vault tryouts - what to look for?

[bjvando]

cut them all and coach distance

[vaulternick]

Anything that'll show their basic natural athletic ability - speed, explosiveness, coordination would be valuable.

time a flying 10m or 20m to get an idea of raw speed
overhead shotput toss to test explosiveness
6 step long jump/standing long jump
maybe running 5 low hurdles could give you an idea of their coordination
some simple high bar or ring work for strength/coordination

I like the speed test, the long jump, but I'd add a pull up test and maybe a leg lift test (a dead hang from the highbar, seeing if the kids can lift their feet up to where their hands are or higher)

This would let you know who was fast, who can jump, who can handle their own body weight, and whose abs are strong/weak. You could go suggest other events for the kids who are weak in those areas.

Coach P

[vaulternick]

I totally agree. But what I find difficult is reading my crystal ball and telling which one is going to mature and flourish, and which one is just not that much of an athlete. The other thing I'm wanting to test (and looking for suggestions on how to test) is agressiveness. Especially with girls. Many are much too timid at takeoff, even after a year of jumping. Any ideas for tests?

That is the nature of the event. We don't know who is going to do what. I think that you take your 45 kids and put them through your benchmark tests, speed, jumping, pullups and narrow your group down to 30 ish...

Once you have an idea of what they can do physically, the only way to see how they will progress is to put a pole in their hands. I run HUGE groups at my practices and I let almost anyone try the event. I always utilize the help from my advanced vaulters who know what they are doing and could show others how to do it.

I find that most of my good vaulters pick up the "beginning progression" in the matter of one practice. The ones who aren't going to be so good, take longer than a practice to pick up the event.

So what I do is put a pole in their hands and then have them on the football field and put 3 lines of kids on the 5, 10, 15, ... etc. yard lines. I show them where to hold, and what an "A position" looks like. I teach them from 2 steps (1-stride), a right-left into an A. I let them practice up and down the field on their respective lines.

Then, my progression goes 4 steps (2-strides) into an A, then a 4-step B, and a 4-step C. Once that is mastered they move onto 6 steps, C's.

All the while, the ones who pick this up quickly are the ones who I move through the progression faster and get to the pit faster. The ones who go through this slowly and are having trouble will do this for 2-3 practice sessions. Those are the ones who usually quit, find another event, or I suggest that maybe a different event would be better for them.

I truly believe that you will not know who is going to be a good vaulter until you get a pole in their hands.

[dafox]

I find that most of my good vaulters pick up the "beginning progression" in the matter of one practice. The ones who aren't going to be so good, take longer than a practice to pick up the event.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that. I disagree with the strength testing, cause I can make a kid stronger. Its VERY hard to make a kid more coordinated, or more coachable - both are tested when teaching the most basic steps of the vault.

[Tom Wilson]

I sure would like to figure this out also. In 2007 we had over 20 boys and girls tryout and I decided to make up something to help select in the the short period of time we have. I made up a form which I linked below to do some simple tests. In it you'll see a column about green hurdles. These are (14) 12" banana hurdles set about 4-1/2 feet apart. Kids are timed along side and over them. What I learned the first year goes along with some other posts, that heart is the difficult intangible. I let the kids practice the banana hurdles some before timing and try to get two timed runs in. It is not on the form but I try to make a check mark on the kids that seem to have a great attitude as they try this. Turns out they enjoy the test, all want to be selected and I hope it helps. After year 1 I deleted some things. Unfortunately we only get a couple hours to determine who continues in the vault and who does not. I wish they all could. Two copies of the form are linked, one is blank and the other is a completed form. I try and highlight the top 4 performers in each test and then rank based upon the highlighted cells. Don't know if this is a good way to select but at least it is an attempt. Would love feedback and experiences of others.

Link to blank form

http://www.antigravitypolevaultclub.com/PV_Tryout_Record_Master-rev01.xls

Link to completed form

http://www.antigravitypolevaultclub.com/PV_Tryout_Record_Girls_2008_no-names.xls

[fchipr]

I had the same issue, except on one half the scale. I had 20 kids, all but two were newbies, only could take 12.

