"Proven Wrong" stories.

[birdi_gurlie]

Okay, so last year the main track coach told me I'm "not a vaulter" and then half-way through the season, once I'd gotten decent, my vault coach said "yeah, in the beginning, you were my favorite vaulter because I didn't think you'd ever get off the ground."

I've since gotten 6 feet twice.

However, ALL the new girls vaulters have already, after a month and a half, gotten over 6 feet. Except maybe one. And she's close.
We have 12 girls vaulters and we need 6.

So, today, I messed up pretty bad today and it sucks because I vaulted out at 5'6". URG. I didnt even get over that and it sucks. I put in 3 extra hours in the weight room each week and it has seemed to do NOTHING.

So, a long story later, I was wondering, anyone know of any amazing vault stories? Like, where people prove their coaches wrong?

The best one I know of is a guy named Ryan Oakes. He was told in his sophomore year by our head track coach that he "wasn't vaulter material" [hehe...I've heard THAT one!] but it turned out that once he got some muscle on him, he was AMAZING. He won states 3 times in a row and was 16th in the 2A division in college as a college freshman last year with a vault of 16'1". He recently won a meet with a vault of 15'7".

So...any stories?

[dj]

Hey birdi_gurlie

Why don’t you do this for me…

Go to a lane on the track… put down a small towel as the box..

Measure back 7 feet and put a mark/cone for the takeoff..

Then measure 4’3” back from there and put a cone.. this represents your last step..

Do that 5 more times until you have six steps or 7 cones.. that 7th cone will represent your left foot (if you are right handed) the Six Step Coaches Check Mark..

Move back 2/3 lefts from that mark… turn and face the towel.. run and hit the first cone with your left foot… hit each cone left, right, left, right, left, right, left.. the last left is your takeoff.. so plant and “jump” like a vault plant and takeoff..

Do this with a 9’6” grip until you think you can take it to the runway… if you concur this you can jump 7-6..

Also add a little “sand” vaulting to your training sessions.. dig a hole to represent the box about three feet from the edge of the long jump pit… start with one step and a low grip.. swing but don’t pass the pole… keep your takeoff/trail leg down at all times..

Progress this sand drill to higher grips and a few more steps.. up to three lefts/6 steps..

This will help you beat the “odds”..

dj

[powerplant42]

Take dj's advice and you can REALLY start proving people wrong.

I spent all last Summer sand jumping and doing basic, basic drills on the track. I didn't get to jump on a pit more than 2 times (plus 1 camp). Now my old 7 left grip on my 13'7" 160 is my 3 left grip.

The sand WORKS! Try it!

[Tim McMichael]

From grade school, all the way through my freshman year in high school, I sat on the bench in every sport, even in practice. I was so small and weak and uncoordinated that they were afraid I would get hurt, and I couldn't offer the starters any competition anyway, so I sat on the bench and watched. I wanted to be an athlete so bad that I kept trying out, even though the coaches did pretty much everything they could to let me know I was not welcome. I even wrote a letter to the football coach begging him to let me practice so I could learn how to play. They put me on the kickoff coverage team in the next practice and the other players had a competition to see how far they could make me fly through the air after they hit me. Once I made the B team in basketball, and we went to a couple of B team tournaments. At the end of the season, I was the only kid on the team who had not scored a single point. So the last game of the year they put me beneath the basket and had me just stand there while only four of our guys played defense. The plan was to just lob the ball down the court to me and let me make a basket. In five tries I failed to catch the ball, and it went out of bounds on their end. I remember after my second fumble standing there with tears running down my face while the crowd laughed just praying not to screw up again. Not a good day.

I had been pole vaulting over stuff in the yard with sticks since I was little, but to me it was just a game. I had no idea that it was even an athletic event. When I discovered that pole vaulting was an actual sport, and that in track there is no bench, and that practice would make you better, I spent every spare moment of every day jumping or training. The coaches were happy because I was out of their hair. They just sent me off to vault, or lift, or run; whatever I wanted to do, as long as I was out of their way. I ended up winning two state championships, both with meet records. I won the US Junior championships and was 6th in the Junior World Championships. I won the Big 8 title at the University of Oklahoma. Later I added the NCAA Championship and meet record. After that I traveled around the world as a journeyman pro and did mission work behind the Iron Curtain with Athletes in Action. I was twice second at the US Indoor championships, 11th at the indoor World Championships and made the finals of two Olympic Trials.

I have never, ever told any kid that they could not succeed at this sport. But there is a price to be paid. Constant practice and complete passion are required. Don't be discouraged. I made 6' and 6' 6" for most of my first season and then blasted over 8' 2" in the last meet of the year. I got a silver medal that I still have in a shoebox somewhere.

Keep after it!

[birdi_gurlie]

Thanks!
I must admit, I do kind of see his point...I was a stick last year. Took me a month to get over 4'6" and then another month to learn to throw the pole back. And I had VERY little muscle...couldn't even bench press the bar. But I've gotten MUCH stronger since then...but still not strong enough.
But I have it planned out.
Over the summer, I am trying to get into a 4week camp and then a 3 week camp...
During the 4 week camp I'm gonna do something like this:
Mon: Arms
Tues: Upper Body
Wed: Lower Body
Thurs: Arms
Fri: Upper Body
Sat: Lower Body
Sun: Rest
And then at the other camp I'm going to do SOMETHING every day to build strength. [Push ups/sit ups/crunches/planks/lunges/various other things...have to look up some exercises]

I can't do that now bc I cant drive yet...so I rely on my dad to drive me to/from the gym. And I can't get into the right mindset at home.
I will do something!
My goal is to come back and have them go, "Dang, you replace Guns as the strong one!" [One of the girls on our team has some good biceps.]

