Head case when bar goes up

[vcpvcoach]

I have a girl vaulter who works the hardest at practice. She studies the vault in her free time. She's the first at practice and the last to leave.

So here's the rub, if she misses her first attempt in a meet, she completely falls apart. She starts to pull on her top hand at takeoff. Her hip move past the pole and she can't swing. Also, I know exactly what she is going to do because she takes almost 45 to 50 seconds to start her run.

She is in her third and last year of high school. So, what would you do?

[rainbowgirl28]

Lots of meet simulation (vaulting over bars from both short and long run) in practice, and work with her to develop a mental thing to say before she starts her run so that she is consistently starting right away and not waiting so long. Like "3-2-1-Go!"

[souleman]

If you're not doing a lot of "crossbar up" stuff in practice that would be a start. Usually headcases get in trouble thinking too much when in fact the problem is confidence. The more she jumps and makes bars in practice the more confident she will be at the meet. I'd also recommend (if the officials will let you) jump a bar or two in warm ups. That way you can see where she's at for the day. If she's a little off, then start her a little lower so the first bar miss doesn't happen. After her first miss then "distract her" while she's walking back to the top of the runway so she doesn't have the time to, once again, "think too much". Obviously with her it's more psychology than it is technique. Good luck........and...........later..............Mike

[dj]

hey

practice an awesome run on the track...move it to the runway and give her confidence...

hopefully the rest will start to happen...

dj