Any lawyers in the house?

[miniwhinny]

Good idea KirkB. His b'day isn't til August but that's perfect to allow me time to go shopping.

Y'all are great...thank you

[souleman]

Alan Launder is a good example of the phrase "you don't have to be a good pole vaulter to be a good pole vault coach".That being said, a couple of avenues to follow would be to first, take Jan Johnson's course for pole vault safety and get certified. It's around $30 and it's good for two years. You can take it on line. Then get the BTB book and video as well as what you can from Rick Baggett as well as Jan Johnson. Spend some "quality time" studying the stuff. If you understand it and communicate it, you will probably be a better coach than what he's got at the high school. As to a home based set up, I was one of the first to go through the approval process. With a little help from Bubba Sparks and Jan Johnson himself, I got mine approved. You can see it on the slide show on my myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/mikesoulewyomingmn .mjaubbs on the forum also has an approved facility and he helped me with the club waiver. Gathering up the equipment necessary for the facility requires quite a bit of effort. It also is somewhat educational.When I first started my project some 4 or 5 years ago I actually was looking for a Cloud-9 for my backyard setup. Go figure! Anyway, with perseverance and a lot of leg work I got a legit set up. All of the above is just food for thought and something for you to consider. My kids didn't pole vault in high school so I never got to work with them or coach them. I always have loved working with young people and still do. Now with my youngest 8 years out of high school, because of my club I get the privilege and enjoyment out of teaching a new batch of kids something I know a little about every Sunday when they show up. I've even got a Dad that I'm re-introducing to the pole vault. So, if you're worried about getting it all put together and the boy graduating before you get it totally completed, once you have it (the facility) and know about it (the pole vault) you can continue to help kids learn a great sport. Later............Mike
P.S. You're right about the time allowed for the high school season. It's not enough for a kid to fully get a grasp of this sport. I stopped coaching at the high school level because in Minnesota, coaches are not allowed to work with their kids after (I believe) July 30th or before March 1st. That's another reason I put the club together. So these kids have a place to work on this event more than the 3 months out of the year that is the track season. So you see? You've made your first coaching decision and statement and what's more, you are dead on. Now get the materials and the study together and get to coaching!

[miniwhinny]

Oh my goodness !!! Souleman that pit of yours is awesome!!!! I love the picket fence runway

Gosh..I'm getting the jitters...going from "taxi-get-me-to-the-meets-mom" to coaching - wow, I'm not sure I could do that !!!

So right just now I'm planning a jungle jim for teenagers lol. I went from one simple high bar made from galvanized steel (found a company in town to make it for me) to wanting a high bar, high-low bars, rings and rope combo - oh this is getting to be so much fun

[miniwhinny]

When I first started my project some 4 or 5 years ago I actually was looking for a Cloud-9 for my backyard setup.

What's a cloud-9 ? ( is that some pole vault term I should know lol )

[KirkB]

What's a cloud-9 ? ( is that some pole vault term I should know lol )

I'll answer this one on Souleman's behalf ...

You should not know what a Cloud-9 is ... unless you're a PV geezer.

As a fellow geezer to Souleman, I'll describe it as a giant air-bag pit that was popular in the late 1960s. The trouble with them was that if you landed anywhere near an edge of it, it would bounce you off of it! This includes the edges around the box ... if you can imagine ... and if you can believe how poor the design was.

It was certainly portable, as you just blew it up before each practice or meet ... but not very safe. Besides bouncing off it, the other problems were that you had to climb out of it after you landed ... since you depressed the air out of the middle of the pit where you (hopefully) landed ... and then the next vaulter had to wait for the bag to be blown up again. Oh yeah ... it also needed electricity on the infield for the blower.

I believe that they still use this design as landing mats for stunts in the movie business ... for example when stuntmen fall off the side of a building.

Kirk

[miniwhinny]

Wow, I'm learning so much every day hahah "Geezers pits" you know they use those things to rescue people from the top floors of burning buildings..."jump...it's okay... "

[KirkB]

You got it! I was still editting my post when you posted that!

Kirk

[souleman]

The jungle gym in the backyard is going to be great and a very good start for your facility. I've got some roll back bars but would like to add some more things for a jungle gym of my own. Make sure you plan it out so when you DO put a pit and runway back there, that the gym is far enough away from the pit and landing area so you won't have to dig it up and place it some where else. Just a few years ago the National High School safety board (I can never remember their name or acronym) made a ruling that high school pits had to be larger. What that means is there is probably 3 or 4 schools close to you that have the old smaller pits laying around in a storage barn. They will be more than happy to give you a great deal on them (in other words free......oh yeah, but you better make a donation to the schools general fund or athletic fund after they give you the pit.......that's how they will be free of any liability for making a pit available to you). Having someone haul it away from the schools and disposing of the pit is very expensive. That's why they probably still have it laying around somewhere. You've seen the finished product of mine but I started out somewhat modest. You can see early versions of mine at; http://www.bubbapv.com/Pages/BYVault.htm Mine is the Mike Soule, Wyoming, MN one. The "after" picture has a cost breakdown of mine if that would be helpful to you. There are a bunch of other good ones there too so check them out as well.

