how good do I have to be?

[ritz]

hey all,
I am a 16 year old female, if I want to vault at a D1 school, about how high would I have to be jumping by my senior year?

[rainbowgirl28]

Depends on the school... you mentioned Oregon in an earlier post. Oregon is in the Pac-10 which is the toughest conference to vault in! You'd probably have to be at least an 11 footer to walk on.

Plenty of other schools would be happy to have a 10 footer walk on. As far as getting a scholarship... that's going to vary a lot more! There's other threads about that, just search for "scholarship"

[csuvaulter]

I agree, it really depends on the school, so you should talk to the coach at schools you're interested in. It takes about 11-6 to just walk on at places like UCLA, but at other schools you could walk on with much lower heights (like 9 feet or so) if you are willing to work hard. At my school for instance, our vaulters varied from 9-6 to 12-10, and it took 11-6 to get a scholarship.

If you are vaulting on the lower side, you may have to redshirt your first year, and you may not travel to away meets even if you make the team.

[Jenny205]

Don't yall think that the bar is going tobe going up? I would expect that 13+ will be needed to have a chance for a scholarship by the time I graduate in 07.

[rainbowgirl28]

Don't yall think that the bar is going tobe going up? I would expect that 13+ will be needed to have a chance for a scholarship by the time I graduate in 07.

Nah it won't go up that fast. I think by the time you graduate, you'll need 13'+ for a BIG scholarship at a major DI school, but you'll probably still be able to get a decent partial with a 12'+ height, especially at a school in a smaller conference.

[opalkak]

if you are looking to go to a D-1 school to refine your vaulting skills (on a full ride) and be competitive at NCAA's I would probably guess 12+ is what it will take. As with most things there are acceptions to every rule. you could go to a small D-1 with few vaulters, that are trying to get a proram started, and have a better chance of getting a scholarship with less of a PR. As well if you are a really personable, maybe a coach will offer you alot. If you just want to walk on, I don't think PR's matter, its work ethic. Perfect example...Andrea Dutoit (Neary at the time of walking on) had never pole vaulted and picked it up her sophmore year of college, she wound up being the NCAA champ in 2001!

hope this helps

[i_heart_pv]

so ....if i wanted to be recruited to say...ufl....and they'd fly me down there to visit...how high would you have to jump?

[rainbowgirl28]

so ....if i wanted to be recruited to say...ufl....and they'd fly me down there to visit...how high would you have to jump?

If you lived far enough away that a recruiting trip would require a plane ride... I'd guess 13'+.

UF gets a ton of in state talent. They have a great in-state academic scholarship program, so many of their talented vaulters are walk-ons, because Bright Futures is paying for their education.

[ritz]

thanks this all helps a lot. i guess i'll try to shoot for 12 or more. that was my plan anyway, but getting everyone's advice is really good. thanks lots.