balking

[flyingfox21]

ever since i broke my ankle 2 years ago i have had a major problem with balking (running up and stopping in front of the box). half way through the season, i had the problem mostly fixed. i would only rarely stop from my long run, and never from my 5 step. toward the end of the season things started to get bad again. yesterday i went to a meet, and jumped from my 5 step and stopped at least once on every run after 12'6". i was only holding around 13'3" and have barely ever had trouble taking off holding that low. if any one has advice for me please give it. Thanks

[flyingfox21]

oh yah, my pr is 14'10". my long run is an 8 step from about 105. i was on a 14' 150 and i weigh around 130. thanks

[bvpv07]

Maybe you should first ask yourself why you are balking?
Does it have something to do with fear? If so, does it related to getting injured again?
Do you feel uncomfortable or unprepared for vaulting from that run?
Are you feeling inconsistent and balking because of it?
Are your runs actually inconsistent? (In this case, drills and pole runs with a tape measure, and then slide boxes, are in order.)

You might think, "I don't know why I'm doing this!!! I don't want to, and then I just do!" Try to think a little deeper and see if there is anything underlying to it. If not, then my only advice is to just go. On one of your runs, if you think that you're going to balk, just go ahead and go for it anyways if it is SAFE. Obviously, don't follow this if you're 5 feet out or in a dangerous position. But sometimes (and I have had more experience with this from gymnastics than from pv), it just takes going for it once to make you think, "Well, it wasn't too bad, and nothing happened, so I guess that I really can do it."

[Ali~PVC]

I don't know if this will help, but one spring break, during practice i didn't go up once!! It was really frustrating, so i know how you feel...what i had to do was just stop and tell myself that i know that i can do this. Sometimes you just have to stop and let your body do what it knows how to do. Sometimes you just think too much!!

[SKOT]

the easiest solution is to get a sliding box and practice your full run until you have it down to the point you would feel comfortable doing it blind folded. my freshmen year, if our head track coach saw us "balk" at a track meet, we would be doing sliding box drill in practice the next day until we couldnt walk anymore!!!

[souleman]

In my opinion it's definitely related to your fear of being hurt again. It's been 25 years since I tore my petellar tendon pole vaulting. Now that I'm jumping again I still have the fear of injury working in my mellon still. I'm not balking, but I do give up on the jump after I leave the ground because I don't have the confidence to know I can continue up and over. What I have religated myself to, and it seems to be working, is gradual movements up the pole. Instead of moving my top hand up 3 to 6 inches, I'm moving it up maybe only 2 fingers to a half a hand. Once I gain the confidence there, I try never grab lower than that again no matter how low the heights (and believe me, I'm jumping at some pretty low heights). The exception to this is if I'm not confident with the hand hold there (after a botched practice jump or something) then I just move the hand down and start the process again. If you know your jump is going to be alright and you're not going to get hurt, you'll get that balking to stop. Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. You have to be willing to take that step backwards. Do it and see the progression and the PR's continue. Good luck to you. Later.......Mike
P.S. One more thing.When you're a the top of the runway, are you totally concentrating on the jump? I don't mean "over thinking" (this is pretty simple you know, run, plant, swing and FLY). Check your focus. Could be you might not totally be "there" when it's your turn to jump.
P.P.S.S. SKOT, One of two things here. Either copy and paste the following quote. Or have your coach spend the $30 on Beginner to Bubka. In the book, Alan Launder writes, and I quote, "THE NEVERS, Never use excercise such as running laps or doing press ups as a punishment; remember that as coaches we are trying to sell a 'culture of the physical'. Never be sarcastic. Never publicly embarrass and athlete. Never tell an athlete to do something they are not capable of doing". In my opinion, a balk does not occur because the pole plant is bad. A balk can occur for many reasons, least of which is the pole plant. That's why I feel the "punishment" of slide box and pole plant drills here is not productive. If steps are genuinely off, a balk SHOULD occur. 10 minutes with a tape measure should fix that. A vaulter generally balks because of a mental uncertainty about the events AFTER the take off. Pole plant and slide box drills aren't going to help that one bit. I'm not saying your coach is a bad coach, it's just the way you presented his remedy for balking caused me to make this entry.

[flyingfox21]

thanks. i have a meet today, hopefully this advice will help. ill let yall know afterwards. and once again. thank you all.

[souleman]

Flyingfox21, how did your meet go? Are you still balking? If so, what did you change? If not, what did you change? I'd be inerestedto know. Later....Mike

[flyingfox21]

well i didnt do too well. i cleared 13 by about a foot and came down and hit it w/ my elbow (on my 3rd try). i didnt balk once, though i did give up in the air once or twice. I went from a short run which helped me to not balk. Also i was concentrated on knowing that everything was going to be ok, instead of what could go wrong. I believe i just need to get more confidant from my long run in order to not balk any more. Thanks

[Mecham]

Do you have a mid mark or a planting mark? Those help me out a lot. I just look at the planting mark the whole way down and once i get to it, no turning back and 1-2-3, Plant 2-3!

[bvpv07]

i didnt balk once...I went from a short run which helped me to not balk. Also i was concentrated on knowing that everything was going to be ok, instead of what could go wrong. I believe i just need to get more confidant from my long run in order to not balk any more.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I really mean it! Don't beat yourself up about not doing "too great." The most important thing is that you didn't balk at all and that you are changing your vaulting frame of mind. That is so important.

There was a poll on a post a while back that asked whether we thought vaulting was more physical or mental. I think that, in the end, the mental won.

I agree that the vault begins with the first step, but, even before that (in a pre-vault, perhaps) you make up your mind about what you think the vault is going to be like. Take 3rd attempt vaults: most of the time, if you are really frustrated, and concentrating on the fact that your next attempt may, and probably will be (negative thinking here), your last for the day, it will most likely be just that...and you will still feel upset about it, but will probably have expected it anyways. If however, you really think that you can and will make the height, and concentrate on what you have to do, or *really importantly* reassure yourself that you know what to do & can/will do it, you will have a much greater chance of making the height.

Congrats again that you have your confidence & consistency back from a short run...now all that you have to do is keep thinking positively (or not at all, sometimes); focus not on the height, but on your inmproved consistency & confidence (because without these things, you probably won't get very high); and keep on working so that you can have that same c & c from your long run. Good luck!