[miniwhinny]

Oh souleman....crossed lines here...when I started the thread with "say your 15 year old has a pole vault pit in his backyard"...I was actually saying "say your 15......"

This is what we spent the entire past two weeks building (well except for a 3 day break for JO's at the weekend)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mURra7hXCBI

as you can see it stil has 25ft of runway to be assembled....but that doesn't stop them short running it (or whatever you call the short runs lol (that tree is 40 ft away...I'm using a telephoto lens here - he's not going to hit it )



I have more details of the runway assembly but if you're wondering about strength...yesterday the donkey got on it and proceeded to gallop at full speed all the way down grrrrrr silly donkey lol

[souleman]

AWESOME! Oh yeah.......you're hooked! BIG TIME! This is great. I had to convince Ashley (at USATF) that my trees were just optical illusions as well. Yep, you've got a great start. Stay with it. At this point I'd strongly suggest taking Jan's safety course. It'll take you about an hour and a half at the computer. Well worth the time and dough.As long as you're going to be doing some jumping at your place, the course will give you a great "heads up" to potential catastrophes . It, in my opinion, is a must do for you. KEEP AT IT! Your vaulters and future vaulters will greatly benefit and appreciate it.
Later..........Mike

P.S. You are SO close. I just watched the video

[miniwhinny]

Thank so much . Can't tell you how hard we all worked on this thing ! (bet you can guess though) Oh yeah, I'm hooked. Matt bought himself the pit last year but it was after the end of the season and it's taken us this long to get it assembled

Now I just have to talk myself into digging 2 ft deep post holes to get a jungle jim set assembled....gasp (not that easy for a skinny 50 year old mom)

Now I've started wondering - as this is the only backyard pit that I know of in Central Oregon - if I could get all of the HS vault coaches to get together and "share" off season training here...that way all the local kids could vault and learn more by having a different coach donate their time. We've got some good coaches and good vaulters in CO and vaulting stops for us all in June. If they just did one or two sessions a month we could get something pretty sweet going....Oh my - i need to get off this computer and STOP planning before I get myself into trouble.

Just for folks' interest - here's a quick clip of Matt at the Oregon Elite (after State meet with the best of the best invited from all the divisions 1A - 6A )meet at Summit HS. It's one of only 2 mondo tracks in the USA. That's one sweet runway - it's like carpet. Purdy to look at too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzPu2_O_LYM

[tsorenson]

I am arriving a little late to this post, but I think I may be able to help you and Matt!

We actually do have a USATF club in Central Oregon (there are a few "running" clubs, but ours is more focused on the PV), it is run through COCC, and we practice Wednesdays @ 5:30 at Summit HS in Bend, and some Saturday mornings. I met your son at the Oregon Elite meet (I was the PV official, and enjoyed watching Matt PR...he is a respectful and enthusiastic young man and has a lot of potential). I mentioned to Matt at the time that we would likely be practicing all summer, but I didn't have any contact information to reach him until now. Summit has been generous enough to share their amazing new facility with us and other (respectful & safe) vaulters in Central Oregon, and I am certain that if you and Matt come down tomorrow evening we will be glad to include you in our practice. You may have to join USATF and/or a club to participate. Send me an email at email@centraloregonrocks.org or just show up!

I agree with all the advice given to you by the PV gurus on this website...high bars, rings, drills, etc. are essential for training. I also feel that especially for youngsters, well-coached vaulting is the best practice for vaulting. If you can somehow achieve both with your facility in your backyard, great! It is very unfortunate that liability has become such a concern with PV, but as stated above, you can certify your facility through USATF and recieve affordable supplemental liability coverage. I have passed Jan Johnson's PV Safety Certification and agree that it is valuable, especially for parents with little or no vaulting background, or those becoming familiar with the new high school regulations. I also agree with Becca that Beginner to Bubka is a valuable resource (I will be happy to let you take a look at my copy). If you are vaulting off season at your house, I'd love to join you as a coach/athlete, and can help you gain compliance with USATF for your facility (I have looked into this in the past). I am a former collegiate vaulter returning to the sport after a 12 year break, and there are a few other local masters vaulters/coaches who would love to help you and Matt with safe coaching.

We are looking into securing a year-round indoor facility for vaulters in C. Oregon, and I feel that this dream will become a reality with the cooperation of all the local vaulters/schools/parents. The head coach for COCC is Tony Monroe, check out the club's website at http://www.cocctrackfield.org/home

Hope to hear from you soon, or better yet come jump with us tomorrow evening!

Tom