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My son started pole vaulting this year. I bought him a 12' 140 pole to learn on. He weighs about 130. After awhile he was going 11' but mushing out the pole. I bought him a 13' 145 pole. At his first practice, he cleared 12'6". Now, he is over bending this pole. At camp last week, he cleared 13' holding 12'4" on a 13' 160 pole with the standards at 60cm. My question is, should I buy him a stiffer 13' pole or should we go to a 14' pole? If so, what weight? Also his run is a very short 68'. Would a longer run increase his speed at the plant?

Well a lot things come into play when chainging poles. Some of the variables include...

1) How tall is he?
2) Hold old is he?
3) Is he hitting top speed at the box?
4) How many strides is his 68' approach?

If he has jumped 13' holding 12'4", I would say that he is probably ready to jump on a 14' stick, but it's hard to tell without these stats...

My son is 5'8" tall and 15 years old. I don't know if he is at top speed at a 68' run. He developed shin splints early in the season and then started overbending his pole so we never had him run longer than 68'. At camp it was 8 steps (68') where he made 13'. The following day he was to tired to jump from 10 or 12 steps. It just seems most kids that are jumping higher than my son, have longer runs.

He's only gripping 12'4" right now which isn't that high, but he is on a fairly short run, and is probably going to keep growing some more.

I would think about a 13'6" pole. Maybe a 13'6" 160.

Thank you for the advice. I agree. He will probably be taller, stronger and faster by next season. So whatever I buy him now, he will have outgrown by then. We'll get him a 13'6" 160 now and maybe we'll save the 14' pole for christmas. That will be 4 poles this year. This sport is getting expensive!

PVDAD, Just be glad that you aren't a "Hockey Dad". That sport is about a $2000 a year sport even for the average players. Up here in Hockey-sota, they start 'em out at about 5 years old and it goes all the way through high school. (Just added this to make you feel......well......maybe a little bit better). Later..............Mike

cost of 4 poles....................................$1200.00
cost of 2 camps...................................$700.00
cost of gymnastics in the off season......$200
cost of son winning a state championship next year.......PRICELESS!!

haha thats funny.... im sure he wants it more than you do, and will work hard enough to pay you back in heart and sweat even if he doesnt win a state title, but hard work ALWAYS pays off in one way or another. Good luck next year you guys!!

Here is a helpful rule of thumb. It's not technically exact, but I've found it helpful over the years. A foot of pole length equals ten pounds of pole stiffness from one pole to the next, all things being equal. This means that a 14' 160 is roughly equal in stiffnes to a 13' 170 if both poles are the same brand and make. A great place to get much more exact information is in the equipment forum. There are guys in there who understand poles down to individual fibers.

Thanks for the info Tim. I guess I posted in the wrong section. I just want to make sure I get him the right pole. Had I gotten my son the 13' pole that he has now a few weeks earlier, maybe he could of jumped 12'6" at state. That would of put him in 2nd place instead of the 7th place with his 12' pole.

That is one of the heartbreaking aspect of this sport that everybody has to deal with at one time or other - being ready to win with the wrong pole in your hands. It's happened to me at least a dozen times from state my sophomore year to the Oly. Trials in '88. Just one more of the things that makes this sport so fascinating and so unbelievably hard.