Need help with landing center!

[spencershade]

Hi I'm a 13'6" vaulter. The past 2 days I've been jumping on a 14'0 165 UCS pole and I have ran into a HUGE problem. I am right handed and I keep landing WAY to the left of the mat(left side from the runway). I don't know why my takeoff is within 4" of what it should be. I seem to takeoff fast and jump straight but i head straight for the left side of the mat. Unfortunately i haven't been able to record for you guys so I know it will be hard to tell me what I'm doing wrong but I just would like a list of reasons why I would all of a sudden start landing WAY to the left. One jump i landed less that a foot from the edge of the mat. Also I'm getting in plenty far and my form looks good and I'm getting inverted. Any help is appreciated.. Thanks!

[KirkB]

Spencer, I will assume that you're striving to jump straight forward, and you're striving to keep everything aligned to the box and the pit. That is, you're not intentionally pushing or pulling (to one side or the other) with your bottom arm once you're airborne. If you are, then that would be a no-no, and might cause you to veer left.

After eliminating that possibility, it becomes straight mechanics. You are simply not aligned with the middle of the box on takeoff.

Remember that you must have your top hand directly overhead (not to one side or the other) above your head.

One last possibility is that you're not holding your pole so that it bends straight forwards. That's an easy thing to check. Remember that the pole will swing off to the side naturally, as you bend it, so you don't have to grip it so that it goes off to one side. If you do, that could be your problem. To repeat, you must always grip the pole so that when it bends, it bends straight forward towards the pit.

And your takeoff foot must be exactly in the middle of the runway, aligned with the middle of the front lip of the box.

If all of these are "square", then you should be good to go.

It would take a good vid from directly behind you to ensure that everything lines up as I just described.

But since we don't have such a vid, my best guess is that you're probably reaching your left arm too far over your head (above your left ear rather than above your nose and center of your head). That would cause you to go off kilter as you've described it.

If you had done the opposite - reached your right arm above your RIGHT ear - then you would go off to the other side - the right side. This is a more common flaw, and is usually caused by a late plant. The plant isn't above the middle of your head yet - it's only above your right ear.

But although less common, I've had occasions where I've gone off to the side as your described, and the reason was always a "bad" plant. Not a late plant, but an overcompensating plant, where I unintentionally reached too far over my head.

I hope this gives you some ideas. There's not much else it can be caused from - it's one of these.

Kirk

[spencershade]

Thanks Kirk, I took note of what you said and took a video from behind. It looks like my takeoff foot is off center but my arms seem to be straight out in front of me. The thing is on a lot of vaults my foot is a little from the center and I land fine in the pit. I don't know why I picked up this bad habit all of a sudden. Let me know from the video if there is something I don't see and what I can do to work on it(a quick fix I have regionals very soon!).

https://youtu.be/NK1Ajze3AC4

Also I know wasn't getting in the pit, it's because I wasn't driving through with the vault because I didn't want to hurt myself. Even on my swing ups and pop ups I was veering to the left.

[KirkB]

You really need to speak to your videographer - unless you're running it yourself on a tripod.

What I would have preferred to see is the camera angle being EXACTLY behind you, in the middle of the runway. And then you have that measuring tape and I can't tell if it's parallel to the runway or not. So I'm not really able to see much from what you've video'd.

Or make it directly IN FRONT OF you, on the other side of the pit. If there, make sure the vid angle is high enough so that your full takeoff foot (and top hand) is visible in the vid on takeoff.

But if I had to guess (and again, it might be just the weird camera angle), it looks like you're already leaning to the left just before (and right at) takeoff. If that's true, then that would certainly be why you're veering left.

Let me suggest that you mark your takeoff point with a cross of trainer's tape or chalk. One line in the exact middle of the runway, and another line intersecting it, at right angles to the runway. Or draw a heavy black line on the trainer's tape that's at right angles to the runway.

Then have someone spot where you're taking off from ... EXACTLY. Are you taking off on the line, to the right, or to the left? You can vid that too, but at this point, maybe direct observation would be better than a vid.

You say that you're a bit to the right of center, so maybe that's all we need to know (and no further spotting of videoing necessary). If that's the case, then the answer is obvious - take off from the exact middle of the runway! Duh!

Remember: Everything needs to be aligned and centered!

Kirk