Another reason to avoid tapping

[vcpvcoach]

Looking at the way the pole snaps back, I'm betting that they are using an above the ground box (i.e. slide box). Just an observation.

Don't tap. Hold low, land in the coaches box. Don't block bottom arm.

[rainbowgirl28]

Oh poles can slide out like that in normal boxes too. I've been racking my brain trying to think of the other video I had seen and now I finally remember...

It was video from the local pole vault camp, years and years ago (mid to late 90s). The coach got racked by the pole, but with more force than the video posted here, and he just drops like a rock. We watched it over and over and in slow-mo and laughed a lot.

[kcvault]

Here are some videos I found of vaulters getting a tap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1BXf03t ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E5KRqA0 ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/user/polevault14 ... BxY0fGTAXY
http://www.youtube.com/user/polevault14 ... 1_ejGaBqHA
http://www.youtube.com/user/polevault14 ... R3oyC7RYi0

---Kasey

[master]

We watched it over and over and in slow-mo and laughed a lot.

That's brutal Becca

- master

[vaultman18]

But from a club coaches perspective, you are coaching 20 to 30 pole vaulters a week and If one of them got hurt at your practice they could sue and end your coaching career. So if you stand on the side bun and spot the vaulters so that you know that they are going to land in the pit, then they are not going to get hurt under your watch...

This is not coaching! Coaching would be taking the time to teach proper technique. Maybe it worked for you and a few other. But maybe it hurt you more than you think.

[altius]

Agree totally with vaultman! WE have been down this path before and I thought this was another topic that had been resolved. Learn to teach the vault properly and you will never need to tap - instead you can position yourself to see what your athlete is actually doing in the plant and take off.

[vault3rb0y]

Another thing that hasnt be hit upon, is that after a vaulter has been tapped their whole career, they need that security blanket when they dont feel great to jump at all in practice. Ive seen it on multiple occasions with athletes that are so used to getting tapped that even when they know they are safe they say "Can you just stand there?" just because it makes them feel better, and it recreates the 'good' feeling they had when they last got tapped.

Not as much a safety issue there, but mentally, giving a vaulter a tap kind of tells them they NEED a tap too, and after a while they use it as a crutch.

[vaultmd]

Another thing that hasnt be hit upon, is that after a vaulter has been tapped their whole career, they need that security blanket when they dont feel great to jump at all in practice. Ive seen it on multiple occasions with athletes that are so used to getting tapped that even when they know they are safe they say "Can you just stand there?" just because it makes them feel better, and it recreates the 'good' feeling they had when they last got tapped.

Not as much a safety issue there, but mentally, giving a vaulter a tap kind of tells them they NEED a tap too, and after a while they use it as a crutch.

This very thing was asked of me by a respected and popular masters vaulter at a national masters meet.

[starkey480]

one of the problems with tapping is that the vaulter might start psychologically relying on a tap and when it comes time for the meet and they dont have a tapper, they dont feel near as confident

[vaultmd]

Starkey480,
You're in high school?
Damn I'm feeling old . . .

[starkey480]

why are you feeling old? haha did you know my dad or something?

[powerplant42]

Are you Dean Starkey's son!?