision tougher, but I feel I still would have switched. The opportunities for major meets is actually more important in my mind. If all i wanted was to make a lot of money, I would just quit pole vaulting and start using my engineering degree! That would make my mom really happy, but she is also excited about the road ahead.

For example, this summer I was denied entry into two meets in Europe that already had two Americans competing, yet were people from other countries in the meet with lower PRs. Meet directors like a diverse field.


PVP: What do you think about fellow American Jillian Schwartz switching nationalities as well? Will she be eligible to compete for Israel this year?

BM: I think it was a really interesting move for Jill. She's had a whirlwind year with her retirement, and then decision to come back. She still she managed to make a World Championship team with only a few months of training under her belt. She and I talked a good bit about this subject since the offers were made at a near identical time. As someone I have a tremendous respect for, it has been really great having her to bounce my thoughts off of. I'm not 100 percent sure what in her mind made this the right decision, but I know she feels really good about it.

She will have to sit out from IAAF championships this year since she represented the US last year, but she did get her release so she will be eligible for the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.


PVP: Are you looking forward to being on the same team as her someday?

BM: Yeah it should be really fun! I'm also looking forward to being teammates with my fellow Hokie Yevgeniy Olhovsky. We all got to hang out in Tel Aviv this summer and it was a really enjoyable experience.


PVP: What are your goals for 2010?

BM: Well after some discussion with Coach [Earl] Bell, for the last two years I have yet to back up to a true full approach. I've been training and competing off of 14 steps in an effort to really improve the technical side of the jump. Since I have still set lifetime PRs off this short approach, I feel really good about the changes I've made. So now my goal is to carry that back into a 16 or 18 step approach. I have little doubt in my mind that if I can execute the take off I've been learning on a full run, that I am capable of jumping 5.75m-5.80m this year. There is still a lot to work on, but this is the first step.

I would also like to have a more successful European campaign this summer. The last two trips, I've been overseas for over nine weeks total, and have only had six meets. which is really frustrating. It was raining at two of those, and my all-time European PR stands at 5.43m, which doesn't help you get invited back into meets.


PVP: Are you going to continue to train in the US, or will you move to Israel?

BM: It will be a mix of both. The majority of my fall training will be spent in the US. Then for the indoor season it will be good to be over there for a few months where the weather is warm and I will have close access to a lot of good meets. In the summer I have required meets there, and it will serve as a good base to train between European trips.


PVP: Brian, what would you like to tell your fans and everyone who has supported you over the years?

BM: The biggest thing is a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me in a variety of ways. I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of the Pole Vault Power members and others at meets who have come up and introduced themselves and wished me luck. It has really been a great community of supporters and I hope that they will continue to follow and support me as I continue to enjoy this crazy journey.

[KirkB]

Two thumbs up, Brian!

And they have just as good of internet connections in Israel as in other corners of the earth ... so we expect the same PVP involvement that you've shared with us over the years ... despite the time zone difference!

Kirk

[Bubba PV]

CONGRATS!! Bubba

[vaultmd]

If memory serves me right (it was a long time ago) Brian's Uncle Brian also competed in the Maccabiah Games.