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So I was talking to one of my former vaulters (Courtney) about how hard of a time Warren was having going from vaulting indoors to vaulting in a head wind at our place out doors. She said she found using ear muffs helps alot b/c it's the sound of the wind not the actual feeling of the wind that messes her up.

I had Warren try it today and he said there was no way he could have vaulted in the head wind with out them today. He was blowing through the biggest pole he has been on. After the meet I had him try the next pole we had which was a 10lb jump 180 to 190 and he had a great jump on it. I was just afraid during the meet to move him on to that pole in the wind.

I keep some cotton balls in my bag for that very reason. When my kids have to jump into a head wind, I just pull out some cotton. If you can't hear the wind, it's not really there.

I believe it was Pete McGinnis who gave a presentation in Reno ('97 or '98, can't remember exactly) that most headwinds don't affect you physically, but the air flow in the ear canal gives the perception you're running slower and that wind is worse than it really is.

I never thought about it before! Thanks for the advice guys. I might try practicing with ear plugs sometime since it is always super windy at our track.

That is really great advice (assuming it works). Finally a vaulting technique that I'm confident I can incorporate in my jump

- master

You think that works for everybody??

I "feel" one gust of wind from any direction and my vault is pretty much over...If this works, I'll be one happy lady

I'm going to give this a shot - got earplugs leftover from when I was going to join a band where the guitarist was reallly loud.

Thanks...this should be fun

I dont know about this... i find that the problem with the wind is that i feel it in the pole. It gets blown towards me or off center and i know im in trouble. Are there some sort of fancy ear plugs i could get for my pole so it doesnt get tricked into being blown around?

are ear plugs legal for high school competition?

good q

Almost all the athletes from a school in our area used them at the last big meet we had. As far as I know it works just fine, I'll have to try it out.

let me guess it was northville wasnt it??