British AAAs U15 Boys PV Championships Vid

[KirkB]

Go to http://www.british-athletics.co.uk/php/video/vidserch.php and search for "Under 15 Boys" Pole Vault.

This is quite a recently published event:

Competition: AAAs U15 Championships
Date: Sat, 9th Aug 2008
Event: Pole Vault
Venue: Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
Age Group: Under 15 Boys

It shows 9 British 14-year-old boys clearing heights in the range of 2.40m to 3.70m, which for the metric-impaired (like me) is 7'-10.5" to 12'-1.5".

I really like this vid for a few reasons ...

It's editted/produced very well. The editor summarized the competition by grouping all of the jumps of each competitor together, and showed their X's and O's on-screen as they vaulted. The vaulters are shown in reverse order of placing - leaving the best to last.

Age 14 is an interesting age for pole vaulting. Some of these boys have obviously vaulted for more than a year, and for others, this may have been very close to their first "big" competition.

It's probably safe to assume that they're all gripping under 12'. The issue of being able to swing above your grip was discussed on the "Getting Inverted" thread here: http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9639

In this thread, Barto makes the point that:

It is very difficult (almost impossible) to grip less than 12'6" and achieve "inversion" without doing some very bad things technically.

Work on jumping off the ground and swinging your feet above your hands i.e. "cover the pole". Doing this correctly will not lead to "inversion" unless you are very short or gripping above 12'-13'.

This vid is a good reminder of what it's like to vault at that age (and at that level of physical development). We tend to forget about when we first started out in the sport.

We tend to have some silly assumptions when trying to coach kids on what they should be doing at the Beginner Level, the biggest assumption being that the athlete has the coordination, speed, strength, and know-how to execute "proper" technique. This is simply not true. If you watch the boys in this vid, they're clearly all trying to do their best, but the heights that they're able to clear are constrained by their physical limitations (and experience).

I don't see any boys with really nice swings here, but somehow they manage to maneuver over the bar! They're all very enthusiastic, and are doing everything they can (within their knowlege and power) to clear the bar.

Can anyone identify the vaulter with the EARLIEST plant? Is this good or bad, and why?

Did you notice how well he placed? How do you account for his good placing with such an unorthodox plant?

This vid is very entertaining and enlightening to watch. It reminds me of when I was a kid!

Kirk

[powerplant42]

KB, I'll have to tape some people at my competitions - if you're amazed that some of these guys got over the bar, I can't even think of how you'll react to some of the Fosbury-like Huffman guys that I compete with! Amazing stuff, I assure you...

Robert Wood has by far the earliest plant. It is TOO early. However, it did not hinder him as much as the late plants affected the other boys. Better too early than too late. But better late than never...? Maybe not if it's SUPER late. A plant that is that early will make him lean way forward as he goes into take-off.

[KirkB]

PP, you might have your "earlies" and "lates" mixed up, but I get your drift ...

"Better to plant too EARLY than too LATE.".

Yes, Bobby (he's too young to call "Robert", isn't he?) plants at least a stride too early. But it works for him, because at his SCALE of vaulting technique, there's many factors that allow him to "get away with" this SEEMINGLY bad technique.

1. He's gripping low, and his pole is very lightweight. Therefore, it's not very heavy to hold it above his head for an extra stride or two. (Compare this to the other extreme - Bubka holding at 17' on a big pole.)

2. His runway speed isn't that fast anyway, so he doesn't slow himself down THAT MUCH by planting early.

3. In fact, if he planted a stride later, his takeoff speed might very well have been even SLOWER than what it is here - not FASTER.

4. Like you said, he at least gets a nice, high plant. This is better than some of the other boys. "Better too EARLY than too LATE."

5. He may very well have done some sand vaulting from just a few steps out, and he held the pole that way for those. So maybe he just got comfortable with it held that way. Nothing wrong with that, as long as he recognizes that he's EVENTUALLY going to have to fix this technical flaw.

6. It's not the worst thing about his technique. I think his worst technical flaw is his lack of a swing. Really, after he leaves the ground, he does a very short swing (initiated by his takeoff momentum - not by himself), then he's just muscling up to a bit of a rockback, then looping over the bar. Since he's gripping so low (maybe 11'?) he really doesn't have much time to SWING or to ROCKBACK. His best clearance in the vid was 11'-5.75" (3.50m). Once he goes higher, though, it's a question of what he does with the extra time he has. Will he use it to SWING more, or will he use it to ROCKBACK/TUCK more? You know MY preferred answer!

Did you notice that Bobby was competing "unattached"? Perhaps he has little or no coaching guidance? If that's the case, then what we're watching is just raw talent. Once he catches on to "proper technique" - properly scaled to his metrics and skills - he'll actually be quite a good little vaulter. So will some of his competitors.

PP, I wasn't mocking their technique at all - they did their best within their limitations. These are Britain's U15 best, and I'd expect their caliber is similar to U15 in most other PV countries. (Or as you suggest, even some 15-18 year-olds!) Really, I MARVEL at their ingenuity and determination to clear the bar, despite their underdeveloped bodies and their "flawed technique". Also, I think there's lots of readers on the Beginner's Technique forum that see themselves in the same light as these 9 British boys. In fact, I think some of these boys actually DEMONSTRATE "proper technique" that readers of this forum can learn from!

How about ATribeCalledGreg? He's 18, and hopes to clear 10-5 next season. His metrics will be different (i.e. his body will be more developed, and he might be taller and faster, so he can grip higher), but he might learn something from these younger guys.

There is no shame in having an undeveloped body or improper technique. That's how EVERY vaulter starts out. What they need to learn is how to DEVELOP their bodies and to IMPROVE their technique. I'm hoping that some of these young British boys (especially the higher-placing ones) give us all some new ideas on how to do this!

Bobby will, however, need to delay his plant by a stride within the next year, or it will eventually hamper him. That is to say, it's not that important right now, but once he "scales up" to a faster run, a bigger pole, etc, etc, then his plant may become his biggest flaw.

Oh ... one last point ...

In my first year of fiberglass vaulting, I cleared 12-0. I WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN WON THIS U15 BOYS COMPETITION! And I was 16 years old! Heck, my technique in clearing 12-0 was DEFINITELY WORSE than the technique of MOST of these young whipper-snappers!

Kirk