PoleVaultPower.com

I am a senior in high school, and have vaulted since 7th grade. Sophomore year I got my best of 10'6", and have never bent a pole (intentionally.) I had coaching up to my sophomore year, and now there is nobody to coach me or nobody older to help me out. Yesterday I had a 7th grader count my steps. Anyways, I have not since gotten 10'6". Again, I do not know how to bend the pole. I grip at the top of the pole where the tape ends, and put the other hand as far down as I can reach.

Can somebody put into words a good way to think of "how" to bend the pole? I just need some advice to advance past my ten foot average of straight-poling. I also occasionally have a problem with my hands sliding down after a few vaults, either from a mental thing or exhaustion. I am in decent shape, 5'10, 154 pounds using a 160 altius. I know that I am strong enough to bend that pole, since I did once (unintentionally) but I cannot force myself to recreate the bend. I don't know if I'm over-thinking things mentally when I run up to vault, but I try to relax. I run flat out and jump, but I can't seem to get my legs in the air like I used to be able to. It is quite difficult without coaches or somebody at least to tell me what happening up there.

Any advice or tips as to how I can improve my straight pole technique, or better yet BEND the pole. I know I can do it, I just don't know how.
Thanks

First off all you probably wanna have your hands closer together, not as far apart as you can reach.
The rest of it i'll leave to people who have more knowledge about pole vaulting and more coaching experience than me.

The object is NOT to bend the pole. The object is to develop good technique. Bending the pole is a consequence of good technique. I'm very sorry you don't have a coach knowledgeable in the vault, but since you're smart enough to seek help on pvp you are smart enough to research and determine what is necessary to improve in the event. Hopefully you'll find out that a good approach maximizing your speed and a good takeoff with high hands will eventually create the results you need to vault higher. But please, don't be obsess with bending the pole. This thinking will only get you in trouble and lessen your chances of improvement.

If your grip is slipping down, you are probably holding too high. Move it down a few fists until it stops slipping. When your grip slips, it makes you inconsistent.

Move your hands closer together so you can swing better.

It sounds like this pole is too long for you to bend. If you do not have access to a shorter one, you'll just have to straight pole until you get faster/better technique.