Help with college process

[oddy21]

I'm a senior in High School and my current PR is 12'7'' (although I've vaulted 13 at practice no problem). I still have an entire outdoor season ahead of me and I feel really good about this season (I'm thinking ATLEAST 14' by the end of High School if I stay healthy). I'm mostly just wondering about the process of contacting/committing to a college team. I've already sent an e-mail to the University of South Dakota coach and have gotten a reply back saying low 15s would be a good starting spot for his "squad". I don't know if this is a concrete number but I really want to vault for this team. Can someone help me out with what I should do next and what the process of joining a college team will look like?

[cdmilton]

With a D1 school like SD you will need to jump 15+ for them to entertain you as a walk on unless you have a TON of potential. With a PR of 14' a D3 school might be a better option if you want to vault in college. That is the route I took with at 13-6 PR out of HS and had a great experience.

[oddy21]

Thank you for the reply! In my opinion I do have a ton of potential considering my school only just a year ago finally got pits and i'm already playing around 13-14. Maybe that's just me being over-confident though.

[oddy21]

Also, a big concern for me is the time frame in which I have to commit to a college. Considering I'm most likely only going to go to a college that will allow me to vault, I'll only have like 3 months to commit (from the end of spring track season to the beginning of the next fall semester). Does anyone know if this can be a problem or are colleges pretty flexible during this time?

[VaultMarq26]

Most teams will have scholorships already given out by spring. In reality if you decide to attend a college in August and are admitted and signed up for classes you could be on an athletics team.

You need to be aware of the final day to register for classes at the schools that you are looking at.


I also agree that if you are not a consistent 14' vaulter in meets, most D1 programs won't look at you.

Easy fix, work hard this year and jump big!

[oddy21]

I think it's definitely achievable for me. Do you guys think 14-15 feet by the end of this season is possible when I vault about 13' going into the season? I think it's achievable but I don't want to think too unrealistically.

[cdmilton]

I think it's definitely achievable for me. Do you guys think 14-15 feet by the end of this season is possible when I vault about 13' going into the season? I think it's achievable but I don't want to think too unrealistically.

Post a video of your best jump over a bar and we can try to tell what your potential is. How fast and how tall are you? What pole and grip were you on compared to your body weight?

[oddy21]

I don't currently have a video of me. I'm quite fast, (sub 11.5 100m times) and 6'2'' and weigh 170-175lbs. I've been gripping about 13' up on a 14' 180lb pole.

[KirkB]

A one-foot increase from year to year should be the minimum. Just the increased maturity of your body, plus the one year more of experience should give you that. Assuming no major injuries that set you back, of course. If you DON'T increase your PR by a foot in your senior year, you should retrospectively ask yourself why. What went wrong?

For a two-foot increase, you have to improve your technique quite a bit - not just improve your speed and strength. For a three-foot increase, you have to improve your technique substantially.

I've seen or heard of some vaulters that increase their PR by two feet in their senior year of HS, and there's the rare exception of someone increasing their PR by 3 feet. What stands out for all of these exceptional atheletes is that they have a very, very good coach. A good coach (standing next to the runway on every one of your jumps, every day you train or compete) means that you fix technical problems as soon as they arise, rather than self-discovery of what "proper technique" is by trial and error. Trial and error wastes time and energy - which you don't have much of in a single short track season.

I hope you have a good coach.

Good luck to you!

Kirk

[oddy21]

Thank you for everyone that answered all of my questions! Hopefully soon once we get practicing and vaulting I can get some videos up! Last season my invert was VERY mediocre and I feel better about it at the moment just from my off season. That alone gives me a lot of hope for improvement this year. In my mind, with a 13' vault with a crappy inversion means some decent heights when I get it fixed.