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What kind of advice would you giva a girl who is only about 5 feet tall?

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Pole vault with the same technique. Being fast helps if you're short.

If you are going to jump really high at that height you are going to have to be fast. That being said, there are some advantages to being short and light. There is a huge gymnastic element to pole vaulting, and how many six foot tall female gymnasts have you seen? You need to be the best technician in any competition you enter, but at your size, that is a much more attainable goal.

If I were you, my goal would be to jump on a pole ridiculously over my body weight and push off a mile. That is how you can make up ground on taller athletes who can grip higher, but are not as technically proficient. Good luck.

Tim's right! Get your run down first. I have a lady vaulter who started a year and a half ago. She had never seen a pole before, but knew she wanted to try it. She's 5'1" and 105 lbs. Now she capping a 13' 130 and will be moving up this fall. She is a former gymnast. We concentrated on her approach for most of the first year using DJ's chart to set up several "ladders" with different stride lengths. We ran 5 lefts ladders, 7 left ladders, and 9 left ladders. It was amazing to see how much her run changed over the course of the first year.

yeah, size doesn't really matter until you're at a pretty high level--if you are the best you can be with your body, you can still beat a lot of other people with a body size advantage who aren't as technically proficient.

getting ripped helps though

our best female vaulter at our school is 5'1 and (maybe) 80 lbs. my coach put her on an 11' 110 and in 2 weeks she was doing 7 or 8 feet; she won a small invitational meet her first week vauting with 7'6 holding at around 10'.

"it's not the size of the indian, it's the size of the fight in the indian"
-one of my smaller hockey playing friends

go kick some butt.

HEY!!! im Native American lol

the takeoff needs to be absolutely perfect! I jump with a girl that claims to be 5'1", but she isnt even that tall. She jumped 3.80m (12'5") because she has amazing technique at the takeoff! it doesnt hurt that she caps a 13' pole that is 35 lbs over her wieght

SKOT wrote:the takeoff needs to be absolutely perfect! I jump with a girl that claims to be 5'1", but she isnt even that tall. She jumped 3.80m (12'5") because she has amazing technique at the takeoff! it doesnt hurt that she caps a 13' pole that is 35 lbs over her wieght

I am 5'1", and just completed my sophomore year jumping 9'3". My coach says I need to jump on bigger poles to jump higher. The problem is, I block myself out, so when I go to the stiffer poles, I lose my top hand grip. What do you recommend? I am doing pull-ups and bubkas every night to build up my arm strength. My coach highly recommends a gym membership, but my parents don't want to pay 40 bucks a month for one. What is your advice? Would the gym be good? Because my speed is good already. Thanks!

First choice: grow taller. If you can't do that, here is a pep talk.
I saw a boy in 1977 who was 5'3" vault 13 feet with a 12 foot pole.
He had perfect technique of course. Also, in the 70's , there was a college high jumper who had the world indoor record in the high jump. I can't remember his name, but he was 5'9" tall( or small). There are men and women 6 feet tall who can't do poop.

George, an old fart

fx wrote:Being fast helps.

fixed

When I was in high school I vaulted 14'6". I was 5'9" and weighed 125lbs. I did hand stand push-ups against a wall. I bought a chin-up bar and mounted it in my father's closet. I performed inclined push-ups with my shins on a chair. I did squats with my back against the refrigerator because my back could slide on it.
My best weapon was my speed. I ran everyday. I usually did 2 miles at a fast stride. Sprints always gave me a hamstring pull. I don't recommend sprints for pole vault work outs.

That's all