Inversion Fixation

[altius]

Quote"------ I recently heard of a coach ---------- who had a girl in a meet warm up on a very soft pole for her. She blew through it, as expected. Perfect warm up jump, right? No, --------- then the coach of the girl tells a friend of mine ------- that if she had a better take off and run she would "hit it just right" and somehow not blow through the pole."Unquote.

Is this what is termed, 'hearsay evidence' in a court of law in the US and therefore not admissable??

It may be that if YOU had actually spoken to the coach you might have discovered he did know what he was doing. Instead of leaping in - just reflect on that scenario for a while - it MAY not be as stupid as it seems. Although with your vast experience of coaching I assume you are probably correct vault3rbOy.

[altius]

I dont think it is a problem for the athlete to want to get into a fully inverted position - as long as the COACH knows what has to be done if the athlete is to get there safely and efficiently.

"If you want to look like Bubka on the top of the pole -- then you MUST build these elements of technique first." ---- is a line we have used forever with our kids.

[vault3rb0y]

Well i might not be a coach, but i know that when its time to go up poles you go up poles. A meet is not a practice, and should not be treated like one by staying on a soft pole when you clearly have the ability to move up one. Thats just what i think though, im sure there are reasons you could give me on why you should stay on a soft pole and blow through everytime, maybe poles in pole vault have the magic ability to go down 2 cm in flex on third attempts.

[SKOT]

I think what Atilus was trying to say is that you can not take what someone else said as about someone else to be an absolute truth. For instance:

My friend Johnny Smith told me that vault3rb0y killed someone. The state can not convict you on what I herd from someone else. Therefore, you shouldn't take what came out of her mouth as a truth

You shouldn't take what that vaulter said to be a complete truth. Maybe she miss understood what her coach said or maybe she misspoke what her coach said and knew exactly what he/she meant. For all you know, her coach said, "If you get your step on and your plant up perfectly, you can move up to your next pole easily!"

[ADTF Academy]

Tim: This one is right up there with "I want to bend the pole"

As Altius stated there is nothing wrong with wanting to obtain inversion or wanting to bend the pole. The question is as coaches are we educating our athletes to teach them how and why these activities happen.

Random kids with no coaching and wanting to got to inversion and bend the pole is where danger occurs.

You must follow the technical model from START to FINISH. Not FINISH TO START.

Most young athletes see the end and don't realize what it takes to get there. We as coaches must educate our athletes to dream for the finish and work on the start, middle and then end of the vault.

Till we know the why how can you expect them to do it. If an athlete can't understand the importance of runway, pole drop, take off and swing to inversion. Then getting inversion is pointless if you don't realize the actual importance and the continuation of pole rotation into the pit throughout the entire vault.

As my friend Altius says its a "Catch 22"

[altius]

Thats just what i think though, im sure there are reasons you could give me on why you should stay on a soft pole and blow through everytime, maybe poles in pole vault have the magic ability to go down 2 cm in flex on third attempts.

That statement sums up the problem - you are clearly a bright guy who is deeply interested in the vault BUT and it is a big BUT - you have no coaching experience and as I indicated, you may not understand all of the issues. So instead of trying to be clever, you might do what I suggested -reflect on the scenario and think carefully about why staying on the same pole - but improving the take off might work.

Do that and perhaps you may become an effective coach in the future - if thats what you want to do. However until you reach that point sometime in the next 20 years, I suggest that folk read your contributions to PVP with great care - and some scepticism.

[vault3rb0y]

Yea you should definitely do that. Maybe i should have added that the "friend" who told me the story was also the high school coach of the girl who was going through the pole, and the college coach had only known the girl 6 months. I definitely dont know what the college coach was trying to do, but i know the girl was a very proficient vaulter with a very good high school coach. Since i left that out, i now see what you mean. LOL i dont try to understand a coaches decisions when it comes to a girl ive never even seen jump before. THAT would be reason for skepticism .