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I just finished my first season of pv and i never really could bend the pole or take off right. my pr at a meet was 8'3". is this ok for a newbie chick? how can i get more bend?

I'm 5'3"
102 lbs
use a 11' mystic for 110 lbs
a foot from the top

P.S. my coach is new to pole vaulting and he tries, but is there something i can do to really improve over the summer?

pv-psycho wrote:I just finished my first season of pv and i never really could bend the pole or take off right. my pr at a meet was 8'3". is this ok for a newbie chick? how can i get more bend?

I'm 5'3"
102 lbs
use a 11' mystic for 110 lbs
a foot from the top

You should be asking how to get higher, not how to get more bend, because there is such a thing as too much bend :-P. basically, you are using a 10' 130Ib pole, if you are holding a at 10'. Thats nearly 30 Ibs over your wieght, and without having much practice you will have a hard time learning to correct take off and what it feels like to bend a pole. If you can get a hold on a 10' 110, you can practice taking off, putting a little pressure on your bottom arm to bend the pole a little. The best thing you can do would be to see if there are any camps going on during the summer or find a coach who will help you over the summer. You will find that bending a pole to 90 degrees doesnt help you unless you are doing the right form, good luck though.

vault3rb0y wrote:You should be asking how to get higher, not how to get more bend, because there is such a thing as too much bend... You will find that bending a pole to 90 degrees doesnt help you unless you are doing the right form

^ very true... bending your pole is def as not important as some of the other skills--in fact theyres such a thing as straight poling (sp?) even if it doesnt get you quite as high as with a bend

what i would say is to focus more on improving on swinging your back leg, a good swing can compensate for a lot of things

if you did want to work on your bend tho, since you have the whole summer, i would work on your entire plant-- high top hand, straightening the bottom hand (not for too long!), strong and bent drive knee, and a straight back leg

and just a tip--dont worry about getting too high since its only ur first year, you really wanna work on form and the height will come. i think thats prolly my mistake :/

good luck, and i hope that helped

Oh and btw, if you arent bending the pole and are still getting 8'3 the first year as a girl, thats really good. You will be pleasantly suprised if you get with a good coach. We have a freshman girl who was playing with 7 and 7'6 all year, then she got with a coach of mine for just 2 weeks and was at 9.

thanks! i think all this will help a lot! i'm gonna try to go to a camp this summer, it looks like fun!

Check out www.pvei.com it has many resources for basic improvements of technique

I did not bend the pole at all my first year, and I think I was on the exact same pole you are on, and I weighed 110. Then, my coach and I went down to pole vault camp, and I tried an 11' 90, and an 11' 80, and was bending on those. Then I got the feel of the bend, and gradually applied it to my 110 poles. Good luck!