Need help with swing

[BobbyMoVault]

I coach a kid who is a sophomore in high school and has a lot of potential. He gets his plant up early, hits his arms high, and has a real nice takeoff position and jump. The one thing that he has a lot of trouble with is swinging. He's very athletic and can get on 14' poles no problem without a swing. We have done drills on a highbar, on hanging stubbies, and also on rings and he swings almost perfect. But whenever it comes down to actually vaulting he curls into a ball after hitting his takeoff and has no swing. Im out of ideas on what to do to help him fix this problem. If anybody has any advice or tips to help me out it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[rainbowgirl28]

Have him work on it from a shorter run and shorter pole, then gradually work things back/up.

[KirkB]

If he's using a light pole, it's easier to tuck into a ball after takeoff than if he's using a heavy pole.

So to learn to swing PROPERLY, the heavier the pole, the better. Start with a pole that he can't bend at all, and he'll HAVE to learn to swing properly on it. The G-forces will be too great for him to tuck up into a ball. If he still tucks, raise his grip ... being careful to ensure that he can still safely make the pit. Once the swing starts to work on the stiff pole, you can advance ... slowly ... to poles that bend more and more.

I think this is a common mistake made by young vaulters and their coaches. They're too anxious to bend the pole on Day 1 ... thinking that that's what's going to improve their PR the fastest ... without learning proper swinging technique first.

This was also a mistake that I made in HS, so I know this from BITTER practical experience. There's no denying that vaulting on a soft-bending pole is more fun than on a heavy pole. The problem is that it's TOO easy. So instead of the cheap thrill of bending the pole in each practice, save up the "fun" for when you PR at some good heights using GOOD swinging technique. The "fun" is when you win the big meets at the end of the season!

Kirk

[BobbyMoVault]

I agree with you about young coaches and athletes bending the pole too early. I see high school vaulters all the time who shouldn't be bending yet and they sometimes come very close to getting hurt. A lot of the kids that i help out always want to bend the pole the first day they ever vault, and they havent even learned the basics yet. My athlete was straight poleing for a good month before we took that step forward. He swings through very well while straight poleing and also from short runs, he just wont do it from his full 7 step. Thanks for the advice guys! I'm gonna give the stiffer pole a shot and see how it works out. Kirk, I'm guessing you recommend a short stiff pole? Or do you mean drop his handgrip to the point where the pole will not bend?

[KirkB]

... Kirk, I'm guessing you recommend a short stiff pole? Or do you mean drop his handgrip to the point where the pole will not bend?

No ... and no.

The grip and the number of lefts are directly related. You need to find the right balance.

The grip should be not so low that he can easily tuck into a ball ... but not so high that he stalls out. You should constantly adjust the grip ... according to conditions and according to his progress.

Ideally, if you could guess the length of the chord when he bends the pole, then that should be about your starting grip on a stiff pole (for the same number of lefts). Then go down or up from there ... a fist at a time ... in conjunction with RG's recommendation to practice this from a short run.

Kirk

[vault3rb0y]

If he does it well on a stiff pole my guess would be it has something directly to do with what he is doing with his hands. On a high bar it's easy to use more arms to invert than core. In the vault, if you use your arms to invert you end up rowing and blocking your swing from coming over your head. Thats what i see stopping a vaulters' swing more than anything. Make sure he understands the idea of bringing/swinging his hips to his hands and not his hands to his hips, and make sure he understands that this takes quite a bit of core strength to do right. If he's not feeling his core when he vaults, he's not doing it right.

Also, maybe help him understand that the inversion does not end when his feet are over his head, it's when his COG is over his head, so have him swing PAST where he thinks is vertical. Make sure his hands stay out of the way of his swing by moving his bottom hand to the top of the left standard, and it might make things easier. The best way ive seen this implemented (if he can jump on 14' poles) would be on a 12' pole at around his weight, from 4 or 5 steps capping it. In essence, get a pole he can EASILY make pit with and then some, and have him hold low so that he feels the power of his swing going into the pole. Then just make him get in line with it, and land on his back, still in line with the pole. Gradually increase the flex of the pole, as long as he stays in line with the pole the entire time. I hope those ideas help.

[BobbyMoVault]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm gonna give those idea a shot and see how they work out.

[crayford]

I currently am having the same problem and I have been for the past 2 years.

I've gotten best results by doing 3-left pop-ups on a short, medium flexibility pole. By doing this I can feel when I am tucking or fully swinging due to the bend in the pole. If I swing right, the pole bends and I can actually feel the energy I'm putting in to the vault. I've gone from just swinging to swinging and getting vertical and finally adding in the turn. This seems to be working pretty well so far as I've been able to take the feel of the short vault in to the feel of my full 6-step vault on a much heavier pole.

If I tuck and shoot, however, the vault is much faster as I exclude the final steps. I am unable to turn in such a short time and I can feel immediately if I've done it wrong.

This drill also helps tremendously with the feel of rocking your shoulders under and being in the perfect position to go to vertical. If you swing wrong it takes much more energy to get inverted than if you swing eright.


Trust me, the you'll be able to see the difference if you're coaching him.