Just Noticing

[das_1971]

So I haven't been on here for some 6,8,10 years, not sure, but I had to sell some stuff so I popped back on. Out of curiosity, I jumped around some of the forums and sprinkled in my 2 cents here and there, but started to notice a trend. It seems to me, being a good decade removed, that the young vaulters in highschool and such seem to be using shorter and shorter poles, bending the heck out of them, and barely getting off the ground. I might have missed something, but what happened to straight pole competitions in pratice, row for the back of the pit, walking upright over 10',11',12'. I mean I don't remember seeing a 13' foot pole till senior year of high school or college, let alone a carbons below 15' (I'm not counting skypole carbons, those were some awesome noodles ). Heck the last thing I remembe doing was trying to get my one-arm (something short)-step hand height back above 13' while working out with the kids I was coaching.
Guess I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who noticed this, or I'm just crazy loony. I mean after working under the factory nightshift rock for most the decade, I figured everything would be like Jetsons by now.

[trayoates]

well im moving into my senior year, and ive noticed the opposite. (at least in Georgia) the kids i know grip 14' and barely get over 13'6". that goes for girls as well! at state we saw a girl holding 13' and cleared 10'6". but i do understand "bending the heck out of them, and barely getting off the ground" because i have a bad habit of overextending my last step and taking off under which often bends the crap out of my 15' or 15'7" USC spirit. however, i hold rather low on those poles, usually a foot down just because they would bend way too much if i moved my grip up. at practice we do try to do straight pole drills, but that's just speaking for my school because we have a good coach who knows what he's doing. i guess it all depends on the school and the coach, because our coach started us on straight poles and wouldn't let us bend them until he thought we were ready.. some coaches now just give their athlete a noodle and tell them to bend it to the point of breaking and then try to teach the rest of the vault

[fishman4god]

The availability of shorter/softer poles has in many ways helped make pole vaulting much safer. Better to fall from 10 feet than 15 feet. Availability of equipment aside running fast with a big pole is dangerous...period. I personally like shorter poles and in reality finding athletes that can handle a pole longer than 14 feet in high school is very rare these days. One of our collegiate vaulters holds 14'6" (freshman) and jumps 5 meters with that grip. Does he need a bigger pole...........eventually sure but efficiency and technique should dictate pole size/length not the "height" you would like to jump based how high you can grip. That is a recipe for disaster. Technique and safety are the only two factors when choosing a pole for any vaulter.

[das_1971]

I cant say just using a shorter pole per the same hand grip is nescessairly safer. The myth we always use to dispell was that you absoultly have to hold the pole at the top. That always seemed to be the saftey problem with longer poles; people switching to a longer lenght and moving their handgrip immediatly. Really that something you should never do. Personally, I don't like anything shorter then a 15' regardless of if you hold at the top or three feet down, smaller poles just don't feel the same (or "didn't" I should say, being out of pratice). Its interesting that, just today, I was out at a meet and watched some 20 vaulters, maybe 2 or 3 looked like they were on the right lenght pole. most the rest looked like they needed something longer, just for the higher sailpiece. This is not saying they needed a higher handgrip, but just more stick/more sail piece. Now, ten-fifteen years ago I'd say the exact opposite. It seemed then that everybody was drinking the 'just grip high and run fast' coolaid. But yeah, grip height and pole size, two completely different things in my mind, and grip height is a much bigger thing when it comes to saftey