Describing the pole vault...

[Split]

The thing is, up until this year, we weren't able to make cuts or suggest to an athlete to try another event (don't ask why because I don't know either). So there would be people that weren't even curious, they just didn't want to run, and we couldn't do anything about it. They no heighted at every meet, rarely showed up to practice, etc.

[souleman]

I guess a lot has to depend on how many vaulters you're working with. Most of our varsity meets only allow for 3 to 4 vaulters per meet per gender. The coaching staff also schedules quite a few JV meets or JV participant meets throughout the season. These JV meets are where the less accomplished vaulters go. We have any where from 8 to 10 girls and roughly an equal amount of boys vaulting during the year. Some are multi event athletes and in most occasions those vaulters aren't varsity vaulters but they still spend time at the pit for reps and coaching. We had one girl who was multi event her freshman and sophomore year who decided rather than be average at many events, she would focus on the pole vault her last two years. She scored more points for the team as a vaulter than she ever did as a multi event athlete. That's why you don't want to eliminate an athlete until that athlete basically eliminates him or herself. One thing that is mandatory is all have to come to practice during the season (no scheduled practices can be scheduled from July 30 through March 1st up here in Minnesota). No practice, no jumping, either in practice or at meets unless it's an excused absence. Make them sign a written "expectations and goals" sheet if you have to. You will see that the cream will rise to the top and those will be the vaulters you will gravitate to. Keep in mind though, that those that are a few tiers down are your future vaulters so you'll need to have a plan for them. Key thing is (with the vaulters I'm presuming you're working with) make it fun, make it productive (BTB2 is your guide here) and don't beat them up. You'll find you'll have more fun with this and so will the kids. Later.................Mike

[Split]

Yeah, I don't wanna stress over if they're gonna commit themselves to it, but at the same time, I want to have a winning team. Our school is known as the vault school in our league, and I want to make sure that it stays that way. I just want to make sure that all these kids are joining because they want to be good, not because they want to avoid running and get an easy A.

[powerplant42]

So again, make them run. Not far, but hard. Put them on the clock. Do flying 20s and 30s.

[Split]

Also, I'm getting BTB2.
Is the DVD essential? Or can I just go with the book?
This is only for a while...I should be able to get the DVD in a few weeks...

[powerplant42]

Definitely get the DVD too. I have 3 different versions and they're all excellent!

[Split]

Dang.
I'll make sure to get them then.

[powerplant42]

I only payed for one though! You just gotta get lucky (or in my case, unlucky... wierd stuff happened and then it all turned out good!)

[Split]

Haha.
I'm pretty sure my coach has some DVD's lieing around in his office. I'll check them out.
There's always Neo Vault though.

[powerplant42]

BEWARE: There are plenty of pole vault instructional DVD's out there, but there are many that give incorrect or misleading information.

[Split]

Yeah that's also true. But with so many out there, how will I know which ones are true or not?
I prefer to get everything from one source, but if that source is wrong, then I'm destined to fail.

[powerplant42]

I would seriously recommend just buying the BTB2 DVD... then you can check out what other DVD's you've got access to, and then see how they compare!