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I reasoned it out this way. I know that if you hang 45 pound plate from a foot long rope attached to the top of a 16' pole and then raise the pole to vertical with the end anchored in the box, it will take a lot of force to do this. If you take that same weight and hang it from a four foot rope, it ...

It's too late for me to think well, but let me just say this for now. A fast swing adds energy to the vault. That's indisputable. Keeping the COM low and back also adds energy to the vault. The focus of Petrov's method is on a fast swing. The focus of a drive vault is on the low COM. Both methods ha...

I can't stay out of this debate. It has always been my understanding that the longer and further from the chord of the pole a vaulter can keep their COM, the higher they will go. The reason all very small vaulters have done this is because we have to. It's the only way we can compete. You can see th...

The grip issue is critical, I agree. However, since her primary fear is landing in the box, I have been delaying raising her grip until that issue was resolved. We have been consistently attempting her PR even with the difficulties we have been facing and we can absolutely not afford to go two steps...

Just to clarify what is happening in that jump. She is on a 13' 145. She is 5'7" and weighs 120. Her takeoff is just outside of 10'. We are indeed looking for a home for her. She is not with a team right now and is attending a JUCO here in Oklahoma City. She will have three years of eligibility...

This thread also illustrates how theory and practice can come together. Thank you everyone who contributed to this thread and helped me begin to resolve this issue. The future of a very talented young woman is a lot brighter today and my coaching has improved because of your efforts.

Tim, I know every body on this site will disagree, but did you ever consider leaving her take point where she naturally takes off from and work on improving her general take off mechanics. A point of fact is most elite male vaulters ( 5.80 plus vaulters ) take off under. Both Issy and Suhr take off...

We are definitely going to work on the trail leg. I think her fundamentals are decent now, especially at takeoff, though they can always be improved. Her knees could be higher in the approach and she gets the pole a little low at the start of her plant. I'm reluctant to mess with those aspects becau...

Okay. This isn't slow motion. I'll see if I can get that done in the next day or so. This first video is of her getting stuck on her swing while clearing 12'6" indoor. The second is her jumping 13'1" today. What I did was to get her bottom hand elbow facing more outward which seems to have...

This should probably be in the coaching forum but it might give rise to some more advanced discussion. I'm stumped. I have a very talented athlete who has improved dramatically. I have gotten her step out, her plant high; she looks like she should be on the cover of an instruction manual at takeoff ...

If your idea of a Gopro camera is taping a cell phone to your forehead.

The swing to inversion on a high bar is a good way to think about what the arms should be doing. Imagine hanging and swinging with the arms completely passive, doing no work at all. I have not yet coached a single person who could swing their hips to their hands and hold there with no input from the...