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I'm a rising Freshman & have been vaulting for 2 years in middle school. Just found out that the HS I'll be going to has no usable pit and no money in the budget for one. I'm looking for any usable pit--just for practice, not competition-- within a day's drive of Atlanta (really, anywhere in the Southeast). We can pick it up.

Thanks!
3rd generation pole-vaulter
ckthrash@bellsouth.net

3rdgenerationpv wrote:Just found out that the HS I'll be going to has no usable pit and no money in the budget for one. I'm looking for any usable pit--just for practice, not competition--

You should know that under GHSA rules, unless a school has a legal pit, they cannot practice *OR* compete in the PV. So if you will be attending a GHSA school and want to compete for your school, you might want to see if you can get a legal pit for the school so that they can get on the approved list. (Of course, they would need a runway, standards, box, etc as well ...)

I don't know the GISA rules; they might allow athletes to compete despite the school not having their own facilities.

Thanks for the heads up. I think the school is still listed as having legal pit even though that doesn't really reflect reality. I'll be sure to check into this, though, before track season roles around.

GHSA says you can vault even if your school does not have a pit!!!

That's great! I've read the rules and it looked to me like it said you couldn't, but I'll take your word for it, Charlie. I know you know you're stuff. Now let's get a pit! The mats we have are really rotten, but I think they could be used for drills if we could find a top mat, so that's my first priority if someone has just that. Our standards and runway are OK.

3rdgenerationpolevaulter

If your school has a rollout runway, I suggest trying to get it out there whenever the season starts. It will help your legs a lot, especially if your runway is coming up or has holes in it. That's the problem we had at our school, everyone was getting shin splints and once we brought the rollout runway, all their leg problems went away. Good luck with finding a top pad and what not, I know how it feels to have issues with school equipment (our standards only went up to 11'6 unless we took pegs out and moved them up to the higher heights).

charlie wrote:GHSA says you can vault even if your school does not have a pit!!!

Well that's good to know. (I would have been afraid to ask if facing a similar situation. (better to ask forgiveness after than permission before )

In any event, I'd really try to see if you can't get a legal sized pit. There is an important reason they increased the size. (And the bonus is that you can vault at home meets). And there might be some liability issues (for you and your school) if you install an undersized pit at your school.

BTW, make sure you get a good weather cover (if the school doesn't have one), even if its an inexpensive mega sized waterproof tarp held down by 20-30 old tires (with holes drilled in the tires!).