Vaulters Squeezed by Costs

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413 ... 79,00.html

Vaulters squeezed by costs



By Matthew Kredell
Staff Writer


More than a year after national changes to pole vaulting pit regulations put the programs at many high schools out of business, most leagues have pole vault up and running again -- except in the City Section.

Most City Section schools have been unable to produce the $6,000 to $10,000 necessary for new pits, making the future of the event in jeopardy for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

With the cost of the event -- more expensive than all other track events combined -- a lack of coaches, few athletes who pole vault in youth programs and perceived danger, pole vaulting is a floundering event around the area.

"I'm not so sure the event is going to survive in the long run," said coach Scott King from Birmingham High of Lake Balboa, one of the few City Section schools that competes and has excelled in the pole vault. "To be honest with you, the pole vault is not an event we emphasize as much because we don't have it in the league."

With schools on tight budgets, many area programs had to go without pole vault last year when the pit changes were announced to address safety issues. Pole vaulters already at the schools were left to train on their own and compete only in a few invitationals their team might attend.

That set many pole vaulters back. One such athlete was Shawn DeHorney from Antelope Valley, who won the Golden League title in May in his first competition of the season.

"I think Shawn could be at 14 feet now instead of 12, easily," Antelope Valley coach Rob Hucke said. "It kind of hurts motivation with the kids."

Antelope Valley, along with all Antelope Valley District schools, received money over the summer to meet pit regulations.

This season, Monroe of North Hills has a 14-foot pole vaulter in Daniel Harty. He might be the best in the City Section, but no one will know until the City finals. The Valley Mission League voted not to have pole vaulting in league meets.

Many high school coaches are relieved not to have to deal with pole vaulting. The specialized event is difficult to teach for those who haven't experienced it. Also, coaches don't want to be held responsible if something goes wrong. There have been 18 deaths of high school pole vaulters reported nationwide since 1983.

"Whenever someone gets hurt, everyone wants to say it's the coaches' fault," Monroe coach Dean Balzarett said. "I don't want a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against me if someone gets hurt. It's too much of a responsibility. As a track coach with 100 kids, I can't be at the pole vaulting pit the whole time. There needs to be a full-time coach for that one event and, obviously, schools aren't going to pay for that."

What could give the event a spark is more college-trained pole vaulters returning for little-to-no pay as part-time high school coaches.

Birmingham has Robert Mooney, a former pole vaulter for the school who competes at Moorpark College. Valencia has Todd Sprague, a former Fresno State pole vaulter who once went 17-8.

"It takes a pole vaulter to coach pole vault," said Valencia pole vaulter Jill Reynolds, who had the best mark among area girls last season. "It takes a lot of knowledge to coach high school students how to pole vault. I give my props to all the pole vaulters who coach pole vault. It takes a lot of time."

College commitment: Kerry Gamble from Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks has committed to run at UC Santa Barbara. The sprinter finished sixth in the state in the 400 meters last year, tops in the event for an area girl.

New meet: The California Relays debuts this weekend at Home Depot Center, going on at the same time as the Arcadia Invitational.

It seems rather audacious for a new meet to go up against one of the best prep track meets in the nation. Arcadia, in its 37th year, has produced 21 national records and 79 U.S. Olympians.

Terry Kennedy, the Long Beach Wilson coach who helped start the California Relays, said his meet does not intend to compete with Arcadia. This weekend was the only one that the Home Depot Center was available. The date might be changed in future years.

[rebelvaulter]

I'm from the Antelope Valley too, and last year our league cancelled pole vault for the entire season. I was only allowed to jump at the invitational meets that were outside of our valley, and then at our League Finals so that I would have a chance to go to CIF. It took a lot of fighting to make sure that all of the schools had legal pits this year, but we are finally able to vault again. Because vaulting was cancelled last year, we only have 3 returners this year in the entire league. But the good thing is I think we finally got our league to work with us and make sure that we were able to vault this year

[blazerunner121]

i hate it when people don't want to support pole vaulting for whatever reason (money as in issue is the one i dislike). my school just got a new pit, however, no coach can be found and my vaulting team is going without a coach which i feel will be bad for our team.

[Crazytrackbabe06]

Yea, my problem is the other way around, we have our head coach, pole vaulter, and we have another teacher who is a qualified in teaching pole vaulting, but we have no pit, but we're fighting for that one!!

~Jaimie

[crazyboy16942]

we have a pit but no coach or anything. the coach basically says are you fast? fearless? strong? heres some poles go have fun oh and weigh yourself.lol . its actually pretty fun. especially when jerk kids who think they're great at every thing try it and bust their butts