PoleVaultPower.com

Track at my school has recently started again, and our first official practice is this Saturday. Our vaulting coach last year wasn't a vaulter, but he knew what he was talking about after several years of coaching and a few coaching meetings.

Anyways, we don't have that coach anymore, and our new coach is pretty much clueless when it comes to vaulting. She's seen a couple videos and knows a couple of drills and a bit about technique, but not really enough to do more good than harm (technique-wise).

This brings the topic to me. I'm a sophomore vaulter who vaulted ten feet last year as a freshmen, and am currently the best vaulter on our team. I know a lot more than our new coach, and she's basically left everything up to me. The vaulting group (about 80% of them are new, two are returning from last year but haven't made it yet) has only gotten together once so far, and I just went over how to handle the pole and the basic movements that are accomplished during the approach (lower and lift, flip, barrel, extend).

I'm looking for advice on how to teach and help out these new vaulters. I know I can lead them in the right direction, but I'm sure there will be things that I'll miss, that I won't know, and there will probably be areas in which I misdirect them. There's only so much I can do by myself, so any help is appreciated.

Edit: I've been going on and off to a vaulting club, so it's not like I am clueless about vaulting - I'm pretty much looking for help on ways to teach others who are about the same age as me to properly vault.

Send me your snail mail address and I will send you my Pocket guide to PV Coaching. No Cost also. I feel sorry for the HS athletes out there that end up in coaching positions because the adults don't have the savy, experiance, motivation, creativity or just plain gumption to get the job done. My advice is to go ask your shop teacher about Learning Stations then apply it to my small How to book.

Rick Baggett
WSTC LLC
baggettpv@aol.com

I'm in the same situation Vegas. Kinda weird to because I'm a soph now and last year my PR was 10'

Get you school to buy the BTB dvd from Sean Brown at neovault.com. The complete teaching progression is illustrated using young athletes.

dude my school is so pathetically set on football they won't buy anything for pole vault the poles I use are personal, and when I told them I was going to break the one I broke last week they practically laughed in my face, and said no.

sigh, welcome to the average high school pole vaulting life

Hope you are coming to Slippery Rock, Soochy old son! Lokk forward to seeing you again

altius wrote:Hope you are coming to Slippery Rock, Soochy old son! Lokk forward to seeing you again

I really hope I can, but the monday after the camp, I graduate! I'm still trying to check and see if there are any events coming up for that weekend, and I still need to convince my parents that it's worth it.

Hopefully, if all works out, I'll see you there Mr. Launder!

yup, sounds like my HS vault career--the mens throw coach was our coach...so as you can imagine the coaching was left up to the vaulters with experience, namely me!

Its not easy to be an athlete and a coach, but the key thing is trying to teach the other vaulters how to help critique each other too. Make sure they all understand what the vault is supposed to look like, what the movements are supposed to be, and why. That way you can all help each other!

Also, take advantage of resources, like the How-To book and websites like this--these things weren't as readily available even 5 years ago when I was in high school.

Be cautious and smart--you're not the first to have been in this situation, so don't hesitate to ask for help on here!