What a new coach should know?

[birdi_gurlie]

Hey, many of you all know me from when I vaulted in high school.
I'm in college now and I want to spread my knowledge of the vault and the knowledge I learned from Altius and others (though, mainly Altius...B2B2 is awesome.) I've found a team here that might be interested in having me as a vault coach. Here's the deal though: It's a group of homeschoolers and their coach. They practice at a high school near us. I haven't discussed it with their coach yet but the kids at my church who I talked to about it said that he was interested and might call me about it. What would I need to know before coaching? I mean, I know the technique but what OTHER aspects? I'm willing to sit down with the SC high school track book to learn the differences in the rules from my state but...liability issues? Etc...? Any help? Honestly, my biggest concern is the liability these days so anyone who has help on that, I'd love information. But really, anything is appreciated.

I would have put this in "coaching" since it is about coaching but I'm obviously not a registered coach yet. Any help?
I am re-reading B2B2 and rewatching the DVD but other than that, do you have any ideas? I'll be starting a team from scratch, basically. They've never been coached, which is awesome, but they're also in the process of finding poles and such. I do understand the mechanics of the vault and the physics behind it.

[baggettpv]

Know these levels of Psychomotor learning and use them to guide your skill development. Apply them with competency in mind. With enough practice of the drills the students will show competancies at the beginning level (Imitation) and with increased reps the skill level will slowly improve up the ladder to the Naturalized stage! Good luck. I would like to see a copy of the structured practice you come up with.. Which Drills (sets and reps etc) you will use and how you move from day to day and week to week.

Rick Baggett
Willamette Striders Track Club

Psaychomotor Taxonomy
Imitation — Observing and patterning behavior after someone else. Performance may be of low quality. Example: Copying a work of art.
Manipulation — Being able to perform certain actions by following instructions and practicing. Example: Creating work on one's own, after taking lessons, or reading about it.
Precision — Refining, becoming more exact. Few errors are apparent. Example: Working and reworking something, so it will be “just right.”
Articulation — Coordinating a series of actions, achieving harmony and internal consistency. Example: Producing a video that involves music, drama, color, sound, etc.
Naturalization — Having high level performance become natural, without needing to think much about it. Examples: Michael Jordan playing basketball, Nancy Lopez hitting a golf ball, etc.

[birdi_gurlie]

Thanks!

As a side note, for new readers, no, I am not vaulting in college. My school doesn't have a team besides the fact that as an art major, I don't have that kind of time.

[VaultPurple]

The biggest thing is patience! You have to realize that everyone catches on to things at a different rate and that sometimes it takes saying the same thing a million different ways for someone to catch on.

Also, since you are a pole vault addict and passionate about the sport, it is hard to grasp that not everyone finds pole vaulting as awesome as you do. You could have been the kind of athlete in high school that prioritized vaulting and would have spent all your free time vaulting if you could. But you will quickly learn that to some people, it is just something to do. Embrace passionate kids, but do not get upset and frustrated if someone does not seem like they care enough, there is nothing you can do about it.

Good luck!

[spurhunter]

Take the NFHS fundamentals of coaching on line course. It will make you aware of things you might not think of for your own protection

[birdi_gurlie]

Okay, well, the coach called and they'd love to have me coach! My mom is mailing me my B2B2 book and I am re-watching the Beginner to Bubka DVD. I'm a little nervous because I haven't coached specifically and I am new at it but I am very excited. Thank you so much!

What is a good number of practices each week? I'm coaching a group of home-school students and I don't want to over commit myself because I do have school work too and I honestly don't have the money to drive to practices every day. I want them to do the best they can but at the same time, I need to do well in school. Right now, they meet in a park 5 days of the week and once at a track in our area once on the weekend. They require 3 practices a week and some others come the other 3. I want to help them flourish and am ecstatic about coaching. I have a little prior knowledge from helping coach in high school. Is it normal to feel nervous before you start coaching after you haven't coached "for real" before?

[vcpvcoach]

I would be concerned if you were not worried but have coached this event for the last twelve years, I can tell you that you will be fine. You will make mistakes. Just learn from them.
Three days a week will work with one day of runway time is OK. Better if you can get in some sand pit time. Go to Skyjumpers.com and find the link for building a slide box. Just be sure to start your vaulters on a soft surface because one or more will end up on their backs.
Here's a link to the track and field manual that few know about outside of Southern California. http://www.la84foundation.org/3ce/Coach ... kfield.pdf
This foundation was started with the money's left over from the 84 Olympics.
B2b is good but I would recommend Jan Johnson's skyjumpers dvds. His take on teaching the run and how to fix steps is great for young vaulters.
Good luck.

Tom