True Pole Vaulting Stories

[vaulter580]

this is a true story..........
......i was in reno two years ago, i was at the black jack tables just drinking away, .....and the next thing i know my buddies are dragging me to the runway cause i was ten minutes late for my comp. ......... the funny part was that i sat down at the table at 2am on friday night, and i didnt jump until sat. at 12 or something,
,,,,,i still jumped 17'2'' but i pulled my hamstring on my last attempt at the next bar......................MORAL OF THE STORY.......DONT LEAVE THE TABLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vaultfan]

Last year, Shana Martin (who vaulted for the University of Wisconsin ) had posted a story of her experience of vaulting with Don Hood, Sr. on her website of http://www.shanamartin.com . When I was attempting to post this story to our message board a few weeks ago, I found that it was no longer within the archives of her site. So I wrote to her asking for a copy. She has had difficulty locating this story and I do wish to thank her for her efforts in finding it for us. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

[12/6/2001 9:58:13 AM | Shana Martin]
Day 1:
Mike and I get up at the butt crack of dawn to get to the airport…I refuse to get up, so Mike throws his 300-pound (although she is darn cute) cat on me. We were not quite prepared for the increased security at the airport. I had to take this computer out of my bag, and put it through separately. They checked my ID THREE times. Once I got through the metal detector a lady pulled me aside and felt me ALL OVER. We’re talking between the legs and everywhere. Then they needed to look through Mike’s bag. After a bit of searching, they found…a leatherman! What a dork! After everything that’s been going on, Mike forgets to take his knife out of his carry on. Then we finally made it to the gate in time for last call. The guy decided he was going to search my bag again. They opened EVERY pocket, my wallet, everything. They even pulled out my personal items and inspected those!!! Then there was Moo Cow. Some of you know that this is my favorite stuffed animal who travels with me anywhere. I don’t like to put him in a bag where he can’t breathe. Anyway, he used to moo, thus the name Moo Cow. So he has a broken mooer inside of him. I had to explain and insist there was not a bomb in my cow to keep the guy from cutting him open. Then the airplane; woah what a ride. We sat in front of three strippers. These girls were LOUD and open. I mean, they talked about everything from lap dances to sex to hair dye. It was a bit amusing to listen to at first, but Mike and I were really tired. When they started talking about how cool it was to be bulimic and do drugs, we were fairly upset. So there wasn’t much sleep on that flight. Once we got to Dallas we got a ride to our rent-a-wreck car. It was actually a brand new car that drove really well. The drive to Dallas was quite interesting. It snows in Texas once in a blue moon, and the night before, they had just gotten a foot of snow. Practically the whole state had shut down. People in Texas also aren’t that great at driving in the snow. By the time we had gotten on the road, the snow was almost gone, but every mile we saw at least one truck that had either flipped or jackknifed. There were also many totaled cars. It scares me to think how many of died on that highway the night before. Anyway, three hours later we were finally in Abilene. We figured we would get a chance to nap and get a bite to eat…but nope; coach Hood had us going right away. We moved the mats from his garage into a warehouse a few miles away. After setting up for a few hours, we did some vaulting with the kids he coaches at Abilene Christian University. We got a bit of a break for dinner, then it was off to vaulting again at 9pm! That night Mike and I learned a lot, and figured out some specifics on what to work on. We both left with a really good feeling. Falling asleep was not a problem this night.

Day 2:
Up bright and early for a yummy breakfast. Then we went back to the warehouse to do some more vaulting. I got on a much bigger pole, and Mike managed to get himself stuck between the mat and the garage. Later that afternoon (after a nice nap and lunch at Subway) we went to the ACU track to vault. It was about 30 degrees the day before, but this day, it was almost 70! More vaulting, videotaping, vaulting, and watching. I finally got the problem in my vault pinpointed. It’s so great to know exactly what to work on. I also know that I want a Sony camcorder with a video screen and slow motion, frame-by-frame playback for Christmas. Hint, hint. After that we were pretty beat. Mike and I showered up, grabbed some pizza and saw Shallow Hal at a local theatre. It was SO good and funny! It really made you think though…what would you do if you were dating a 300 pound person? I mean, in the movie, he saw her as a beautiful girl, until he was unhypnotized. I honestly think that if somebody unhypnotized me and Mike was really 3 or 4 bills, I don’t think I would stay with him. Am I shallow? It sure does sound like it, doesn’t it? Oh boy. Then Mike drove us out in the middle of nowhere, so we could watch the big Texas Sky. Wow it was pretty! (Or perty as they say down there.) Then we went back to Coach’s house and crashed.

