summer camps

[charlie]

World Class Sports will be having weekend camps all summer except when we are at meets!!! We have had 40 State Champions in the last 5 years and 70 Region Champions! We CURRENTLY hold ALL State Records in GISA (private schools) in Georgia 1A 2A 3A both boys and girls, and several GHSA boys and girls records. The fee is 150$ for 2 days & 4 sessions( i do not teach swing -tuck- and shoot) I teach the way i and Russian lady and man that are the best in the world technique. WE get blown up off the pole!!! The fee also includes personal training book t-shirt! you can contact me at--- Champ8385@hotmail.com or cell 229-425-0575 Coach Charlie

[altius]

Here we go again - what about some film of at least some of these athletes who have won state titles OR at least an indication of how high they have jumped

[PVforlife]

Altis, I am not sure of your credentials and I will not try to question them either. But as for Charlie, I can assure you he is every bit the expert and his credentials are accurate as he claims. As just one of thousands of students of Charlie, I can attest to his personal performances and world champion credentials as I was there to witness in person many of them. I am a former Georgia state champion and was coached by Charlie. I went on to vault for UGA and GT earning a walk on scholarship at GT. Charlie's techniques are what leads his students to the heights and championship levels they have attain. Not only does Charlie teach the elite techniques of vaulting he also helps youth understand the values and work ethics they need to lead them to the top of whatever they strive to do.

So for those seeking a true expert in the sport of Pole Vaulting Charlie is the REAL DEAL. Whether it's for a weekend summer camp or for an ongoing year round coach you have found one in Charlie. One word of advice, if you are not willing to give it 100% of your commitment don't go to Charlie (but that's true for anything in life as anyone that has been coached by Charlie knows).

[73-vaulter]

Dear Mr. PVforlife,

You just bit off more then you can chew. I agree with Allen. Show us numbers, names and heights. It is not a disbelief, but a desire for truth and factual proof.

P.S. you don't want to question Allen's credentials!

[charlie]

Pitiful insecure people!!!!!!

[altius]

"I teach the way i and Russian lady and man that are the best in the world technique. WE get blown up off the pole!!"

Charlie - I have no doubt that you are a committed coach but if you are going to make claims like this, you need to substantiate them. This is especially the case if by asking youngsters to pay for camps you are SELLING your expertise - in that you must substantiate your claims. You may have noticed that the shoe company Sketchers has recently been fined for claiming - incorrectly - that their shoes will help you lose weight.

There is little doubt in my mind that athletes who begin to master elements of the Petrov/Bubka model - which you claim to teach - can be identified by elements of that model in their technique and usually but not always seem to jump higher than you would expect from their observed potential. So again I simply ask you to put up some film or at the very least provide a ranking list of the athletes you have influenced - and indeed film of your own performance. I will be happy to apologise if any of the film confirms your claims.

Incidentally folks I like Sketchers shoes!

[charlie]

Send me your address and will make copies of fotos and gladly send them to you at my cost, but that will end our discussion!!

[VaultPurple]

Altius, no amount of film can prove what a coach is teaching. The only way you will ever know how charlie coaches is if you go watch one of his camps. And since you are so convinced he is such a bad coach no matter how many of his athletes defend him or people that have actually been around, you should probably book a flight to GA and get to watching.

I have seen great coaches coach crappy athletes, and I have seen crappy coaches coach great athletes. And I have seen coaches that preach one technique change their philosophies for one athlete because they realize that is not what is working for them. A good coach knows how to make athletes improve, any athlete, tall, short, fast or slow. They find what is best for that athlete and make them be the best pole vaulter they can be. You can argue technique till you are blue in the face but at the end of the day if there is a meet and one guy jumps 19' with the worst looking technique in the world and the other jumps 18' looking like Bubka himself, the guy that jumped 19' wins.

So in the end results matter, improvement matters, and how the coach got the kid to improve matters very little. I can show you video of 6 vaulters all coached by the same coach, and none of their techniques will probably look the same to an outsider looking in. But they focus on the key points they are coached and they improve at a pretty good rate.

If you are just mad because he used the word Russian, then oh well. If he said American you would still yell and say Americans do not know how to pole vault. Posting about a camp is to get people to come to your camp, so leave the guy alone!

[altius]

"And since you are so convinced he is such a bad coach"

Looks like you have your knickers in a knot old son - but note that I have never said he is a bad coach. I have merely asked him to substantiate his claims with facts - since our sport is pretty objective that should be fairly easy to do -just put up a ranking list of athletes .But it would be nice to see some film evidence - after all youngsters put up film of their jumps every week on pvp and ask for comments - so it cant be that difficult. VP why dont you offer to do it for Charlie - like me he may be technologically challenged.

