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Anyone have any advice on heplping some young vaulters develope a rythmic run with good knee lift. I have some young vaulters who try to generate speed to the box, but also long strides. Help!!!

hey

check the MID MARK CHART thread...

dj

What do you mean by 'rythmic'? You might try setting up a series of short hurdles. This can help develop a consistent run and high knees.

- master

Pole runs. With the help of additional running/approach drills, 10,000 pole runs (full approaches on the track with the pole) should almost be enough to completely master the run... (I'm not kidding! No exaggeration!)

With the limited information provided, I can't be 100% sure what the problem is but there is a good chance it could be the following:

Long striding can be the result of a number of technical issues. Many long striding issues are actually due to pole carry problems. One common problem I see is when vaulters keep the pole in a near horizontal position too long during the latter stages of the plant. The vaulter will effectively 'hold' the pole for a while just before the plant, preventing a free pole drop. This will cause the vaulter to carry a very heavy pole. To compensate they will either push their hips forward during the run and/or stride longer, neither is what you want.

If this is the case you should practice free-pole-drop drills. Achieving a free pole drop will also help your athletes increase their step frequency if done properly.

Also I sometimes find that some things get lost in transition from the drills to the actual act of vaulting. The problem is that a lot of vaulters, young ones in particular, may change what they're taught when put under heavy pressure in a competition. A lot of running problems with younger vaulters can come from the desire to want to run too fast. The most common reaction to pressure is to want to run harder and faster. The result of which is usually either them running themselves under or them blotching up their running technique (which can include striding longer). Needless to say, I think this is a mental/experience problem as well as a technical issue. On top of doing drills I think a little lecturing never hurts to build an athlete's maturity no matter what the age. They need to understand that running faster isn't going to be useful if they can't do it efficiently and consistently. Consistency should be the foundation on which you build speed on.

Ability and desire. If an athlete has this he/she will succeed. If not, hang it up. Vaulting takes time, but you need the first two things.

I think many coaches, ( me included) do not want to hurt a vaulters feelings, so we think if they cannot succeed it is "our" fault. It is only our fault to not tell them they lack ability.

Running mechanics need to be taught to the athletes. What I have seen in the 26 years of coaching is that the athletes are put on the track to run 400's, 300's and such, way before they are properly taught how to run. If the warm-up drills are are active and they are sequenced to develop solid mechanics then there will be a possibility of learning to take place. I have done that and have them on a dvd "Groundwork" for sale. All this talk about marks and mids are worthless unless the run is efficient. It can't be efficient with teaching happening.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC