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Just a thought - what is needed to help the next generation of US vaulters - folk like Niedermeyer, Mondshein and Hollis for example move to world class -ie 5.80 plus?

Well, they are at the age where they should simply, Just Do It!! Others have.....Lojo, Buller did so as collegiate athletes, Stevenson cleared 5.81 at age 27. Pauli etc.

altius wrote:Just a thought - what is needed to help the next generation of US vaulters - folk like Niedermeyer, Mondshein and Hollis for example move to world class -ie 5.80 plus?

Excellent topic. I would like to know myself.

Whats going on with Tommy Skipper, 2-3 years ago, he was the one everybody was looking at to be the next great American vaulter.

Is it usually the big guys in college to do good later. I mean walker jumped 19 in college but it was not till senior year. But guys like Hartwig, Miles,and Stevenson never jumped that high in college that I can find. Then you got guys like Lojo and skipper that jumped their best in college and have not or did not improve since.

Right now Colwick is the only dominate guy in college, theres a few 18' guys but no one else that has been consistently as high. Then guys like Brian and Hollis that just have to come in their own. Guess were just waiting on someone to have a break through.

Great topic! This is Darren Niedermeyer. Whoever said "they just need to do it" is exactly right. No excuses here; just watch the results!

From my point of view the pole vaulters just out of college need financial backing. This may include relying on grassroots fund raising and encourage street meets to raise small donations from lots of sponsors. Big money just doesn't happen often. Sponsored and un-sponsored pole vaulters need more meets that raise more money. The cold hard fact is that there are more pole vaulters than available money making meets. Street meets draw a crowd, and we need money making meets.

USATF does raise money for post collegiate jumpers and as a recipient of some of it a while ago I would love to see those funds grow. If usapolevaulting.org could raise more money that would be a start. If that organization could grow and recruit more people to raise more funds and work with street meets that could be beneficial.

Athletes also need to get creative. I am not saying run through your local city naked like Romain Mesnil or put your self on eBay like I did but both have worked. Make a media guide or booklet that you can bring to local small businesses and don't just show how you are a worthy donation but convince them that you can help them promote their business. Be prepared to knock on lots of doors. Small donations matter! I made a small DVD and had small businesses check it out. That's how I got my first vaulting poles, free chiropractic care, and gear.

Watch out for Mark Hollis! This guy is going to turn a lot of heads if he hasn't begun to do so already.

Yes I believe mark has already started turning heads.. he is a monster.

I believe one thing that is highly underated is to find a system to stick with. I am especially guilty of this problem. After my first international travel experience and getting to meet and chat with Steve Rippon, and trying to learn more about the petrov model, and learning from every coach i could find, all these new thoughts got into my head and it was just overwhelming. I became a crumbling mess of 7 different styles of vaulting, none of which were true to myself. This last year, arguably my most consistent high level season of my career (4 meets over 18'4, 7 meets over 18'2, 20 jumps over 18'0), was accomplished largely by settling on certain specific goals and just getting after them, rather than trying to reinvent myself completely. Darrens big 5.70 PR came at the end of a long season which he struggled at periods, but, had been making adjustments with a new coach and took a while to get into that rhythem. Same story with mark 2 years ago with his 5.75 jump. Just found a coach that really clicked, put his trust in him, and went to work.

Now this isn't to say we should always just blindly do as were told. But to a certain extent, its the coaches jump to coach, and the athletes jump to follow directions. If the 2 are butting heads, nothign good can come of it.

I certainly believe Mark and Darren will both have big years this year. Im quite curious about Colwick. Dave Butler had done a great job with him, and obviously theres lots to improve on.. im just confused by the entire thing so i dont know what to expect. ANDDD i wouldn't mind if i had a good year too, after attempting lifetime PRs in 10 meets this last year, maybe a bar or 2 will stay up for me. Should be an interesting year though.

The key to ongoing success is ongoing consistancy. Post collegiate guys/gals need to stay with what has brought them along as long as the program has the equipment needed, correct model of technique, easy access to competitions, employment availability and a desire to continue to improve.

Rick Baggett
WSTC

Here is the big thing I have noticed about the U.S. compared to many other countries around the world. In the U.S. we start with a high school coach, move to a college coach, and then either stay with them or move on to another coach or multiple coaches. How can we strive to perfect a model if we don't work at the same one the entire time because all coach's are different. In many of the other countries that have major vaulters, they have worked with 1 and maybe 2 different coach's their entire career. Its alot easier to jump well when you have perfected a model and know what your working towards as compared to going through at least 3 different coach's by the time your 24.

Clearly not a lot of interest in this topic - surprising!

no, not much interest...let us just forget about the US polevaulters...

When are you coming to the Netherlands, Altius?