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[rainbowgirl28]

I got this note from an elite vaulter of Spivey's era:

Regarding David Spivey, I saw him jump the 5.48. I do not believe he ever jumped higher in a real meet. In 1983, someone jumping 18-10 would have been a BIG deal! I would have heard about it, aside from the fact that the mark was never reported! I also know Spivey, and don’t believe he is claiming a bogus mark.

[LHSVaulterJJR]

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[rainbowgirl28]

haha so now im just claiming false hieghts on his behalf? no way, the man has told me this over and over. as a matter of fact it was amplified because the "accident" happened THE DAY after he jumped 18 6' about 2-3 months before the olympic trials. believe me im not trying to bump up spiveys reputation buy inciting false claims. Theres no point in it, it would just make me look stupid and make him look like a liar..... you know what. ask dj if he jumped the mark. ol dj lived with spivey for about a year. he should be a reputable source.... and like i keep telling you contact terry long or one of the vaulters I MENTIONED. terry IS the head coach at fsu so itd be easy to get in contact with him. anyone find those meet results yet? thatd still be your best bet.

That was one of the vaulters you mentioned that emailed me that.

[Davidbudlight]

Anna a freshman Placed forth in the state meet today, Go Anna.....She cleared 8'6,9'0,9'6,10 on her first attempts....New School Record....WOW
I told her now is the time to get on the big pole, and she replied which is my big pole....Freshman

Anyway she got on her big pole, came up short on her first attempt, caught it with her elbow on her second, "so close", but she was over it. Third attempt was ok but we should all be proud of her not only for placing 4th but how she did it. I have never meet a freshman that relaxed. Just having another day of fun fun fun pole vaulting....Proud of you Anna....Coach

[Davidbudlight]

I just finished reading what you all have been posting. I'm starting to think that I'm not qualified to coach the Pole Vault. You all know more about the Vault then I ever will know. WOW
Now I know why Jason had a hard time jumping, he was thinking to much and not letting his body figure out the timing. It is not that hard to jump 14 and higher, Learn some good basic drills, practice them to learn the timing and have fun.
I'm pretty sure of this though, I know the little things, the basic's and the timing. Just a quick thought, TMI To much info. I'm not sure I could have jumped high knowing all you all know because I would be thinking to much and not be able to run down the runway. Kiss method worked for me and it works for other I have had the chance to Coach. One thing I will say about you all, you have a great passion for the sport I love....Keep it up and maybe keep it simple, easy and fun. I didn't jump high to clear crossbars, I jumped because it was fun.

David Spivey

[KirkB]

... Kiss method worked for me ... David Spivey

David, I really appreciate you posting on here!

Despite my scepticism, I'm warming up to you! I'd sure like to see your PR published somewhere ... but still ... I already know that you had good hip height over 18-6, so your talent isn't being questioned. We're just trying to make sense of why your 18'+ vaults aren't published.

Your attitude towards not overcomplicating the technical aspects of the vault has merit ... especially for someone that's gifted with the speed and natural gymnastic ability that you apparently had. And when Mike Cotton says that YOU were fast, you better take that as a HUGE compliment, because when he vaulted against me in the early '70s, he was THE fastest down the runway. Well ... maybe 2nd fastest ... I'm not sure who would win in a foot-race ... him or JJ.

Despite the "confusion" over your PR, you obviously cleared some mighty high bars in your day!

You remind me of Kjell Isaksson, who I'm sure you've heard of. Like you, he was a star gymnast before he turned to pole vaulting. He actually didn't practice much ... he just competed in a lot of meets ... and he didn't actually focus on any particular technique during his swing/invert/extension. According to him, he just "did what came naturally". Of course, you can't do that if you don't already have a really good gymnastics background.

For the rest of us mere mortals, we must train hard, study the technical aspects of the vault intensely, and do the best we can with the physical bodies we were born with. Having said that, you CAN become a good pole vaulter even if you're not naturally gifted. It just takes more practice and better technique.

As a coach, I agree that you need to KISS ... and provide just enough information that your vaulters can absorb. You can't just stand around and talk theory with them all day ... they'll get bored and stiffen up ... you need to get them VAULTING ... and then give them FEEDBACK!

But maybe we can advise YOU about a few of Jason's technical flaws?

Again, thanks for posting!

Kirk

[Davidbudlight]

Good morning Kirk,
Warming up to me, thanks I did read many self help books in business. Thanks for the help with Jason and the continued help. A video can show many things but what it does not show is how tight Jason runs and how tight he jumps. I guess he forgot to mention that. I have not changed his jump much just his approach run. Next year we will reformat his brain and work on the basics because we will have the time to do so. Change everything in 2 months is like rolling the dice and I did not want to do that with him. He is slowly learning how to relax and let the pole do the work. He vaults so tight, when he learns to relax so he can naturally swing and not lift his legs and hips he could be pretty good. He sure does love to vault like I did when I was jumping. Even when I did not know what I was doing it was fun.
As you can tell from the photo, summer meets weren't that organized I guess. In the pic of me at Auburn you can see it was not very big. Just trying to go anywhere that I could to get more experience because I did not have much. And getting use to holding 15'8 to 16. Maybe 100 athletes and 50 to 75 watching. I think there were 8 vaulters. I came in at 16 to win it. Another guy jumped 15'6 and that was it. So I guess maybe I did not jump the height I mentioned. If it is not recorded I guess it may have never happened....I do have a Pic from my mom of the 18'6 jump but as I mentioned before my 17'8 jump at the Pole Vault camp in Fl made me realize I could really be good. I stood on it, and it felt so easy when I did it.

I would rather be known as a good husband, father and coach then an 18 plus jumper, "18 is ok with me". At times I wish I did not get shot, and see what might have happened. And then I think I may have not met my wife and had my kids. I think the choice is an easy one at least it was for me. I do remember someone saying if you jump that high next year you can make a traveling team and go overseas. I really did not get to excited about the height because I was finally ready for the upcoming year but as you know that never happened. I think that the jumps that are recorded somewhere, I have no idea where, are good enough to say I kinda have an Idea how to do this. I never thought that I would be trying to start a camp and training school. My oldest jumped 14'6 and was also a state medalist 5th in the 300IM like his dad. He jumped 13'6 after running the IM and took 5th and did not make it to state. My second son 2 years later jumped 13 and won his region and went to state. Timing is everything. So you would have thought that I would have started a club then. Well the reason now is the persistence of Kirk D. and Jason and them talking to many kids that want me to teach them the basics of the jump. I remember Cotton telling me if it ant working go back to the basics. And we do that and teach that. To tell you the truth it should be "Jasons Pole Vault Camp and School", it is his passion that is getting me excited. Excitement breeds Excitement, Enthusiasm breeds Enthusiasm......He is driving me crazy...kidding

As far as this chat thing, I am not so good at it. I would rather be playing with my 8 year old daughter in the sprinkler or my 13 your old playing on the trampoline or going fishing. So getting on is kinda tough. If you do have a tip or two for Jason just remember that he runs like a tin man, and is as stiff as the pole he is jumping on....He has improved much and his improvements speak for themselves. BTW my wife read a few post and she said honey you are dyslectic. I see numbers and letters backwards. So maybe it was 6 feet 18 inches...Just a thought....David

PS I would love to find a video of me coming down the runway, not a slow mo of my take off and rock back and fly away from an old training video. So if it ever comes up in a box around the house, you can tell it is me because of the hair and my arms do not straiten. Is that how you spell that.

David Spivey

[LHSVaulterJJR]

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[teamcox]

Spivey is a legend, I meet him at the University of Florida Pole Vault Camp while in 10th grade in 1981, and he was killing it then too. I vaulted my 1st year at Santa Fe and heard about his exploits from Coach Dice there prior to my arrival, and again at Florida, he is the real deal...