Looking for advice

A forum to discuss everything to do with pole vaulting equipment: poles, pits, spikes, etc.

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austin_tman
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Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2014 4:17 pm
Expertise: Former high school vaulter, still vaulting
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Looking for advice

Unread postby austin_tman » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:14 pm

I am a high school student. I have just purchased a pit for my home. Can you just use the grass for the runway if the ground is flat? Maybe use strings to define a "path"? Also, does anyone have tips for installing the plant box straight into the ground?

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KirkB
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Re: Looking for advice

Unread postby KirkB » Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:53 pm

Please enter your PR (Personal Record) and your age or grade on your profile. Depending on the heights you're attempting on your home pit, the answers might be different.
austin_tman wrote: Can you just use the grass for the runway if the ground is flat? Maybe use strings to define a "path"?

Yes, you can. That's what I did in Grades 7-9, many many years ago. However, there's some issues with this, and since you've paid good money to buy a pit (mine was just a home-made sawdust pit, and I wasn't going any higher than 8-9 feet on it), you should try to find an indoor runway (conveyor belt) to roll out onto your grass.

Some issues:

1. You won't get as good of a grip on grass as on a plywood or rubberized runway. This will affect your "steps", and when you vault in a meet on a real runway, it will cause your steps to be off.

2. To get a better grip on the grass, you should have longer spikes (I'm not even sure if you can buy these any more). Otherwise, you will slip (especially if the grass is wet).

3. You will wear a path on the grass (not sure how pristine your parents want to keep their yard).

I recommend finding a conveyor belt to compliment your pit. Just search for "conveyer" on PVP. I see that you've already searched for "conveyor", so try the alternate spelling. Keep hunting - something will eventually come up. Meanwhile, I suppose you could use grass, but as I explained, there's some issues with it.

You can just lay the conveyor belt on the grass, but it would be even better if you laid it onto 3/4" plywood, with 2x4 framing (search PVP for "plywood runway"). And ideally, the plywood frame should be laid onto a nice level, solid bed of sand/gravel.

Even just one sheet of plywood would give you 32 feet of runway (2 feet wide). But 2 sheets (64 feet) would be better. If your yard allows for a longer run than that, it would be OK to start out on grass, then onto the plywood.

You might want to look at this as a multi-step project. Start with the grass, until you get the plywood laid. Then continue with that until you find a conveyor belt. Also, you can extend the length of your runway as your vaulting technique matures.

austin_tman wrote: Also, does anyone have tips for installing the plant box straight into the ground?

Make sure it's level to your takeoff area. Allow for any conveyer belt or boards that might raise it above ground/grass level.

Put a big rock in front of the box (underground), so that the constant impact of your pole doesn't cause the box to shift forwards (which it might in loose sand or gravel or dirt).

Make sure that there's not a "lip" at the front of the box that your pole might hit. That would be quite dangerous. Even if you must bury the front of the box down an inch or two (but it wouldn't be level then), that would be less dangerous than exposing the lip. There may be other ways to resolve this, that other vaulters or coaches might suggest to you. For example, you could use some tin sheeting to extend the box a bit, then bury the front of the tin.

But if you use a conveyor belt and/or plywood and keep everything level, you won't have this issue.

Kirk
Run. Plant. Jump. Stretch. Whip. Extend. Fly. Clear. There is no tuck! THERE IS NO DELAY!


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