Tim McMichael wrote:Even though she is landing in the middle of the pit she feels like she will land in the box if she swings and finishes the vault. This may be because her improved takeoff has gotten her on much bigger poles than she used in high school. However, there is more to it. It's obvious to me that her under and low takeoff triggers her nervous system to swing. When she takes off from the correct position she is lost in the air.
Whilst video would help readers to assist in solving the problem you describe the key is in "Even though she is landing in the middle of the pit she feels like she will land in the box"!
I suspect that the rate of progression to "bigger poles", especially increased grip length, has been 1. rushed and 2. the vaulter does not have a strong upspring at take-off due to 3. trying to bent leg "roll" through the mid position of the take-off foot contact allowing the impact of the pole in the box to provide lift into take-off 4. the effort of "bracing" through her torso and abdominal core to maintain the high plant freezes or locks the lower limbs due to massive co contraction of the hip muscles of the swing leg 5. positioning of the uprights not far enough back towards the landing pad.
If any of the above strike you as reasonably applicable to the specific case of this vaulter then I think short run long swing inversions to flat back landings on the pads may help. Then the same long swing drills finishing with half turn to front landing. The coaching emphasis should be on the upspring and
immediate trail leg swing initiation on take-off (the emphasis in the long swings is to penetrate towards the furthest edge of the landing zone towards the back of the landing pads). This will help with "unblocking " the trail leg swing initiation especially if accompanied by the lead leg continuing to flex the lead leg hip to actively continue the upward component of the lead leg propulsive effort.
This can then progress to short run long swinging inversion half turn over a very low bungy located about 1.0 t0 1.5m back, from the box rear wall, with the bungy cord suspended beyond the leading edge of the landing zone. Then progressively bring the bungy towards the 0.8m upright setting increasing the height of the bungy in 5 -10 cm intervals repeating the above.
When the bungy is at about 2.0m in height and the uprights set at 0.8m the vaulter should be confidently jumping up at take-off, swinging the trail leg immediately after take-off, and able to maintain continuous motion into inversion half turn to a two feet landing well back on to the landing zone squarely facing back towards the runway. When the vaulter makes the two foot mat contact she should be encouraged to roll backwards maintaining motion continuity. Not only is this safer but it will encourage her to become confident in maintaining greater rotation speed in traversing the bungy cord.
Short run pole vault take-off swing and half turn drills using the sandpit is also useful in maintaining the trail leg swing early initiation and continuation throughout the vault as run up and grip lengths on the pole increase in the 2 step increment pattern. The sand pit drills have very good positive technique transfers to runway and box plant vaulting.
Keep the uprights at maximum (80cms) setting during the vaults with gradual increasing grip lengths and the step progressions to full run up. Resist the temptation, due to time pressure, to progress the vaulter so that she fails to fully execute the swing and inversion turn pull /push and demonstrate motion continuity with uninterrupted pole chord penetration towards the landing pads. When initial failure to achieve the desired action occurs go back to the previous step in the progression for increasing step number and grip length along the pole at which success was achieved 100% of the trials. Under no circumstances be tempted to persist and reinforce failure by persisting at the progression step at which failure was reached.
All the above is without seeing the vaulter performance and so may be quite irrelevant. There are other coaching art issues that may be hindering this vaulter's progress such as the psycho-social considerations related to her particular circumstances and her opportunities to benefit from your coaching input which could be of equal importance in affecting her performance.
Hope this helps your joint efforts by "making haste slowly" to reach the desired goal despite the time pressure you both may be experiencing.
PS: Never include odd number steps in the progression to full run up, the order being 4,6,8,10,12, 14 ... to final desired full run on grip length and pole selected is recommended! Including odd step numbers is inviting confusion, diminishing returns in performance consistency and rapid erosion of vaulter confidence.