Adam Tate Article (IL)
Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 8:55 am
http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art ... 001/SPORTS
Oregon's devastating 1-2 punch
By EMILY TROPP, Rockford Register Star
Tate rebounds from injury, ready to shoot for state in pole vault
OREGON -- Adam Tate tried a lot of different track and field events when he was a freshman.
He wasn't fast enough for the sprints, and he didn't have the endurance for the distance events. So Tate tried pole vault.
"I remember going home and telling my mom I was going to do the pole vault," Tate said. "It's funny, because she didn't want me to do it at first. She said 'Why don't you do something you're going to be good in?'"
It didn't take Tate and his mother long to realize this was an event he was good in. The pole vault quickly became Tate's passion, and now the two-time state qualifier is one of the top vaulters in the state.
But Tate's road to success hasn't been easy. An injury he suffered 1 1/2 years ago almost cut his career short.
"Looking back, I can't believe I stayed so determined throughout my rehab," Tate said. "It was really the worst experience of my life."
Tate was a three-sport athlete as a freshman at Oregon in 2001-2002. He played football, basketball and spent the spring learning how to pole vault under the direction of Oregon's pole vault coach Dave Gilbert.
As a sophomore, Tate was called up at the end of the football season and helped Oregon finish 8-2 overall and win the Big Northern West Conference title. He didn't go out for basketball and instead spent the winter training for pole vault. It paid off.
Tate cleared 13-6 to win the sectional championship and went on to place 12th in the state with a vault of 13-0. Oregon finished fourth in the state that spring.
But Tate hit a stumbling block in the fall of 2003 when he was starting his first varsity football game at noseguard.
"It was the first five minutes of the game," Tate said. "I took a fake and cut across. I heard two snaps in my leg and I went down. I just thought 'Oh no.' I knew when I heard those snaps that it was something big."
When the MRI showed he had torn his ACL and MCL in his right leg, the first question Tate asked his surgeon was, "Will I be able to pole vault this year?"
Adam had surgery at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Sept. 17, 2003, and he started some light jogging seven weeks later.
"I was scared, then I was angry," said Connie Tate, Adam's mother. "I knew his first reaction would be 'What about pole vaulting?' He was very determined. He would get up in the morning and meet with John Kane (Oregon's athletic trainer). Then after school he would lift or do more exercises. He never stopped. If he was ever discouraged, he never let us see it."
Tate was competing in indoor track meets by the end of January 2004. He placed fifth in the pole vault at the Prep Top Times Meet in March and went on to repeat as the sectional champion in May.
"Last year was really frustrating for me," Adam said. "I was so slow. I wanted to get right back to where I left off, but my speed just wasn't there. I medaled at state, but I wasn't happy with it."
Tate cleared 13-9 and placed eighth at state last spring. Despite medaling, he wasn't satisfied with his performance and vowed to do better his senior year.
To avoid another injury and to concentrate on pole vault, Tate decided not to go out for football this past fall, a decision he said was one of the hardest of his life.
"We let football be his decision," Connie said. "He was a senior, and he loved the sport, but I think in his mind he didn't want to risk getting injured again. He told me he didn't think mentally he would be able to come back a second time if he got injured again."
Tate entered this spring in perfect health. He said his knee feels good as new, and he's led the Class A area honor roll in his event all season. Tate just cleared 14-0 for the first time last Saturday at the Oregon Classic, which is the highest vault among anyone in Class A in Northern Illinois this year. It would rank eighth overall in the state according to the illinoistoppreptimes.com web site.
Tate will try for his third straight sectional title at Oregon on May 20, and he is hoping to become the first Oregon athlete to win the state title in the pole vault since Sherman Landers won in 1915 and 1916 when he competes at the state meet May 27-28 in Charleston.
"Adam's a very hard-working kid," Oregon track coach Jim Spratt said. "You have to put in a lot of time to be a good pole vaulter, and he spends a lot of time on it. We can always count on him for points, so that's an exceptional thing for us. He's going to be a state qualifier again this year, and he's earned it."
Tate's career won't end with the state meet this month. He's plans to attend the University of Illinois for engineering in the fall, and the track coaches have invited him to walk on the team.
"It's awesome," Tate said. "I was planning on going to Illinois anyway, so to be able to go to college there and still compete is perfect."
