high school polevaulting

[nielsalofsen]

In a discussion Becca told about the polevaulting at highschools in the usa. I wasn't aware about some struggles a polevaultcoach has at highschools in the usa and the competition with other sports.

I have a few questions regarding highschool polevaulting.

In Europe (I coach in the Netherlands) you can only do track and field at a club. The benefit is that the athletes you have are more motivated, because they make their choice based on what they like, instead of what the local highschool has to offer. Another benefit is that athletes have the possibility to stay within the club throughout their carreer. No forced switches to another coach because of graduation.
On the other hand, here, in the Netherlands, we are always jealous of the system in the US, because our understanding is that athletes have a high status in the US and if they develop in sports they get scholarships partly based on their results on track. This is a high motivator. Our athletes can train their asses off 7 times a week, become a national champion (for what it's worth in the Netherlands) and still have a 40 hour work/study-week to pay for your sport and living.

Aren't there any clubs in the who are open for all ages and level? Why not?
If every highschool has their own sportprogram, you do not have enough money to cover everything. If one track-club covers an area of 200.000 citizens, instead of five highschools with a track-program, there are potentially more participants for a polevaulting program.
At the club where I coach there are 1800 members paying 60 (youth from 4 years old) to 240 (adults, oldest member 90+) euro's a year. Most members are runners, but they also contribute to the budget where the polevaulting program is being paid off. They don't mind, because it's just a small percentage for each of them and they like to watch polevault).
Are you tied to the highschool/college/university system in the US or is something like this possible but are there other reasons for staying in the highschool system?

[tsorenson]

This is a great question and a good topic.
In the US, there are rules that prohibit college athletes from practicing with HS athletes. This is seemingly to prevent high schools in proximity to colleges from having an unfair advantage over other HS's. Hard to argue this point, but it does seem wasteful.

There are some clubs open to all ages, but not nearly enough. Masters track and field could only be considered VERY active in a few regions of the US, and masters pole vault especially so. This is partly due to liability concerns faced by schools (either HS or college) who decide to let older athletes train at their facilities. Again, the ambulance-chasing lawyers have dumbed down our society to the point that everyone is afraid to do (or allow anyone to do) anything fun or exciting. My apologies to any attorneys who may be users of this forum...but if this trend continues we can say goodbye to the pole vault in our country.

The fact is, that when groups of older vaulters come together and create clubs with facilities, the younger vaulters (and HS coaches) in the area quickly improve. Older athletes also benefit from the energy and enthusiasm of the young vaulters, and can become better themselves by learning how to effectively coach others and taking their own advice. You can see the result of these types of cooperative efforts here in Oregon with Rick Baggett's facility in Oregon City; Dan West/Dan Umenhoffer/Mark Vandeville in Springfield; and we are making a run at it in Central Oregon after witnessing the success of these guys in the valley. No doubt the HS vaulters here will see improvements, indeed we are already seeing it happen.

I encourage any older vaulters to resume their involvement in the sport, and masters track & field in general, to allow us to give something back to the sport we love. Perhaps we could have the "best of both worlds" with an augmented club system AND our outstanding collegiate system. The more of us there are, the more resources we will have at our disposal. Sure, you probably won't jump as high as you once did, but you'll have a hell of a time trying

Cheers,
Tom

[tsorenson]

I realized that my previous post made it sound like we don't have any good HS coaches. That is far from the truth...in fact we have some excellent HS coaches in Central Oregon, who have consistently produced excellent HS vaulters, including many state champions and several state record holders. My point was more to say that by coming together and cooperating collectively we are having great success. Three months of vaulting indoors with vaulters (and coaches) from five different high schools and a few middle schools, as well as masters vaulters, has given us all a chance to learn from each other and improve together.

Tom

[souleman]

Actually, clubs are pretty active in the US. As Tsorenson mentioned our litigious society in the states definitely has an effect on what is and what isn't done when it comes to the pole vault. Most times it's a matter of having a place to do it and work on it. USATF has a good system in place for clubs including pole vault exclusive clubs like mine. There are a number of hoops to jump through but it's really not that big of a deal. The biggest reason that the clubs and the high schools don't do a lot together (in Minnesota anyway) is largely in part to the rules in place by the Minnesota State High School League. To promote fairness they prohibit active coaching by the high school track staff, both paid and volunteer, from a period of the end of July till the first of March. As I'm sure all of us agree, the three and a half month window that is the spring track season is not enough time to get much accomplished in the pole vault. For this reason I left coaching at the high school level, and created my club to be able to work with the kids pretty much year round. Because of that and the club, we are not limited to a time period of legality from a high school rules prospective. In 2009 we started jumping at my place when the final snow went away which was towards the end of March till the second week in November. Now, thanks to the University of Wisconsin River Falls the two guys that were here every week all through the year and I attend a 7 week Track camp. So, it took a little doing but in the frozen tundra known as Minnesota we have figured out how to jump for the most parts of 10 months. We'll see if the work and time committed will pay off this coming season. I'm thinkin' it will.