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I dont really expect any replies to this, but i need to vent my anger somewhere. Ya see, this is how it went down... A few months back, during wrestling season, I suffered a severe separation in my AC joint (where the collar bone and shoulder come together). So then I was all p.o.ed and I let it heal like i was supposed to. Then 2 months later, i started vaulting, my shoulder just fine as can be right? wrong!!! Since i started vaulting on it, it has progressively gotten worse. So then i went to our reigonal meet, where there wasnt a vaulter within three feet of my potential. So i choose a nice low hieght to go in at (11'). Shouldnt be a problem, right? wrong!!! since our bus got there late, as always, when i took my steps i was apparently not warmed up fully, so when i went to vault my step was way way way under. this then put excess pressure on my bum shoulder and separated it again. I tried to vault, b/c if i would have cleared 11 i would have moved on to sectionals with then the opprotunity to move on to the state meet. Now i'm a senior, and i took second at state last year, idk if i could have won this year, but at the rate that i was improving, i could've given it a go. That is, in a nutshell, why i am angry, upset, dissapointed and depressed.
If you read this thanks i guess, if you didnt, i dont blame you for not wanting to listen to me complain

I've found that injuries are perhaps the least dependable things in the world...especially when you want them to be healed and gone for good. Basically, just because you want or need something to heal, doesn't necessarily mean that it will. And often, it means that it won't. Believe me. One season struggling with pain and two more completely out of it gives me some experience.

My advice to you: let it heal. Go in to see your doctor and have him check it out. Do physical therapy if necessary to help the healing process along and to help strengthen the shoulder so that the injury doesn't happen a third time. If you're vaulting in college, then great--you can look forward to going into a whole new realm of vaulting healthy and hungry for new heights. If you're not going to be vaulting in college, see if you can vault this summer for one last taste of it before you start a new chapter in your life.

Lost opportunities suck big time, but, once gone, there's nothing that you can do about them. Move on and appreciate the opportunities that you were given. Focus on the future, and spend the present planning and preparing for it in addition to helping others obtain their own goals.

C'est la vie.

thanks alot, i'm feeling a little better about the whole issue today. I will be vaulting in college, so its not like all is lost. I go in to get it checked out tomorrow with one of the best sports medicine doctors in the area (the one i should have gone to the first time). I'm gonna try to get it healed up before fall, when i head down to florida to start my career there. Once again, thanks [/code]

Well good luck to your first year in college track. It is quite a jump from high school to college. But I do feel your pain on the subject. I graduated in '03 with a PR of 15'4" and was looking forward to college life. My sophmore year in college I blew out my shoulder on a plant in practice after our first indoor meet; so what did that mean, a whole season out after a NH at 1 meet. After that, not enjoying my major, and my coach starting to drink, I dropped out of school. When the next year came around I was gonna join again, but then separated my left shoulder snowboarding in '05. So another year came and went without vaulting. But then I started coaching at my high school for the 06' and 07' season, and this spring I just picked up a pole and it was like riding a bike. After 2 1/2 years of zero track and exercising I was throwing up high 14's so I decided to go back to school... at a different college though(I think the last was jinxed). But now, after separating both shoulders and tearing a totally separate tendon in the left just 3 weeks ago, I'm still hitting my 15's just like back in high school. Just make sure to take care of your shoulders, they are probably the most important piece of your body when it comes to vaulting since they take so much stress on the plants. Good luck to you!