Day 3:
We got up fairly early and headed for Texas Tech to watch his ACU kids vault. After the meet, when everybody left the building, Mike, Coach, and I stayed in and vaulted. I got on a bigger pole, but also got quite frustrated because I knew that what I needed to fix wasn’t going to be easy. But it was slowly getting better. Now we’re driving back from the meet. It’s late and I’m tired, but we still have to watch and analyze videos of us vaulting tonight. Tomorrow is another day of several vault sessions. Oy my achin’ body.

Day 4:
We actually got to sleep in this morning! After a quick breakfast and some video watching we went outside to vault. This time we vaulted in Coach’s yard. Let me paint a quick picture. How many people get to vault in a Texas field, with cows on one side, bird dogs barking in the background, turkeys running around, and cats running across the runway. It was SO COOL! By this day Mike and I were pretty beat, but we still got some good vaulting in. I was jumping on a super stiff pole! I couldn’t believe I got into the mats! After the first round of practice we got all showered up and went to church with Coach and his wife. Now, I’m not much of a religious person, but this country church was so pretty! And everybody there was so nice! They even gave us food to take home! After church we ate at this meat place and had some incredible ribs. Then one last vaulting session where we both pretty much sucked because we were so sore and tired. We did some cool drills to poop out the rest of our bodies. Then we went in and analyzed our vaults on video, piece by piece. After showering AGAIN, Mike and I went to this incredible steakhouse. I have never had a steak that good in my life. We figured the cows must have been kept in the back. Mike’s was so rare I think I heard it moo at him a few times. Oh, funny story. Our waiter’s name was Mikah Beck. And Mike’s name is Michael Betz. Funny, eh? Okay, never mind…. After that we went to Toys R Us and played in there for a good hour. I got SO sad. I remember being a little girl and there were only a few kinds of Barbies…Hawaiian and regular Barbie. Now they have everything! They had this one Barbie with a pet kitty…the cat had clumping scoop able litter! How cool is that? I would have flipped for that when I was little! They also had an NSYNC fan Barbie! Now if it were a Backstreet Boy’s Barbie, I so would have bought that! After we bounced around all of the aisles on pogo sticks, we headed back to Coach’s place. I barley made it through the door before I fell asleep.

Day 5:
It’s Monday; time to go! The past few days went by so quickly! Coach got us up bright and early; we had some breakfast then got all packed up. Betty Ann (one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met) showed us out, and we drove to Dallas. Okay, I take that back. Mike drove to Dallas while I slept in the back seat. Oh! Another funny story…Mike loaded my bags into the car, and I guess there was a garbage bag next to my stuff. Mike BROUGHT the bag of trash and put it in the back seat thinking it was some of my stuff! (I’m not that smelly, am I?) So we hauled some garbage with us to Dallas. In Dallas we ate at this Rib place (can’t get enough meat in Texas) with some crazy people working there. But it was a good meal…not exactly low in fat…but a good meal. Then we returned our rental car, went to the airport, and went through security. Here we go again. They had to search Mike’s bag. What was wrong with Mike’s bag? It had another knife in it! This one wasn’t totally his fault though. He had been missing that knife for a long time, and it turns out it was in a little pocket on his laptop case. The funny thing is they didn’t even catch it on the way down. Kinda scary to see how easy it is to get on a plane with that stuff even now, with all of the hassle you have to go through. Mike wasn’t able to check this one, so if anybody wants to give him a mini leatherman for Christmas, I’m sure he’s appreciate it. Then we flew back, nothing too exciting about that. No strippers this time. When we got to Minneapolis, Mike’s mom gave us the yummiest dinner! Then off for the long tired drive back to Madison.

