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I am coaching a young vaulter (8th) he cleared 8'9 in his first meet this year but he is slow on his way up. I know it will come in time but is there any drills I can hit now? His run is strong(12 step) but he is 5'10 130 not too strong in the upper body yet. any ideas

Swing. Swing long Swing hard Swing fast

what kind of pole is he on and where does he land in the pit? (make sure he's not crushing it) i personally think that for his first meet that is pretty good, even though he is slow on the way up. this is what's going to help him get upside down and get used to it for now. once he gets pretty good at getting upside down, find a stiffer pole which should get him to swing and get up faster

Meet 2 jumped 9'.... he is on a 12' 130 has yet to bend the pole I am hoping to work out on sunday again he is not too strong yet. He did make some nice jumps at 9'3. any ideas on getting used to bending a pole, I remembered when I first get shot in the air but I just ran and jumped and had a wildman attitude.

lots of pushups

If there is any chance you can get video up here, that will help us the most. Young vaulters generally need TONS of work on their run. You will see some of the best coaches on here suggest that vaulters dont even plant a pole until a 5 step approach is looking good. But a video can help us determine any specific problems and subsequent drills to help.

But like i said i can almost gaurantee a new vaulter will have some problems with his run.
Teach him good running technique- upright posture, knees up with explosion with every step.
Make sure hes not leaning forward at the plant.
Make sure he is jumping hard off the ground with a good drive knee.

Thats what comes to mind right off the bat, but there can be literally hundreds more. A video would help a lot, but until then we will still help ya as much as we can .