Parents and Scholarships

[Barefoot]

I'll be entering my third year coaching the vault at a small high school in California...

Last night I was visiting socially with a few parents and the dreaded word "scholarship" came up. Now, these are the parents of girls that are rising sophomores, we have half a dozen girls who jumped between 8'6" and 9'6" their freshman year. The girls were all first year vaulters with no previous experience and are all excellent students with concerned and involved parents.

My response was "we need to wait and see how they develop". But since parents seem to start planning college when kids enter pre-school, I suspect that answer is, or will soon be, insufficient. My understanding is that pole vault "scholarships" are not abundant, but that being a good vaulter may widen the students opportunities for acceptance at some colleges and may open doors to other forms of financial aid... is this incorrect? Not having trod this path before, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

What advice should I be giving parents?
What advice can I give the kids and what goals should the kids be setting?
How can I facilitate the process for kids looking to vault in college?
Are there people we should contact or resources we can be using?

Thanks, Coach B

[rainbowgirl28]

I'll be entering my third year coaching the vault at a small high school in California...

Last night I was visiting socially with a few parents and the dreaded word "scholarship" came up. Now, these are the parents of girls that are rising sophomores, we have half a dozen girls who jumped between 8'6" and 9'6" their freshman year. The girls were all first year vaulters with no previous experience and are all excellent students with concerned and involved parents.

My response was "we need to wait and see how they develop". But since parents seem to start planning college when kids enter pre-school, I suspect that answer is, or will soon be, insufficient. My understanding is that pole vault "scholarships" are not abundant, but that being a good vaulter may widen the students opportunities for acceptance at some colleges and may open doors to other forms of financial aid... is this incorrect? Not having trod this path before, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

What advice should I be giving parents?
What advice can I give the kids and what goals should the kids be setting?
How can I facilitate the process for kids looking to vault in college?
Are there people we should contact or resources we can be using?

Thanks, Coach B

That's especially tough with high school girls, because they often hit plateaus as they grow, so jumping well as a freshman is no guarantee they'll be any better as a senior.

They should focus on academic and merit scholarships, and not count on a pole vault scholarship. If they're lucky enough to get one, great, but there's no way of predicting that now. There are plenty of opportunities to walk on at smaller schools, but very limited scholarship opportunities.

If you have kids who want to vault in college, have them contact college coaches during their junior year and find out what it takes to get a scholarship and what it takes to walk on.

Have your kids compete in other events, especially the long jump and 100. College coaches want potential, and their marks here are a good indicator of whether or not they have it.

When they get to their junior year, you (or their parents) could put together recruiting videos.

But for now, just encourage them to keep their grades up, take advantage of camps and clubs, and keep fit.

[Robert schmitt]

I tell them that the pole vaulter is so specialized that most colleges want an exceptional vaulter because they can only score points in that one event. not like a sprinter, long distance person who can do multiple events. Then I give them some expectations. A 9'6" give could walk on at some DIII teams. I've had 11'3" vaulters get any thing from a full ride offer at harvard (she was also validictorian) the same girl ended up having to walk on at UCSD. I've also had 10'6" girls get partial scholarship offers from small DII and DI schools. But mostly they are not the schools they want to go to and grades are probably more important. You really need to be one of the top in the nation to get a scholarships to anywhere you want to go.

[Barefoot]

Thanks for the replies. Should be an interesting three seasons. I'll try to remember to let you know how it all turns out.