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So I always knew my coach was mostly a figurehead, he would come 2 practice and have us jump 5 days a week, no drills no speed training and no strength training.
I stepped it up this year, and now run practices, I also do my best to coach the other vaulters on the team and myself, (although it would not be possible without an amazing coach from Centerville+Westfield who helps me at meets)
Today stepped over the line though where his lack of coaching knowledge made an unsafe practice
I needed a new pole a 14 70, which the coach mentioned before told him I should be on, The next day I asked him if we could order it and I told him that i needed a 14 70 he said sure that’s fine Orders the pole, and what do we get today? a 14 6 70 ahhhhh(he did this once before as well ordering a 14 45 instead of a 14 65), then during practice he keeps pressuring me why I don’t get on the pole, saying "its only 6 more inches" I knew I shouldn’t, but then an assistant coach who i respect said why not give it a shot and hed give me a big tap, so I said what the heck and jumped on, The pole snapped out of my top hand bent out and then back in smacking my chest and knocking the wind out of me, the coach giving me that tap had to throw me in the pit to keep me from landing in the box. Needless to say I am extremely frustrated and ready to ignore my "coach" completely.

I know this is more of a rant, but any advice would be Very Appreciated

well he did order u a pole, more than my hs coach ever did, and it shouldnt be so much bigger that u lose control on it..

this is true i have had troubles like that but only if its my first jump on a new pole after that you can get comfortable on any pole just need persistence. hope i dont sound as bad as your coach but thats what works for me

Good point i was looking at the chart and its only 10 lbs bigger, I might just need to work into it, I coulda been way in on that jump

Make sure you are not raising your grip when you first go to the next pole. If you are gripping 6" down on a 14' pole (so you're gripping 13'6"), you should grip 1' down on a 14'6" pole (so that you are still gripping 13'6").

yeah it happens alot when ever i get a stiffer pole in my hands i run faster on the first part of my run and ist screws up the whole consistency thing but once you calm down with the pole you will be fine besides a 14'6'' 70 is a great pole

What I did when i had a gap in poles is I would use the one i had been and when i started blowing it out i would move up 1 run (ex. 7L to 6L) Then if i started blowing it out from there i would go back(ex. 6L TO 7L) a run and get on the next pole.... Works for me

You need to tell your coach that he needs to try to exchange the pole for a 14 170 like you asked him for. The 14' 6" 170 is roughly the equivalent of a 14' 180. That is a huge jump in poles. He needs to understand that you nearly injured yourself because of his mistake and him pressuring you to use the pole. This is his screw up, and he needs to realize it. Nothing pisses me off more than a coach who endagers his kids through a lack of knowledge.

ashcraftpv wrote:You need to tell your coach that he needs to try to exchange the pole for a 14 170 like you asked him for. The 14' 6" 170 is roughly the equivalent of a 14' 180. That is a huge jump in poles. He needs to understand that you nearly injured yourself because of his mistake and him pressuring you to use the pole. This is his screw up, and he needs to realize it. Nothing pisses me off more than a coach who endagers his kids through a lack of knowledge.

I second this... especially the last sentence.

ashcraftpv wrote:You need to tell your coach that he needs to try to exchange the pole for a 14 170 like you asked him for. The 14' 6" 170 is roughly the equivalent of a 14' 180. That is a huge jump in poles. He needs to understand that you nearly injured yourself because of his mistake and him pressuring you to use the pole. This is his screw up, and he needs to realize it. Nothing pisses me off more than a coach who endagers his kids through a lack of knowledge.

i agree. also, remember if you order poles directly from the factory they often can help your coach determine what the correct progression is eliminating stupid mistakes like this.

coaches can make some weird decisions about poles, luckily when i was in high school my coach was very careful about the track budget and would not waste money on ordering poles we didnt need. there was this one guy on a different team though that was jumpingn 12-6 and since the state qualifying standard was 13-6 at the time and he was jumping on a 14' 155 his school bought him a 15' 155 so he could get that extra foot

In a couple of other threads I read that guys would cut the bottom off of a "too tall" pole which as I understood it would lower the weight rating of the pole and get it to a height that you're comfortable with. Bruce would know if this is a simple fix that might solve the problem. A taller heavier pole isn't as dangerous as a shorter lighter pole. It's like Becca said if you're falling off the pole, you're measuring your top hand down from the top rather than from the bottom. Take the new pole and line it up with the old pole and put a black magic marker stripe at the position that you held on with the old pole on the new pole (over the tape). That is where I would start on the new pole, or below that. Nice thing would be to exchange the pole for the right one, but I don't know who would really be interested in taking one back that even though it's only been on once or twice, it's still used. Just my 2 cents. Later.........Mike

souleman wrote:In a couple of other threads I read that guys would cut the bottom off of a "too tall" pole which as I understood it would lower the weight rating of the pole and get it to a height that you're comfortable with. Bruce would know if this is a simple fix that might solve the problem. A taller heavier pole isn't as dangerous as a shorter lighter pole. It's like Becca said if you're falling off the pole, you're measuring your top hand down from the top rather than from the bottom. Take the new pole and line it up with the old pole and put a black magic marker stripe at the position that you held on with the old pole on the new pole (over the tape). That is where I would start on the new pole, or below that. Nice thing would be to exchange the pole for the right one, but I don't know who would really be interested in taking one back that even though it's only been on once or twice, it's still used. Just my 2 cents. Later.........Mike

While this result would make it a 14' pole it would also make it stiffer and behave more like a 14-180.