That’s it! That’s the trip. I learned a ton and had a good time. We’re hoping to go back and work with Coach Hood again before season is over.

[jmayesvaultmom]

Well I did see an article and a picture on the wall at Earl Bell's that talked about a guy vaulter that only had one arm and jumped either 8' or 8'6".... think about vaulting with only one arm....THAT is definitely an accomplishment that is true.... someone at Earl's can fill you in with better details.

[vaultfan]

Simon Arkell is the first vaulter from Australia to have cleared 19 feet. At one time he was intending to write a book of pole vaulting stories. Don't know if he ever got the book published, but here is one of his stories which surely is destined to become a "classic":

May 4 1996

The Brazilian Grand Prix meet had been moved from Sao Paulo to Rio De Janeiro. We were pretty excited about competing in Rio because San Paulo was not a great place. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and the poverty was sickening. Anyway, there seemed to be a pretty fun bunch of vaulters going to Rio. I met Dean Starkey at the LAX airport and he was already with Tim Bright and Pat Manson. We were all in a good mood as we flew down to Brazil on the 12 hour flight.

When we arrived in Rio we were greeted by the usual meet promoters, as well as an attache who spoke pretty good English. She was the spitting image of Rose, my old roomate from college in Albuquerque. During the bus trip to the meet hotel we were talking about the surf in Brazil, so she offered to take us by Baja beach, a famous surf spot on the way to the hotel. Dean and I, the consummate surf bums said sure, lets do it. After 2 hours on the bus we arrived, hungry and grumpy. Apparently, the hotel was less than half an hour from the airport, but they took us out of the way because no rooms were available at the hotel yet!

Anyway, the day of the meet arrived and we were all hyped.The conditions were crappy and the results were average. After the meet there were presentation ceremonies, as usual at a GP meet, with the sponsor billboard behind the dais and the whole nine yards. I was telling Pat and Tim that when I got third there 3 years earlier with 18'4" to Sergei and another Russian, Bubka left before the ceremony and I couldn't get a good photo for the wall at home. Sure as hell, Bubka took off leaving Pat and Tim without a similar photo opportunity. No problem, we decided, and told the announcer that in fact Bubka was there. So I donned a hat and shades courtesy of Pat, and when they announced the results of the pole vault, we walked around the dais. "Third Place, Tim Bright" they announced in Portugese. Same for Pat, and when they announced me (well Bubka really), I stood up on the top rung, waved to the crowd, took my flowers, and kissed the girl.Shortly thereafter I signed autographs as "Bubka" for dozens of adoring fans! The boys (Dean, Pat, Tim, etc) were pissing themselves laughing.It was done just to make the book of pole vault stories! Quite a laugh. On the way out I gave Bubkas coach his gold medal, saying I picked it up for him, only to be swamped again by the crowd waiting outside the stadium gates.

The sad thing about it all was going back to being me, world-recordless and quite alot poorer.

[baggettpv]

Grant Polson from Grant Hi (Willamette Striders) Portlasn, Or. does not have a left hand but chose to learn to PV his junior year. He came to camp during the summer and worked real hard for the next 2 years. When he finished his HS career he had a pr of 10'6. He is presently attending Gonzaga University and coninueing his Pole Vaulting during the summer months back in Portland.


Rick Baggett

[rainbowgirl28]

Grant Polson from Grant Hi (Willamette Striders) Portlasn, Or. does not have a left hand but chose to learn to PV his junior year. He came to camp during the summer and worked real hard for the next 2 years. When he finished his HS career he had a pr of 10'6. He is presently attending Gonzaga University and coninueing his Pole Vaulting during the summer months back in Portland.


Rick Baggett

Yeah he is amazing to watch

[vaultfan]

Here's an olde but goodie

Doug “Bubba Sparks – Path to Bronze in Durban
http://members.aol.com/track2ceo/bubba.html

[vaultfan]

One of my favorite PV articles is by Jan Johnson entitled “How Shayla Balentine Became The Girls' Pole Vault Record Holder in 14 Months!â€Â

[rainbowgirl28]

^bump