Scholarships

[Barto]

When recruiting I try to look at the whole person/package. First and foremost is ask, "Is this person going to be a solid student?" College athletics is too demanding for kids who are not going to make academics a priority in their lives. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, but you do have to be responsible enough to go to class.

Secondly I look for athletic ability and mental stability. You need these two things are absolutely required to be successful in the pole vault. I really don't care much about how good or bad the technique is of a 17 or 18 year old kid. We are going to re-teach them to vault from the ground up anyway; but, they must have the potential to develop the physical abilities needed to pole vault or we are both wasting our time. Additionally, I am looking for mental stability. College and pole vaulting are two unbelievably stressful additions to a person's life. They can both be very rewarding as well; but, if an individual is not mentally stabile enough to cope with whatever comes at them on a day to day basis then it becomes very difficult to progress in the pole vault.

The issue of club vaulters versus school vaulters never really comes up other than in the context of the above criteria. The primary questions I need answered in the recruiting process are: "Is this person going to be a solid college student?", "Does this person posses the physical and mental abilities to become a quality pole vaulter?", and "Can this person create enough stability in their personal life to allow them to develop?" This last question is something that is very often overlooked and not discussed in these types of forums, but I have found it to be crucial in finding kids who are going to be successful. Successful athletes find ways to create stability in their lives. Unsuccessful ones do not.

I hope this helps. I am only one coach, but I believe most coaches are looking for the same qualities that I have described here.

[Bubba PV]

Great call Barto. I spent 14 years coaching the vault at D1 UC Irvine and what you describe is the perfect criteria. UCI is a very hard academic school too so they really had to want to be a good student. Bubba

PS - On a personal note, I cruised through the Fall of my freshman year (1972) and got lazy during the track season. My dad made me go to summer school to do my Fall work, and then work in a factory at home during the Fall, and trained after work so I would be ready for the season. I learned my lesson and graduated with a 3.6 – up from 2.2 after my freshman year. If you ever want to freeze a great spot in life, it’s college, but you have to earn the right to stay as I found out.

[pvdad81]

Barto wrote:
I really don't care much about how good or bad the technique is of a 17 or 18 year old kid.
We are going to re-teach them to vault from the ground up anyway;

I dont really agree with this way of thinking. If a 17 or 18 year old has good technique, what are you going to re-teach him?
I have avoided any coach that has told me that they want to re-teach my kid to vault.
A good coach would build on the foundation that has already been laid if that foundation is a good one.

[Bubba PV]

This is a general comment not addressed to any individual - I have not read any of these posts but I know Barto so I wanted to see what he had to say because I have learned a lot from him and his wife, an Olympian, that he coaches.

Elite level coaches start EVERYONE over each year no matter what level, grade, elite or beginner. That's why elite vaulters seek those coaches out; they need to re-learn EVERY year in order to get better. If a high schooler has access to an elite level coach such as Barto, or myself before I retired, they usually listen and learn. A very good high school vaulter may never turn out to be an elite vaulter but often average vaulters become elite. Look at Hartwig - 14' 6" in high school.

Example - One year I had two high school kids come to me after their sophomore years with PRs of 12' and 13'. They ended their high school careers at 15' 9" and 16' 6" respectively. By the end of their careers, one cleared 18' 10 1/2" and the other cleared 18' 4 1/2". The two other 16' high school kids I had that same year, only one made 17' EVER, and then only once. They knew too much and the other less talented kids wanted to know everything, and trained like they wanted to be the best.

The worse scenario is when the good vaulter goes to a college that doesn't believe in vaulting much in the Fall, or ever. One major school near me has a meet next weekend and their kids haven't vaulted yet. Last week a parent told me that a coach told her, "if your kid is interested in vaulting a lot or gymnastics, they won't fit in here. Our job is to make them strong and fast. They are already supposed to know how to vault". To that I respond, I started vaulting when I was 12 years old and had a very good career as I competed at an elite level until two years after I graduated from college. I have coached at the elite level most of my adult life and at 56 I just won the World Masters Championships in Sydney, Australia, yet I still don't know how to vault – I’m always learning new stuff. How is a kid supposed to learn without vaulting? AGAIN – this is a general comment and not directed at anyone. Food for thought. Bubba

PS – I help out at the local high school while their vault coach is in football. In our USATF club we have kids between 9 years old and seniors in high school jumping 2-3 days per week since the summer. You get better at what you practice at and you get ahead of your competition when they aren’t vaulting.

[pvdad81]

I meant no disrespect to Barto. His accomplishments speak for themselves. I just wouldn't want Jonathan to go to college and forget the things that he has been taught by Doug Fraley, Earl Bell, Jeff, Derek, Daniel and Jeremy, or Tim McMicheal.

[Bubba PV]

I totally understand that sir and I certainly know you had no ill intentions. That's why I said my comment was a general statement and not directed at any person, especially you. It's just the point you brought up has application to others that don’t understand it the way you/we do. Thanks for "getting it". My comment was more for the parent or athlete who does not know some of these things. Have a great day!! Bubba

[Barto]

When I said re-teach I was refering to the fact that we re-teach everyone every year - exactly what Bubba said.

[kev44000]

At ORU Coach Dial is changing/teaching/refining/whatever anyone wants to call it,to make my son better. He has multiple flaws even for a 18 foot vaulter. We want him to be a 19+ vaulter. Vaulters have to change some to a degree to get better. In college they re-teach them things they know and teach them their trade secrets also.

[Bubba PV]

That's a great point. Another thing I see all of the time and it still happens to me is "translation". When a skill is learned it begins to mean something different to the vaulter than it did when he/she first learned it. The better you get at certain things changes your frame of reference. I've had athletes tell me, "NOW I know what you mean when you were telling me that. I always thought I understood it but now I really do".

Sorry - I guess I've gotten us off the topic of scholarships. Have a great day! Bubba

[KirkB]

Another thing I see all of the time and it still happens to me is "translation". When a skill is learned it begins to mean something different to the vaulter than it did when he/she first learned it. The better you get at certain things changes your frame of reference. I've had athletes tell me, "NOW I know what you mean when you were telling me that. I always thought I understood it but now I really do".

Still off topic ...

Yeh ... what Bubba said.

You can't properly COACH something unless you first LEARN it yourself. You think you know BTB2 (for example), but then after another year's experience (either coaching or vaulting) you need to read it (and learn it) all over again, becuz your frame of reference has changed!

This is what our young protoge PP hasn't realized yet.

OK ... back to Scholarships ...

Kirk

[jschools]

Here is my story for recruitment/scholarships from this past weekend. It was a DII college and they currently have 2 sophomores, 1 junior, and 1 senior over 15 feet. The coach told my son and I flat out that we would not even have been talking to him if it was last year, and that he is only looking to bring in one or two male pole vaulters this year.

I am not sure what point is being made by this except for the fact that as a pole vaulter, you need to see how you fit into their program, just as much as how their program fits your needs.

[Bubba PV]

You are absolutely right sir. We had a kid vault 15' 9" and was 5th at the Texas state meet and the school he is going to wouldn't even let him walk on because they already had some young guys, though none were freshmen. I think Becca made this point early in the thread - it is very much about the school's needs and level of competition and a lot of that has to do with timing. Good luck to you and your son!! I sure hope it works out for you guys! Bubba