[Tim McMichael]

Be careful of overdoing the lifting. You are not getting stronger when you lift. You are getting stronger when you are resting after you lift. It sounds like you are still really young. The best kind of strength development you can do is running with a pole, high bar work, and rope drills.

[birdi_gurlie]

Sophomore.
I wasn't going to do much...the weight room was over the summer for a month, with rest in between [two days between when I do each muscle...now I'm doing one bc I'm doing a little of everything 3 times a week.] because that is the only time I will get at the gym, except for the few weeks I'm home. About an hour, at most. [Unless I'm doing crutches or sit ups there. That is different...it takes me a little time to do those.]
Unfortunately, at those camps, I cannot do those things becaue there are no pole-vault resources there. {Well, one will be at a college, thus the weight room, but I highly doubt that if they're practicing over the summer they'll let a rising 11th grader vault with them. HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt it.
Also, if you could see me, you'd understand the weight lifting. My dad actually said this is the best time to be in the weight room bc any muscle I add now is muscle I have for the rest of my life.

[powerplant42]

If you ARE going to lift, the Summer (off-season) is the time to do it.

But as a high schooler, try to keep most of your strength developping from vault specific excercises (HIGH BAR, plyometrics, etc.).

[mcobb1013]

i can't beat that guys story above me but since im still in highschool maybe u'll identify with mine more

from 5 to my freashman year of highschool i played baseball. i was always good but never the allstar of a team but i still started every game i had ever played unless it was a rec league where u couldn't start every game. my sophomore year i ran indoor track to try to get in better shape and get more speed for baseball and one of my friends pole vaulted and somehow convinced the coach to let me try it. i wasn't amazing but i was the best of all the new people trying it so the track coach let me vault 2 or 3 days a week and my season high was 7'6". well baseball tryouts came again and i tried my best and was very confident that i would make the team like the year before... i didn't. i was devestated and didn't know what to do but that night i made my mind up i was going to play some spring sport bc im a very active person. i talked to the track coach and he said i could mostly because he liked me and we only had 2 full time vaulters and 1 that was on the baseball team that i got cut from. so i worked very hard everyday normally staying an hour ofter practice had ended. well at the conference meet that year i jumped 11' and was all conference. at the banquet we had at the end of the season when he called my name for making the varsity team he said, "well when i first saw this guy i didn't know what i was gonna do with him. he was slow had no stamina and was goofy as heck. eventually he found his way over to the pole vault mat and worked harder then most of the runners i have ever had and as u can tell made it onto the varsity team."

so just remember just because someone doesn't think ur gonna be good or tells u to give up doesn't mean thats the way it has to be u just have to keep working and make up ur mind u won't stop till ur the best and i promise one day u will be
just keep working at it and im sure if u want it bad enough u could jump 10' one day

[birdi_gurlie]

To the people who say "you don't need to weightlift yet." Trust me on this one. I do. I am 5'3" and a lil less than 100lb. Last year, the head track coach told me I wasn't a pole vaulter; I was a distance runner. Halfway through the season, once I'd gotten decent at vaulting, my vault coach said that in the beginning I was his favorite vaulter bc he "didn't think I'd ever get off the ground."

Thats a great story! Yeah, I want to eventually vault that high! I can't stay after practice extra though. I don't know what to do in that extra hour of time without vaulting, and we have to have a coach/captain with us when we vault. [Safety reasons, obv.] However, about 3 times a week, I go to the gym for about an hour [at least...sometimes a little more.]

[birdi_gurlie]

Hey birdi_gurlie

Why don’t you do this for me…

Go to a lane on the track… put down a small towel as the box..

Measure back 7 feet and put a mark/cone for the takeoff..

Then measure 4’3” back from there and put a cone.. this represents your last step..

Do that 5 more times until you have six steps or 7 cones.. that 7th cone will represent your left foot (if you are right handed) the Six Step Coaches Check Mark..

Move back 2/3 lefts from that mark… turn and face the towel.. run and hit the first cone with your left foot… hit each cone left, right, left, right, left, right, left.. the last left is your takeoff.. so plant and “jump” like a vault plant and takeoff..

Do this with a 9’6” grip until you think you can take it to the runway… if you concur this you can jump 7-6..

Also add a little “sand” vaulting to your training sessions.. dig a hole to represent the box about three feet from the edge of the long jump pit… start with one step and a low grip.. swing but don’t pass the pole… keep your takeoff/trail leg down at all times..

Progress this sand drill to higher grips and a few more steps.. up to three lefts/6 steps..

This will help you beat the “odds”..

dj

I am not taking off anywhere near 7 feet away from the box.
Also, I'm confused about how to do that and what the sanf vaulting is. If anyone has a video of either, please let me know!

[powerplant42]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeHDz_owT64

I have three girls about as big as you that I 'coach' (1 is actually probably smaller, around 5' 90), 1 is a semi-experienced vaulter, and 2 are new. They probably all run the 100 in around 15-17 seconds. I will not have them in the weightroom more than once or twice a month... it is all about speed, a high plant, and staying behind the pole for them... and me. But now that I have most of the basics somewhat solid, I can focus more on plyometric activities and strength.

Do you have BTB2? Get it!

Here's what you can do after practice (that doesn't require a pit):
pole runs
any kind of plant drill
20/20's (or dj's drill)
various sprint drills with and without the pole
sand vaulting (might not be allowed)
flying 20's or 30's
regular sprints with and without the pole
plyometrics
bungy bar drill