In just a few days, I figure you have to put a pole in their hands. If not ya wind up with a bunch of athletes that are chicken to take that prowness to the box with speed, and or are totally uncoordinated when their feet are not on the ground.

That being said. The 20 yard dash or flyin 20's are good, long jumping anything maybe it'll help if your looking for some hops-type skills for coming off the ground?

But ya got to get a pole into their hands. We started with two-step plant/lead knee/trail leg drills on the runway. We start at zero hand holds above their standing grip. They are shown plant position, and instructed about timing of the last left and the pole tip strike. We walk them thru with plant up, hit the last (2nd left), pole tip strike, then follow thru with a striaght plant arm to the opposite quad in a tpical row type motion. We then run this drill. No more walking, two hand holds above standing, where if they are not quick enough they'll get hung out. We grade on three basic things: tall plant, dont pull up with that plant arm, a lead knee ( a decent indicator of a quick step) and finally the tough one, trail leg back/hips stay behind the pole.

In order to go into the pits they need demo 8 out of 10 perfect ones at 6-8 hand holds above standing with three lefts. The tall kids can do 4 hand holds above standing grip from two lefts generally, I have found. So adjust as required.

Second good drill we use right away and one that works well for sorting for the aggressive girls is the sliding box. I use some home made ones that weigh anywhere from 10-25 lbs. We do three lefts into the take off position from a pole carry position on the shoulder. Again taking the skills and timing demonsytrated from the two-step drills now into a take off mode. Anybody timid here shows up quick. They also learn about a bottom hand keeping a pole away from them. As you know girl PVers are notorious for late learning of this and as such why there is such a huge gap between the few 10 footers and up and the masses of 9 footers and below.

Then we go to the pits, and do the same two-step drill into the pits raising hand holds to account for box depth. Same drill as before, although more commonally done stricly for trail leg emphasis. So they work these trail leg drills untill mastered well enough to then match that drill with a new twist. They do a swing to an "L" into the pits. So thats a two lefts back, trail leg drill, that once the trail leg is there for the split second it needs to be, they then swing to an "L" and land perfectly in control, aligned straight with the pole and on their butts, plant arm still high and at the ear, not out in front.

After that...good luck. You have systems that build the skills I know.

Anyhow this 2 cents is too late for now, but next time maybe it'll help.

See ya at Trabucco or Arcadia. And good luck in league. Your two FV competitors jumped 14-0 and 13-6 yesterday at RV.

See ya

[craigmtb]

Alan has a whole series of test to help identify talent in beginners to bubka.

[mooski33]

I agree with alot that has been said here--unfortuantely, if you're at a school with no gymnastics program, in a city with no gymnastics club, then the liklihood of having anyone, let alone new freshman, coming in with the significant strength that is necessary for the for the vault is quite slim. So making "cuts" (we can't actually cut anyone, but just discourage and refer elsewhere) based on this would be my last resort--if 20+ kids passed all other standards maybe.
I think natural athleticism is big, in addition to dedication and coachability. In fact, I would rather have 15 kids who listened well, asked questions, and worked hard at practice every day, than 5 who were good vaulters but never listened or worked hard. Its more fun for everyone when you can have many quality practices!
I also prefer to start the season with lots of drills and hard work-outs for the new kids--if they can't handle or don't want to do those work outs and drills then they'll weed themselves out--its the easiest way to do it.
In my opinion, one of the best drills for this is sand vaulting--I feel it gives the new kids a taste of the vault without endangering them or taking up valuable pit/runway time for the returners. Then as people show talent or dedication in the sand pit, you can move them over to the real pit and runway. Its all at your disgression then and is slightly more subjective than the specific tests of strength/power/speed--which is how I think it needs to be.

I should say that most of this information I picked up when I was in high school and had to run the vault myself--as a sort of peer-coach. I again had no coach in college, but luckily didn't have to weed out other vaulters at that point! I have started coaching just recently, helping out the head pv coach (now they get one!) at my old high school, so my experience is VERY limited. I am open to criticism and know my thoughts are not perfect!
Thanks!
ml