PoleVaultPower.com

I'm looking for a pole for a 5 foot 75 lb. 7th grader. Any recommendations?

Just for training purposes and cost effectiveness... if you have a broken crossbar that's maybe 7.5/8ft long that could work for him/her. Had to go that way when I had my little sister starting out since she's so small, now she's worked her way onto a real pole. If a pole is absolutely necessary, try to find something around 90lbs and maybe 9 or 10ft long. I don't have any, but hopefully this can give you an idea of what to look for! Good luck!

Boy or girl? (Gives an idea of how quickly they'll grow)

OK other thread you said boy... they tend to grow really fast at that age! I would recommend something around an 11'100. He won't be bending it right away, but that's fine, he'll learn better technique not bending the pole at the start.

You answered what I needed to know. They have him on a 10' 81 right now, so that sounds about right for what you have said. Thanks.

Yeah, this early in his development, you'll want to be making pretty big jumps in pole sizes if you have to purchase your own. As he gets older and the growth slows down, you'll probably want smaller jumps in pole size.

The good thing is that the smaller poles make great practice poles as he gets older, or when they are too small even for that you can resell them.

You might also look into http://www.rentpoles.com/

Just to be clear... the average weight gain at his age is 10-15 lbs per year... the average height gain is 2-3 inches.

You get a 10 foot pole that is 15 pounds over his weight, he will grow into it over the next year, meanwhile he learns to stiff pole vault which is the basis for every good vaulter. If he's just starting he doesn't need a pole he can bend.

You should also understand that in general a pole which is 1 foot longer will be 20 pounds stiffer at the same grip height. So if the max grip on a 10 foot 100lbs pole is 9'8"... the same 9'8" grip on an 11 foot pole would be 20 lbs heavier, or rated at 120. This relative grip rating is not taken into account within the High School rules which may apply to Jr. High vaulters.

OK, I have a question or two, is he jumping in a school (high school rules) setting or a club setting? If he is just beginning and is in a club setting, or in your back yard, you should be able to go to your high school and walk up to the track coach and say "show me all of you broken or damaged poles". Grab all he'll give you and take them home, strip off the tape and take a look at what you've got. Keep in mind you want nothing shorter than say 10'6" stock. You should be able to come up with some very good training poles that will work well for a year or two while he's learning correct stiff pole technique. He can surely learn to jump on this stock and frankly, the only thing he won't be able to do is jump at a high school league meet on it. As you will see on this forum, most of us are not big on "bending a pole" but instead learning the event on a stiff pole. The stiffer the pole, the better the technique has to be and the better the transition to a flexible pole down the road when he'll need it. If it is a school setting then the busted pole idea won't work. However, in the school setting he'll have many poles to choose from and it sounds like they've got something that is working right now. To me, it seems a little small. As a 7th grader, he should be able to stiff pole 8', as an 8th grader 9 feet, as a 9th grader 10 feet, by then, because he'll have a pretty good technique started on the stiff poles the transition to the flexible poles will really add to his PR's from that point on. The trouble with "bend focus" at the off set of learning the event is that a flexible pole hides a lot of technical flaws that coaches later in the jumpers career end up getting a lot of gray hairs about when they try to fix them. With the high school season as short as it is we just don't have the time. Just my .22 1/5 cents.............Later.............Mike