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I've found that one of the main limiting factors to my vault is that I stare at the bar. When I do warm-ups I basically don't see anything at all, and I know I clear 12' easily, but as soon as that bar goes up averything changes. All I see is that bar and it feels like I'll never make it there, even if it's my opening height. I'm a little better with bungees, but I still stare. What should I do? Is it the pressure of a meet that makes me do it maybe?

Turn around when they put it up, and don't fixate on it. That helps relieve the pressure. For me it's just seeing them have to use a pole to put the bar up that gets me.

i look at my toes once i get vertical

I'd say just keep practicing with it up. On the other hand, just don't get too used to it - Erm, I've gotten to the point where I can't relaly jump without it at the moment

i look up into the sky as much as possible until i turn and make sure i don't hit the bar.

I have the same problem, what you need to do is relax some day in practice, put the bungee up to 12 or 13, and when you swing the only way to get vertical is to drop your shoulders, and you wont see the bar for a little while until your turn and pike over it. The way i think about, is that if you hit the right form, the jump will be there, and you need to trust that it will be there if you do everything right. If you look at the bar, it makes it a lot harder to clear, just hit all the form and it will happen. The meet i started doing that i PR'ed by a foot from 13 to 14. I know its nerve wracking at a meet when you just want to clear a hieght, but if you hit a 13'6 jump over 12 and come down on the bar, its still a successful jump in my mind. Good luck with it, once you get it you will fly! :-)

look at the box while you're running instead of up at the bar and when you know you've planted look for your feet

You might think about "process" v. "outcome". When you are practicing without a bar, you are focused on the process of vaulting. Your body has already begun the neuromuscular patterning process. It knows what to do. When the bar goes up, you begin to think about the outcome (clearing the bar) and you forget about the process that allows you to get there. It is the process that leads to the positive outcome.

There is an old book called "The Inner game of Tennis" by Tim Gallway that can easily be paraphrased for any sport. It is very applicable to pole vaulting and most of my athletes have read it. You can probably get it at a used book store for about $3-5. Read it and think about what the author is telling you. It is as valid today as it was 30 years ago.
Good luck
LPVG

personally, I don't know what I look at, I think it's the sky, but I'm not sure, I'm too busy thinking of the technique that I should be using at the right time, for instance, when I'm about to start running, I'm thinking of my first step, when I get to the box, I think arm up, arm out... and so on, sometimes I do realize what I'm looking at, but most of the time, it's all just a blur because of the adrenaline

LPVG wrote:You might think about "process" v. "outcome". When you are practicing without a bar, you are focused on the process of vaulting. Your body has already begun the neuromuscular patterning process. It knows what to do. When the bar goes up, you begin to think about the outcome (clearing the bar) and you forget about the process that allows you to get there. It is the process that leads to the positive outcome.

There is an old book called "The Inner game of Tennis" by Tim Gallway that can easily be paraphrased for any sport. It is very applicable to pole vaulting and most of my athletes have read it. You can probably get it at a used book store for about $3-5. Read it and think about what the author is telling you. It is as valid today as it was 30 years ago.
Good luck
LPVG

great post! How true that is. One thing that may help is putting up a bungee in practice. Just work on that a ton of times, thinking about the form, not worrying about clearing it. And if you think about it, you can look at the bar all you want until the swing, then you look at it upside down when you are clearing it :-).