Yeh, Green, very impressive for a first year vaulter!
You may regret calling yourself "
greenvaulter", because you're no longer very green!
I agree with most of what Will says, but you need to know that there's 2 different ideas about what to do with the bottom arm. I adhere to the idea that you don't use the bottom arm to apply any pressure to the pole, and Will does. I'm not going to say that my way is better than Will's --- I only want you to be aware of the 2 schools of thought, and it's something you should discuss and work out with your coach as to which school of thought you adhere to.
willrieffer wrote: When you take off for a brief moment you need to expand, make yourself long by pressing the pole up as far as you can as you allow or work the take off foot behind you.
Yes! You "
make yourself long" by pressing with your top hand (not both hands), AND stretching the trail leg behind you. Don't confuse this with any bottom arm motions.
willrieffer wrote: Press the chest up but keep the chin level as throwing the head back will progress the torso.
Yes. I would say "
press the chest forwards" rather than "
up". The objective is to get a good stretch in the C position, then IMMEDIATELY pop out of that C. In your case, Green, you're not driving your chest enough. Thus you're not getting a full stretch, and you're not putting enough energy into the pole before your upswing.
Another way to say this is that you're not letting your top arm stretch back, behind your right ear. Rather, you're preventing this full stretch. You may have to limber up your shoulders to achieve this, by doing skin the cats and by doing stretches with legs in prone position and arms stretched behind you (hands touching the floor). Also, learn to let the chest stretch thru by doing short runups to a highbar.
What's important here is to stretch the chest and shoulders while still having good "
takeoff posture", and not swinging before you're fully stretched.
willrieffer wrote: Make space above and explode up into the pole.
I agree with "
explode up into the pole", but I wouldn't do this with any bottom arm action. You can "
explode up" with your top arm and takeoff leg action. This is how you're already doing this (albeit not as explosive as it should be). You are NOT using any bottom arm action, and that's what I like to see. I think Will would like to see some bottom arm action here, but that's up to you and your coach to decide.
"
Make space" isn't the wording that I would use, as that's only applicable if you're intentionally using your bottom arm. Some people (maybe not Will) think that there won't be any space between your face and the pole (called a "
getting fiber-faced") if you don't press with your bottom arm, but this is a misconception. The pole WILL bend away from your face as long as you have a tall plant and a vigorous jump to the C.
willrieffer wrote: The take off foot should be worked back if at all possible and then reverse kicked into a whip. It's a bit like backpedaling on a bike. Much of a good vault is defined by the action and trajectory of this foot. Work on this action on some kind of high bar if you can. You want to create that long radial energy with the foot action. This is then carried into the inversion transition. Work that foot in a long sweeping arc as that energy will help get you to invert.
Will, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that we're so much in agreement!
Kirk