[PVforlife]

Mr. 73-Vaulter, I feel your response to my post indicated you did not understand what I was trying to explain. I was attempting to provide two points to Altius/Allen's initial post. First I don't understand the need for people to, all be it softly, cast dispursions on others. And wether intentional or not that is the way I took Altius' response to Charlie's post. Maybe I mis-understood his comment "here we go again".... maybe. My first comment was that although I don't know Allen's creditials, I don't doubt them either (so I was not questioning them as I believe you were indicating). I don't need too, I don't imagine Charlie questions Allen's creditials either. This comes from being secure with one's own abilities and accomplishments. I know that may sound a bit like it's bragging and I assure you it's not. So please understand I am not doubting or questioning his (Altius/Allen) creditials.

The second point of my response was since there seemed to be a desire for proof of what Charlie has done, I was trying to provide a testimonial of just one of the athelets he has influenced over his 30 plus year's of teaching and coaching.

Charlie, I appologize in advance if my following information is not all inclusive or if you feel I have overstepped my boundries by sharing just some of what your students accomplished this past year due to the commitment in coaching you have made to them and their commitment to you to follow your coaching techniques.

I will probably leave out some of the students or some of their accomplishments and for that I appologize to Charlie and any of his students. The following information can be verified on split mile (US or GA).

2012 Girls:
Reed Hancock PR12' 6" GHIA State Champion #32 in the country (SR. Signed with Univ of AL)
Katelyn Utley PR11' 7" GHSA 5A State Champion top 150 in the country (Soph)
Anna Dunn PR11' 7" GHSA 4A Runner up top 150 in the country (JR)
Holly Ebbets PR11' 6" GHSA 4a State Champion top 200 in the country (JR)

There are other girls Charlie has coached this year for the first time including Leah Ward and Alice Arnold who both finished 4th in this year's state meet.

2012 Boys:
Dolphurs Hayes PR15' 7" GHSA 3A Runner up (misses) #60 in the country (SR. Signed with Savannah State)
Eli Sumner PR15' 2" GHIA State Champion (I believe Eli is a JR)
Luke Barstow Middle School FL State Champion 11' 0" 8th in the country

There are other boys Charlie has coached this year for the first time including Jacob Echols PR13' GHSA State 2A 6th and top 40 in the state (JR) and Joseph Arnold PR12' 7" top 40 in the state.

Again to Charlie and any of his students, I appologize if I have omitted anyone. I know that this is only one year and a very very small piece of what Charlie and his students have accomplished over his 30 plus years of coaching, teaching and molding young athletes.

Although I have my doubts that even this will appease doubters, it is my sincere desire and hope that it will help them give Charlie the respect and credit he has earned and deserves.

[altius]

"Altius, no amount of film can prove what a coach is teaching."

Is that so? So are you telling me that coaches in other sports - say gymnastics for example - dont have a very clear model of what they are teaching? If you don't have a model of the technique you are teaching you shouldn't be a coach in the first place -and if you do have a model then that should show up to some degree or other in every athlete you coach - and clearly show up in film of them. Yes I do know that athletes vary in many ways so while their technical model - based on biomechanics -will be the same, their style may well be noticeably different. But it is very easy to tell if an athlete is using the Petrov model- or even the Parnov model- effectively - and you only have to read the posts on that topic on pvp over the years - or look at film of Bubka or the Parnov girls - to know exactly what they SHOULD be doing.

On reflection I have to say that your original comment betrays an incredible ignorance of the whole instructional process - and indeed I cannot believe that you really thought through what you wrote before you wrote it!

I respect anyone prepared to commit their lives to helping young people chase their dreams in sport - indeed that is the dedication in BTB. What I object to is folk using unsubstantiated claims that they are teaching a specific model of vaulting - when they may not be doing so. As I indicated in an earlier response to such claims, I coached virtually every state champion in South Australia for over thirty years - literally hundreds of them - but I doubt that would have impressed US coaches when I first went to the vault scene there in 1997.

One of the problems with the vault in the US is that almost anybody can hang up their shingle as a coach with few if any questions asked. Lawyers,doctors, even teachers can't do it so why allow pole vault coaches to do it - note that since I don't know Charlie's background - other than that he is a committed coach - this is not aimed at him.

[Tom Wilson]

Charlie's a great coach. Doesn't need outsiders to "validate" him as a coach or a person. I am sure Allan is good too. Distant opinions or challenges have no bearing on what Charlie does or doesn't do. I have the utmost respect for Charlie as a person and a coach. Wish I spent more time with him and know I'd be better for it. I grew up being taught if you don't have something good to say just keep quiet. Timeless good advice I believe.