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After seeing and learning a lot of great things at the Summit this past weekend I also saw a lot of things that really scared me. I know this is probably been a concern forever for many of you but I just want to get it out there again.
I saw too many young vaulters who just want to hold to high, who are not ready for that, and overheard a few coaches who were encouraging these young athletes to do so. I heard one coach whose athlete just landed on the front buns to "Swing on that S$%^ next time" This is a recipe for disaster and concern for the future of this sport in a day and age when everyone is lawsuit happy.
Is this ever going to get better or is it an age old problem which will never change?

In cases like this, never be afraid to step in and say something. I've had to do that on a few occasions and have rubbed a couple of coaches the wrong way.

If you ever see or feel like a vaulter is not safe or a coach is giving bad advice, don't hesitate to correct them. I'd rather make sure all jumpers are safe than worry about what other people think of me.

That would have to be my biggest critique of the vault summit. The inconsistancy between coaches who were working the high schoolers. I heard some really crazy stuff. I would emphasize some sort of standardization next year.

ashcraftpv I agree 100%. I already offer my opinion more than I should, but in the case of safety of an athlete, none of us should let unsafe coaching go unchallenged.

OUvaulterUSAF that is an interesting idea. Since the PV Summit is intended to promote the safe development of the sport of vaulting, it would seem appropriate for the Summit staff to authorize a knowledgeable official at each pit to monitor for unsafe vaulting. It would seem the Summit organizers could have as part of the conditions of participation that the vaulter and their coach agree to abide by the decisions of that safety monitor.

The Summit organizers do already promote safety but they can't control what a coach does at their school. However, they do have the right, and I submit the responsibility, to control it at the Summit.

- master

OUvaulterUSAF wrote:That would have to be my biggest critique of the vault summit. The inconsistancy between coaches who were working the high schoolers. I heard some really crazy stuff. I would emphasize some sort of standardization next year.

Are you talking about development staff coaches who were woking with the athletes on Friday, or their personal coaches working with them on Saturday?

master wrote:The Summit organizers do already promote safety but they can't control what a coach does at their school. However, they do have the right, and I submit the responsibility, to control it at the Summit.

If the meet directors notice an athlete that is consistently behaving in a way that is endangering themselves, in spite of repeated warnings from staff, they will refuse to allow them to compete the next day. I can't tell you how frequently they do this, but I believe they did eject at least one athlete this year.

The stuff on Friday. I didn't see anything unsafe. I might be getting too wrapped around the axle of what I think is the correct technique.

I probably prematurely piggy backed on the above comments.

OUvaulterUSAF wrote:The stuff on Friday. I didn't see anything unsafe. I might be getting too wrapped around the axle of what I think is the correct technique.

If there's no consistent message about what is considered "proper" technique, I can imagine a lot of kids being confused as they move between different coaches.

This was my first year on staff, and I got to work with a beginners group.

I didn't get a lot of specific instruction about what I was supposed to do with them when it came to pit time.

Most of the kids did not know where they were running from, so we spent about half of the time doing drills from 3 lefts, then I backed them up to 5 lefts and got them a step and a grip so they would have somewhere to start for the meet tomorrow.

Most of the coaches have slightly different coaching styles and drills they like to do. I think one of the main benefits of the Saturday clinics (especially with the lower groups) is making sure kids have a step and a grip that is not going to get them killed during the meet the next day.

achtungpv wrote:

OUvaulterUSAF wrote:The stuff on Friday. I didn't see anything unsafe. I might be getting too wrapped around the axle of what I think is the correct technique.

If there's no consistent message about what is considered "proper" technique, I can imagine a lot of kids being confused as they move between different coaches.

That's what I was getting at. But again I don't have all the facts and I don't want to bash the summit staff b/c they did an excellent job.

I wasn't talking about any of the summit staff. Those guys do an excellent job with the short amount of time and numbers they are working with. I was concerned with some personal coaches who not necessarilly careless on purpose, hopefully, but maybe they just don't know and that is what the Summit is all about, teaching the right way.

SinCity wrote:I wasn't talking about any of the summit staff. Those guys do an excellent job with the short amount of time and numbers they are working with. I was concerned with some personal coaches who not necessarilly careless on purpose, hopefully, but maybe they just don't know and that is what the Summit is all about, teaching the right way.

the problem with those kind of coaches is that in their mind they are teaching it "the right way".