Oregon's devastating 1-2 punch
By EMILY TROPP, Rockford Register Star
Tate rebounds from injury, ready to shoot for state in pole vault
OREGON -- Adam Tate tried a lot of different track and field events when he was a freshman.
He wasn't fast enough for the sprints, and he didn't have the endurance for the distance events. So Tate tried pole vault.
"I remember going home and telling my mom I was going to do the pole vault," Tate said. "It's funny, because she didn't want me to do it at first. She said 'Why don't you do something you're going to be good in?'"
It didn't take Tate and his mother long to realize this was an event he was good in. The pole vault quickly became Tate's passion, and now the two-time state qualifier is one of the top vaulters in the state.
But Tate's road to success hasn't been easy. An injury he suffered 1 1/2 years ago almost cut his career short.
"Looking back, I can't believe I stayed so determined throughout my rehab," Tate said. "It was really the worst experience of my life."
Tate was a three-sport athlete as a freshman at Oregon in 2001-2002. He played football, basketball and spent the spring learning how to pole vault under the direction of Oregon's pole vault coach Dave Gilbert.
As a sophomore, Tate was called up at the end of the football season and helped Oregon finish 8-2 overall and win the Big Northern West Conference title. He didn't go out for basketball and instead spent the winter training for pole vault. It paid off.
Tate cleared 13-6 to win the sectional championship and went on to place 12th in the state with a vault of 13-0. Oregon finished fourth in the state that spring.
But Tate hit a stumbling block in the fall of 2003 when he was starting his first varsity football game at noseguard.
"It was the first five minutes of the game," Tate said. "I took a fake and cut across. I heard two snaps in my leg and I went down. I just thought 'Oh no.' I knew when I heard those snaps that it was something big."
When the MRI showed he had torn his ACL and MCL in his right leg, the first question Tate asked his surgeon was, "Will I be able to pole vault this year?"
Adam had surgery at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Sept. 17, 2003, and he started some light jogging seven weeks later.
"I was scared, then I was angry," said Connie Tate, Adam's mother. "I knew his first reaction would be 'What about pole vaulting?' He was very determined. He would get up in the morning and meet with John Kane (Oregon's athletic trainer). Then after school he would lift or do more exercises. He never stopped. If he was ever discouraged, he never let us see it."
Tate was competing in indoor track meets by the end of January 2004. He placed fifth in the pole vault at the Prep Top Times Meet in March and went on to repeat as the sectional champion in May.
"Last year was really frustrating for me," Adam said. "I was so slow. I wanted to get right back to where I left off, but my speed just wasn't there. I medaled at state, but I wasn't happy with it."
Tate cleared 13-9 and placed eighth at state last spring. Despite medaling, he wasn't satisfied with his performance and vowed to do better his senior year.
To avoid another injury and to concentrate on pole vault, Tate decided not to go out for football this past fall, a decision he said was one of the hardest of his life.
"We let football be his decision," Connie said. "He was a senior, and he loved the sport, but I think in his mind he didn't want to risk getting injured again. He told me he didn't think mentally he would be able to come back a second time if he got injured again."
Tate entered this spring in perfect health. He said his knee feels good as new, and he's led the Class A area honor roll in his event all season. Tate just cleared 14-0 for the first time last Saturday at the Oregon Classic, which is the highest vault among anyone in Class A in Northern Illinois this year. It would rank eighth overall in the state according to the illinoistoppreptimes.com web site.
Tate will try for his third straight sectional title at Oregon on May 20, and he is hoping to become the first Oregon athlete to win the state title in the pole vault since Sherman Landers won in 1915 and 1916 when he competes at the state meet May 27-28 in Charleston.
"Adam's a very hard-working kid," Oregon track coach Jim Spratt said. "You have to put in a lot of time to be a good pole vaulter, and he spends a lot of time on it. We can always count on him for points, so that's an exceptional thing for us. He's going to be a state qualifier again this year, and he's earned it."
Tate's career won't end with the state meet this month. He's plans to attend the University of Illinois for engineering in the fall, and the track coaches have invited him to walk on the team.
"It's awesome," Tate said. "I was planning on going to Illinois anyway, so to be able to go to college there and still compete is perfect."