Tim McMichael wrote:... Bryde has the level of awareness that I consider mastery of the vault. It took me decades to get to the point where I was aware and in control of everything that was going on in my jump. At that point my only limitation was the shape I was in. I had no problem at all with starting within a few inches of my P.R. and it was this consistency that got me into meets that I really had no business being in. The development of this level of awareness is essential to achieving maximum potential. There has to be some way of teaching this. ...
By our own admissions, we've had some physical shortcomings. Whoops - sorry for the short joke - NOT!
But seriously, I was slow and you were short. What we lacked in physical stature or speed, we made up for in other ways, such as "perfecting" our technique, and learning how our bodies could be leveraged based on our distinct body types and skill sets. Yes, I would like to team up with you find a way to put this "awareness" into a can, and $ell it to the ma$$e$. But a more practical thought is to just try our best to share our knowledge of our beloved craft on this forum free of charge. You've been doing this for a few years now, and I've also recently volunteered for this role.
Despite its title, I think this thread should not only be about clarifying the similarities and differences between our techniques, but it should also be about the "mental game" of pole vaulting, which I sense we both agree is just as important (if not MORE important) than the physical game.
Tim McMichael wrote:... My vault incorporated many of the things that Bryde describes. The only significant differences were my attack angle and the tuck. I got my trail leg back freakishly far by driving my lead knee, chest, and head forward as far as possible. I had a really low takeoff angle that I feel was possible because of the stiffness of the poles I was on. I have described this on many other posts, but I'll repeat it. 138 pounds of body weight on a 190 6.4 flex will lift you off the ground at takeoff no matter what. I stayed behind the pole as far as possible and caught up with the chord of the pole as late as possible to keep my center of gravity low and behind the pole, which caused it to roll into the pit and gave me the penetration I needed as my trail leg whipped through. This necessitated a tuck to catch up with the timing of the pole.
Did you forget that I did a free takeoff and you loaded your pole prior to takeoff? Viva la difference!
Tim, I have further questions, but I'll leave them for later.
I think that we "discovered" our distinct techniques by traveling different roads, in different eras. I copied some things from Isaakson and Roberts, but I also invented and/or self-discovered some things on my own and with my coach. I imagine that you did a similar thing. Your path seemed to follow that of Joe Dial, and (from what seems to be inferred), his dad, who was your coach (?) and Joe's coach? Maybe I misunderstood that. I don't know much about Joe Dial, but I did watch a vid of his last week. I wanted to understand what you meant by a "drive vault".
At any rate, it's interesting to me that we found common technique problems, and solved many of them in similar ways, yet others quite differently. I think of us as "explorers", charting new waters. Some pundits will say that Petrov already charted those waters, which is not true in either your case or my case.
My career ended 11 years after Bubka's started. In your case, you had the advantage of copying either Bubka's technique or Dial's technique, and I think you chose Dials for somewhat obvious reasons. I doubt that you had as much access to Bubka's model as Dial's. We also PURPOSELY modified our techniques to mitigate our physical shortcomings, so even if technical information about elite vaulters might have been readily available, it didn't necessarily fit our physiques. Tell me about this.
I should add here that your career was also PRIOR to the internet age. Neither one of us had the luxury of free - almost unlimited - access to some the best PV coaches and athletes in the world, and slo-mo video analysis available at your fingertips. (We used Super-8 film, which we couldn't watch in slo-mo, or the film would melt. I guess you used VHS.) So that's what I mean when I suggest that we were "explorers". Not traveling blind, but also not having any well-documented charts or models to follow.
Kirk