Who's everybody's favorite?

[VaultNinja]

toby cuz he represents the helmet heads like me. also just a hilarious guy to watch. always looks like hes havin fun. plus hes got the best pike EVER!!!

Its also hard to top Tobys back-flip off of a full vault, that is pretty impressive and "ballsy" (if thats a word).

[vaultin chris]

dude if u think his is crazy, go watch David/Spencer Stevens, his is ridiculous.

[VTechVaulter]

yeah. spence is an amazing athlete. i watched him at mason last year throw a double back flip off a vault during warmups. my teammate was at a meet last year where he said he did a back flip over 16'5. And rumor is, he has thrown a triple. not saying its true, i just remember hearing it. perhaps carolina extreme can answer that one. Truely incredible

[VaultNinja]

yeah. spence is an amazing athlete. i watched him at mason last year throw a double back flip off a vault during warmups. my teammate was at a meet last year where he said he did a back flip over 16'5. And rumor is, he has thrown a triple. not saying its true, i just remember hearing it. perhaps carolina extreme can answer that one. Truely incredible

That is impressive, but can he also jump 18'10" like Stevenson.......

[vaultin chris]

give him some time. PS he has gone 17'9ish with no pits to practice on...now ask urself that question again...i'd say he is very capable

[VaultNinja]

give him some time. PS he has gone 17'9ish with no pits to practice on...now ask urself that question again...i'd say he is very capable

Look forward to seeing him jump.

[Carolina Extreme]

yeah. spence is an amazing athlete. i watched him at mason last year throw a double back flip off a vault during warmups. my teammate was at a meet last year where he said he did a back flip over 16'5. And rumor is, he has thrown a triple. not saying its true, i just remember hearing it. perhaps carolina extreme can answer that one. Truely incredible

I've seen Spencer do dbl's, dbl's w/full twist's, full twists straight off the top of the pole and straighten out over the bar, etc. (Kids, don't try any of this at home!) When he first started jumping the other vaulters would call his jumps, and at the time he prefered to land on his feet . They would call his jumps like, do a dbl with a twist. He would say, do you want me to land on my feet or back? Then he would do it.

He doesn't do it as much now. Mainly in warmups when he does. Never taken any diving or gymnastics either. Just the best body awareness of anyone I have ever seen. Oh yea, he runs about 10.5 100m and LJ's 24' 11". If he could practice he could be awesome. His school has no pit and he only practiced 5 or 6 times last year and jumped 17' 9.75". It'll be interesting to see if he does anything with his tremendous gift after he graduates this spring. If he doesn't move closer to us, hopefully it'll be somewhere where he can get in some good airtime.

This link will take you to a video we shot of him at the Clemson Indoor meet Dec 6th. He looked effortless over 17' after about 3 or 4 practices this fall. http://carolinaextreme.com/Index_files/page0131.htm Enjoy!

[VTechVaulter]

though he doesn't get to jump often, when he does he gets to train with a coach whom i have come to gain a tremendous amount of respect for in the past year. After meeting him at some of our meets, i def look forward to finding a time to jump with him. So maybe its not about getting a large quantity of practices, but keeping a few practices high quality.

[Carolina Extreme]

though he doesn't get to jump often, when he does he gets to train with a coach whom i have come to gain a tremendous amount of respect for in the past year. After meeting him at some of our meets, i def look forward to finding a time to jump with him. So maybe its not about getting a large quantity of practices, but keeping a few practices high quality.

Brian, Thanks for the kind words. When someone is as talented as Spencer it doesn't take much tweaking. He could make just about any coach look good. Quality sessions are are must though, regardless of how often they might be. If it's not quality you are building in bad muscle memory.

Are you going to the Clemson All-Comers meet on Friday, Jan 23rd. It starts at 5:00pm. You just sign up when you get there and pay I think $10 bucks. Spencer will either be there, or at Christopher Newport. I'll be at Clemson with some of our other vaulters. I might even vault myself Now that's a scary thought. MEDIC!!

[Carolina Extreme]

yeah. spence is an amazing athlete. i watched him at mason last year throw a double back flip off a vault during warmups. my teammate was at a meet last year where he said he did a back flip over 16'5. And rumor is, he has thrown a triple. not saying its true, i just remember hearing it. perhaps carolina extreme can answer that one. Truely incredible

I've seen Spencer do dbl's, dbl's w/full twist's, full twists straight off the top of the pole and straighten out over the bar, etc. (Kids, don't try any of this at home!) When he first started jumping the other vaulters would call his jumps, and at the time he prefered to land on his feet . They would call his jumps like, do a dbl with a twist. He would say, do you want me to land on my feet or back? Then he would do it.

This link will take you to a video we shot of him at the Clemson Indoor meet Dec 6th. He looked effortless over 17' after about 3 or 4 practices this fall. http://carolinaextreme.com/Index_files/page0131.htm Enjoy!

Spencer Stephens is the only guy I have ever seen clear a bungee twice in one jump. I just thought about that, so I thought I would share it. That's right twice in one jump. We were at Jan Johnson's camp in Orlando a few years ago and Spencer did one of his flips which Jan got on film. When we looked back at it we realized that when he flipped above the bungee his toe caught it and brought it around with him... so he was over it twice. Unfortunately Jan said he couldn't find it when he did his next video. Bummer, it looked pretty cool.

Also, several people have talked about his incredible body awareness. He is the youngest of 5 or 6 boys. They used to really make him work hard. For example to ride home from school, it was much to far to walk, they wouldn't stop at his school. He had to run down the car and jump in the window. Also one of his brothers actually drove down a road, at Spencer, and he jumped over the car. He laughs about it now, but he could've been seriously injured. Sometimes when he walks around the corner at his home there will be a deer standing there. So he chases them through the woods... talk about an agility drill. LOL A not so pleasant one was when his brothers duct taped him to a tin roof in the summer time. I guess that was to make him tougher. Ouch! Please don't anyone else try any of these. He has great great attitude and is always smiling whether he clears a height or not, so everyone migrates towards him where ever he goes.

The most amazing thing I have seen him do was at the USATF JO Nationals in Buffalo a few years ago, which he won at 16' 6". While he was waiting his turn, he sat on the ground with his legs straight out in front of him. He placed his hands down on the ground on either side of him, up on his finger tips. Then from that seated position, on his finger tips, he went up through his arms into a handstand... on his finger tips. I would have crushed every bone in my hands if I had tried that. LOL If you can't tell I'm not only his coach, but his biggest fan.

[vaultin chris]

i was in buffalo that year, and i met Spence for the first time and it actually changed my life.

[rainbowgirl28]

i was in buffalo that year, and i met Spence for the first time and it actually changed my life.

I was there too... I no heighted and didn't have very much fun otherwise... glad I went though. Once in a lifetime experience type thing.