Pole Vault - 3/5/17

We're BACK!  After a much needed break and time for one of our Olympians to heal from a nagging foot issue, we are ready to finish off this journey.  Only 8 events left to conquer!!!


We spent a rainy Sunday morning at a beautiful indoor facility with two great coaches for our pole vaulting lesson.  Buzz Andrews and his son, Chad – of TexasExpress Track Club – are elite level coaches.  They have worked with many youth and adult athletes over the years, so we’re lucky to have convinced them to give us a shot.


We started out with a good warm up jog and stretch, then went right into the proper way to grip a pole.  First, we held the 11 foot pole next to us and reached up as high as we could, standing on our tip-toes.  That located our dominate hand placement.  Then, gripping with that hand, we bent our elbows tightly.  Our non-dominate hand would be placed two finger-widths from where the tip of our elbow landed. 

Coach Chad explaining hand positioning

Then we talked about the proper form for holding the pole when running.  The top, dominate hand, should be down by the hip, palm open and facing forward, loosely supporting the pole.  The lower, non-dominate hand should be up, holding the pole somewhat loosely again, with the tip pointing across the body.  A relaxed, almost bouncy gait is used when starting run up to the vault.  We practiced running on the turf slowly at first, then faster.  Then we worked on footing and planted the pole to do tiny swings, taking off and landing on the same foot.  All the while, we were reminded that we should always hold on to the pole – neither hand should ever come off.  (Reminded us of rowing – “never let go of the oar!”)  Next, we went over to a crash pad where the coaches measured our steps away from the pad to mark the turf with our individual starting points.  We would be doing a “3 step” approach – which is actually 6 steps (they only count the left foot strikes).  We started with the same small swings, landing on our feet, but on the crash pad.  Then we went on to swinging our legs up and landing on our rear ends.  This was really the first hesitation point, but L2 went first and convinced everyone if she could do it, so could they. 

L2's first "rear" landing

Once we cleared that ~12” pad, we added another.  Then the coaches eventually added a bungee another foot or so above that.  Due to the padding around the real vault box (the metal, in-ground location where the tip of the pole would be set for going over a real bar) being even higher than that, the coaches decided it wouldn’t be safe for us to try actually using that area.  But clearing around 36” was good enough for us!  We all managed to get over that height at least once.  R was the best at getting her feet up in the air – and actually bent the pole!

Coach Buzz and Coach Chad hold the bungee while R attempts a vault

L1 probably had the most impressive form jump of the day, but it was J who dominated.  The coaches were even trying to convince her to continue with lessons to possibly get into Master’s (or “old people”) level competition.  She was determined to go higher and higher – actually jumping the highest of all of us, requiring a slightly longer run up and higher grip.

J concentrates on clearing the bungee

Overall, we were all impressed that we actually managed to complete this event.  No one actually jumped in the usual upside down form, but clearing three feet or so was definitely a WIN!


We’ll be back with the same coaches next week for another event, or possibly two…  Pole vault COMPLETE!!!

Though we didn't use the real vault box, it makes for an impressive photo