Dutch polevaulter

[vault3rb0y]

As far as i can see, Pole Vaulting is the most friendly and open event in track and field. It seems every other event is bent on competition and winning rather than jumping high with friends. Of course vaulters want to win, but we want to see others jump high too! Maybe it has something to do with the lack of series prize money and endorsements for top vaulters compared to other events, or maybe not.

[txpolevaulter_k25]

As far as i can see, Pole Vaulting is the most friendly and open event in track and field. It seems every other event is bent on competition and winning rather than jumping high with friends. Of course vaulters want to win, but we want to see others jump high too! Maybe it has something to do with the lack of series prize money and endorsements for top vaulters compared to other events, or maybe not.

No, it is just because we are awesome!

[vault3rb0y]

Lol because we are the anti-jock athletes that support everyone and arent obsessed with ourselves maybe!

[souleman]

Seeing that it's a huge issue for me, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that he's looking at the bar from the time he gets air borne till he's looking down at where he's going to land. This should correct itself once the other techniques are mastered. If it's not pointed out at this stage of his development and addressed, he will start to rely on it (looking at the bar) which will prevent him from fully improving the other technical aspects of his jump. Late3r.....Mike

[Run2Niels]

Seeing that it's a huge issue for me, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that he's looking at the bar from the time he gets air borne till he's looking down at where he's going to land.

I have never paid attention to where someone should look during the run-up, take-off etcetera.
Where do you think he should look at, during the different phases?

[kmonty51]

Hey Mike - I noticed the same thing (looking at the bar). Maybe I'm starting to understand this event... though I've still got a long way to go!

How's your training coming? I haven't gotten any updates from you lately.

[souleman]

Search the forum for plant and take off threads. Many deal with the "where to look" issue. For me (because 49 year old habits are really hard to break) I have started to put a "smiley face" ball on top of my pole. I don't allow myself to look anywhere else until I have focused on the smiley face. You can see what I'm talking about by going to Bubba's photo gallery of the Senior games. I'm about half way down on the right side of the page. http://bubbapv.com/Pages/LVille.htm I'm still very far from being any good at the new techniques, but the smiley face deal kind of works for me. For the most part, I believe most on this forum want the focus after take off to be on the upper or lower hand. (Somebody help me on this one). Later..................Mike

[golfdane]

I use a camera that can record 240 frames per second.

That explains the nice fluid motion.

My digital cam can do 30fps (allegedly) in 640*480. Sufficient to point out appearent flaws to athletes. Saves in MOV, that athletes can view at home (using Quicktime), and watch frame by frame. A 2 GB SD card has plenty of room.

[altius]

Plant and take off are good for his experience - agree he does need to open the grip around 10cm -this will give him more control of the pole and enable him to stay behind the pole for longer in the early stages of his swing.
If he is ambitious I suggest you get him to focus on sweeping the left leg - as extended as possible - right back over his head to cover the pole in one continuous movement.

However a major priority is to teach him to turn - start with a very low bar and simply ask him to swing up and turn and look back at you standing on the runway -when he can do that keep putting the bar up - there will be many benefits from this.

Make sure you do a lot of jumps 6 - 8 steps with a stiff pole.

[Run2Niels]

Summary:
-Wider grip for more control and staying behind the pole.
-Extra practice the turn (thank you Altius)
-Make the last stride shorter and be as long as possible in take-off (right arm straight)
-Keep the right arm straight until being fully inverted
-Long trail leg through the chord of the pole.

When he gets better using the above, he needs to use a longer and stiffer pole.

We're already working on it. When I talked about a few points with the boy he was very confident he could jump higher with it.
Not having much time to vault (decathletes ), we will focus on the run-up, plant and take-off first. We have more than 2 months until the next pole-vault meeting...
He is already improving on a mindset of making his last stride shorter (it's also a challenge for him during high-jump and long-jump.)

I'm not yet convinced about the "where to look" issue. But then again, my wife says I'm very stubborn, so it may just take some time...

Again, thank you very much for the tips!