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lately this past week in practice i've noticed i have become
really nitpicky about the way me hands feel on the pole
right before i start my rundown. i'll check them like at least
four or five times before i start. i have a meet tomorrow and
i think i am going to re-tape my pole on the way there on the
bus and make sure it's really smooth. has anyone gone through
this before or feel the same way sometimes?

I do that too especially when i have had old tape on my pole and it starts to roll down.

Yes actually, all of a sudden after some bad experiences with an old sideways bending catapole, I have been takign this hands thign to the extrememe, and am now so unconsiously afraid of my hands slipping i wont even take off the groud, and this has turned into such a huge mental block and i dont know what to do

I've gotten that way - including coming to the realization to the fact that my hands slipped so much because my hands were dry. I asked my coach if I could put a bit of water on them (it was like 50 at the last meet, atne 80 degrees at the previous ones, where I really held on)

He told me not to do it, but I did anyways. with that I cleared 9...

nothin special, but I'm nitpicky too

ok, i was just making sure i wasn't being a little b*tch
about it. i mean i know there are greater things to worry
about but i guess when it all comes back to it, hands are
a pretty important element of the jump. i retaped and
smoothed it all out and it is 10x better now

i used to do the same thing......id move my hands around a bit before id start my approach to see if they were comfortable and in right position....ive gotten over that now, but i still always want to retape my pole.

Looks like weve got some obsessive compulsives out there! You must make sure that these little quirks dont take over!!! Best way is to set firm routines which cover all of the basic elements of preparing to vault so the worms cant creep unwanted into your brain - or your hands!

yes!
i feel like that all the time and my coach picks on me i thought i was the on;y one who did that but i'm glad i'm not
but al you have to do is to try to just get down there and start your run without thinking about it

Yeah, I'm picky about how my hands feel too only for me it has nothing to do with the smoothness of the tape. My hands get really sweaty and stuff especially wen I'm nervous, so before i jump, u'd see me wipe my hands on my uniform about fifty times before I touch the pole. I don't want my hands to slip!

We all have our little things that bother us. I try to encourage my high school vaulters to try to ignore the little things that might bother them as much as possible (wind conditions, rain, etc.). Of course you often need to make adjustments for those types of variables, but excessively worrying about exactly how your grip feels can be too distracting. If you get hung up on everything being "just so," it can make it more difficult for you to perform when everything isn't "just so."

Make a mental note to try to ignore the little things that can distract you. Of course you should try to make everything as consistent as possible with those things that you can control, but try to be mentally strong.
Yesterday, one of my vaulters tried out a brand new pole without even putting any tape on it. He said "it doesn't matter." I have to admit, these types of things probably are the old "mind-over-matter": "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."