Let's Implement a PRACTICAL weight rating rule for HS girls

[vaultfan]

“The existing rules require vaulters to be on a pole rated at or above their body weight. These weight ratings are based on the average male vaulter and do not take into consideration the fact that the average female is not as fast or strong and cannot hope to bend as stiff a pole as he does. This spring, many of the girls at the Texas state meet had their poles impounded and had to borrow poles from other vaulters that they could not bend effectively. As a result, several vaulters did very poorly and many came up short of the pit into the plant box. I believe that something should be done about that rule before next year to hopefully avoid serious injuries in the plant box, which is another good reason to wear helmets. It would be simple to figure a formula based on the average differences in strength and speed of males vs. females and rate the poles accordingly for girls. I believe that there should be at least a ten or fifteen pound differential on each pole.â€Â

[Azbeachboy1]

I believe that if in HS a girl cant jump on a pole at or above her weight then she's not ready to jump high. They have the mystic poles just for girl with this problem. Remember saftey before height. Believe me, its a lot safe to stiff pole then it is to bend a pole that is 10 lbs below your weight. Thats just not how your supposed to jump.

[PVJunkie]

This brings up the whole issue........is there such a thing as a pole for girls. According to some co. there is no difference so your proposal is falling on deaf ears. The Mystic pole is not a GIRLS pole, it was engineered for the female vaulter. Girls are, on average, slower, weaker, and have a lower center of gravity than boys. Which means that the optimal pole for the beginning to intermediate girl is different (slightly) than one for the beginner to intermediate boy. The more advanced vaulters move to more aggressive poles (Skypole to Pacer FX/Spirit to Carbon FX). The stresses a pole can handle dont care if its a girl or boy...........if the failure point is X then it is X and it does not matter if you taught your dog to vault........Stress is stress no matter how it is applied. The first thing that need to happen (and i put a big long post on here about this somewhere) is a common flex chart used by all pole makers. Then........research can be done to mark poles, like the old browning skypole was, incrimentally. At max grip height it is X at 6" lower on the same pole it is X stiffer.....and so on to a determined stopping point. Until this happens you have to live with what you got.

later, Bryan

[zack]

PVJunkie
Isn't the Mystic (Ms. Stic) made with a lower sail piece? If so, doesn't this help some with regards to girls not having the same speed/jumping ability as guys?

[PVJunkie]

yes, the mystic took the basic design of the skypole and modified it with girls/women in mind.

[Robert schmitt]

When I intitally started coaching I had the same gripe, We had one pole that was under 14'. It was a 12' 120 ms stick and I had four girls wanting to vault. Some girls were heavier some lighter than 120. I had a hard time with a girl getting dq b/c she was 125 gripping down on the pole. and just getting 30 degrees of bend on the pole, and vaulting safely in control. Now that I have got a slightly larger selection of poles and I Know what every school with in 50mi of me has to choose from if I don't have the pole I need. So now I'm not so oppossed to the rule. A kid is just going to learn better tech, safely, and faster holding on a shorter pole at thier wieght and progressing to poles as thier tech improves ( I had a girl this year that started the year on a 12'4" 130 and by thhe time she went ot state she was on a 12'4" 155). Plus most(certainly not all) high school coaches, I don't feel, could or would be able to safely allow thier vaulters to vault on poles under thier wieght.

[rainbowgirl28]

I think a lot of people would argue if you made that rule for girls you should make it for guys as well.... plenty of scrawny freshmen out there that are smaller than half the girls on their team!

[Azbeachboy1]

seariously how many times do you change a pole at a track meet. The weight rule isn't worth anything if they dont enforce it. Ive been to so many meets where they ask to see your pole and check the weight, then all you have to do is write your weight on a piece of paper have your coach sign it and hand it in. Youu could show them one pole and then just go and get another one when you finally vault. They should check your pole everytime you get on the runway, and they should have a scale you should stand on right before each meet so they can record your real weight. Theres just to many ways to get around this rule, its way to dangerous.

[VaultFreak]

I agree with Adam. While you had some good points about the guy girl thing, they do have women's poles. And it is a lot safer and more effective to stiff pole on the proper pole than to wrongfully bend some pole that is way to small-it's just dangerous.

[rainbowgirl28]

seariously how many times do you change a pole at a track meet. The weight rule isn't worth anything if they dont enforce it. Ive been to so many meets where they ask to see your pole and check the weight, then all you have to do is write your weight on a piece of paper have your coach sign it and hand it in. Youu could show them one pole and then just go and get another one when you finally vault. They should check your pole everytime you get on the runway, and they should have a scale you should stand on right before each meet so they can record your real weight. Theres just to many ways to get around this rule, its way to dangerous.

The enforcement varies WIDELY by state to state, and even meet to meet. I was NEVER weighed in high school... not even at state (Cheney anyway, I dunno if they weighed at Star Track). We just had to have paperwork signed by the coaches and AD of each school. My coaches didn't weigh me. They did warn me over and over that they might weigh in at State... in the past sometimes they had weighed and sometimes not. So I was prepared... I had poles I could have used no mattter what I weighed in at. But they didn't weigh. They did check all my poles though, and they were keeping an eye out to make sure I used my poles.

Haha I am rambling...

Some states are stricter. I went to my club teammate's District meet in Florida to help her out. They did have a scale right by the PV area and weighed all the vaulters and checked the poles. I don't know that they checked the poles every jump... but I bet a lot of state meets do.

But yes I think the weight rule is inconsistently enforced nationwide. But that is up to each League, District, Region, State Association, whatever to deal with. Easier said than done.

[vaultovau]

i dont hitnk there should be a special rule for girls... a girl at my high school jumped on a pole 25 pounds over her body weight. she is def not the fastest girl everor the tallest (5-1). but with proper coaching from our coach she was able to work her way up and as she increased the stiffness she made it to over 12 feet her junior year. my sister jumps on a pole 20-25 pounds over her body weight. she is fast, but not strong, she is just not starting to keep her left arm stiffer at take off.

why should a glr be allowed to jump on a pole under her wieght?

the faster you run the faster the pole rotates, so if the girl is slow and the pole is rotating real slow and shes in theair for a longer time, and shes jumping on a softer pole then she was the bigger chance of breaking the pole. i mean speed can break a pole, but usualy its the improper technique, or improper use taht breaks the pole... if the girl is not ready to jump on that stick then give her a shorter stick so she can jump on that hand grip. she will only get used to the soft poles and it will be harder to switch in the end

[vaultfan]

I was at a small meet a couple years ago following a couple of HS vaulters. The official checked the markings on the poles and disqualified a girl’s older pole from a large class Kansas school that had no markings at all. The girl was just fuming and walked over to her dad nearly in tears saying that “our school has used this pole for at least 20 meets with no problems. And we come to this little p*ss ante meet and they disqualify my pole!â€Â