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My son is a first year vaulter. He weighs 130. He learned to vault with the smallest pole available at his school a 12' 150. Two weeks ago at district he cleared 10'6". The pole never bent. Thinking he might go higher if he could get the benefit of the bend, we bought him a 12' 140 pole. He was clearing 11' in practice with the new pole, but at the regional meet this week, at 10'6" he blew into the bar on the way up all 3 times. He says he was trying to rock back but still hit the bar. Next Saturday is South State meet. We don't have the money or time to invest in another pole before then. I know he is running faster at the meets than practice but it don't seem right telling him to run slower. Any advice?

If he is blowing through the 12' 140, he should be ready for the 12' 150.

We worked out a little yesterday with the 12' 150. He either wasn't warmed up good, still tired from jumping Friday or just isn't mentally ready for the heavier pole. He is holding at the top but kept landing in the box. He was still not bending the pole. After a few jumps, I made him quit and told him we would try again on Monday.

In practice jump on the 12 140 if you are actually doing full approaches.



Than during the meet warm up on the 12 140 and jump on the 12 150.


If you can't get in another option is on the 12 140 lower his hand grip to stiffen up the pole slightly.

Thanks for the advice.
The other thing that might be causing him a problem is that our runway is concrete so he practices with running shoes. At meets he wears spikes which I feel makes him run faster. Should I have him wear his running shoes in the meet?

whoa ya i think he needs to be practicing with what he wears in a meet... For me spikes and running shoes are a huge diffrence.... i especially feel the weight diffrence when im going into my invert... it may sound stupid but a few ounces and the way the shoe is built makes a diffrence... well atleast to me...
o and if hes blowin through the 12' 140 maybe try 13' 140

Unfortunatly he can't practice in splkes. Our runway is concrete. He goes to a small school with no budget thanks to Hurricane Katrina. He switches to spikes at the meets. This makes him run faster which changes his vault. I would love to get him a 13' 140 to try but I just bought his current pole 3 weeks ago. No more money in the budget. Besides only 2 more meets, South State and State if he makes it. 13' pole will have to wait till next season. He has only been vaulting for 6 weeks. I think a little more practice rocking back may solve the problem because his jumps at 9'6" and 10' looked like they would have cleared 11'. Then at 10'6" he blew into the bar. We moved the standards all the way back and he still hit the bar on the way up.

pvdad81 wrote:We moved the standards all the way back and he still hit the bar on the way up.

That's when you should move to the 12'150. Not in practice when he is in his flats (unless he is blowing through then), wait until he is really blowing through the 12'140 with the standards all the way back.

Are you doing a run back every meet or are you using the same measured mark everytime?

He always runs from the same measured mark in practice and in meets. So far, his steps have always been on.
I have concerns about switching poles in the middle of a meet with only 1 or 2 jumps left. Especially if he hasn't bent the pole in practice, he may not mentally have the confidence to bend it in a meet. It took a week of practice to get him to push his bottom arm out and bend the smaller pole.

ADTF Academy wrote:If you can't get in another option is on the 12 140 lower his hand grip to stiffen up the pole slightly.

If he is rotating the pole fast enough to be hitting the bar on the way up with the standards all the way back, lowering his grip may make the pole bend less, but it will just increase pole rotation even more and he won't have a chance.

well dont get him pushing that bottom arm out to much that will end up blocking out later invert. hmm if he runs faster in meets with spikes i cant see how his mark is usually on? if hes not taking off in the right way it can hender alot of bending in the pole..... i find if my mark is off more than 6 inches it affects my bend alot..