PoleVaultPower.com

okay, our mats are...well they are crap. and it was pretty obviouse that they dont' meet the new standards (or probably the old ones) i am the ONLY girl pole vautler for my school and there are only one or two guys that do it. we have NO matts for this events. i am clearing 8'6" as of last year at states and i have been told that if i clear a foot higher i will be looked at for scholarships (this is virginia, i guess its lower standards than some places) so now, not only do i not have a coach, but i more likely than not will have to practice at another school. any suggestions as to what i should do?
to think last year i was going to complain about not having a pole not over 20 lbs of my weight...

Yeah...i have that EXACT same problem(as i'm sure you already know:). AND my coach JUST bought me a brand new pole too! it makes me mad that they might not have p vaultin this year just because they don't feel like buying us some new matts(ours are pretty crappy also)!!!! I wish I could do something.

Go to the UCS spirit web site and write them an e-mail explaining your problem. They always have old mats or some sort of PV mats that they havnt sold or there was some sort of small default in them that prevents them from being sold. I'm sure if you wouldnt mind getting pits that need a little sewing to them or mabey have some discolor, they would sell you them at a really low price or mabye even give them or donate them to your school. It gives them a good name and to tell you the truth , I know for a fact that they have a crap load of pits they dont put on the selling block because of some little things. Give them an e-mail or call what do you have to lose.http://www.ucsspirit.com/

yeah, you'd be surprised what you can do if you want it bad enough...wish yout he best of luck with your mats though, i know our region is going to have a hard time with vaulting cause were not a big vaulting region overall....our school is the only one who cares about it really, and none of the other schools in our region are going to want to pay to upgrade the pits to the correct size....we may be the only school with the right pits...i m just hoping ours all works out so we can have some competitions before state, lol

thanks guys...i think i will check out that usc spirit site and see what i can do.

Every time I see the title for this thread, I think of all the pole vault people named Matt that I know, and wonder if someone is mad at them. Hehe I need to not get online at 6:30 in the morning

yeah that usually helps for understanding of posts :)

my apologies for my spellling, i was never gifted in that genra. my english teacher tells me to SPELLCHECK for my papers...sadly, my answer is that i do... oops, and sorry to any matts out there that are offended. did not mean to "step" on your good name (by the way i can also kill any joke...yes the punn was intended...)

whoops! um yeah...i obv. can't spell either. it's funny cause I always think of my friend Matt whenever i talk about the mats even when it's not spelled wrong. lol!. Winter track is almost here guys. Anyone else ready to vault yet??

em, call up the school board/write them a letter. we need to show that there is an interest in the event and there are people who are willing to try it. Paul and i are both going to do it too. i can deal w/getting my own pole and maybe getting re-embersed later by the school if i donate it...but mats... all the county/district vaulters who are affected need to come together and save our event. spread the word to call up the school board.

Hey Catey, if you are still online e mail me and i will send you my IM so we can discuss this a bit ...faster. I have some news about that...my Piano teacher is a school board member(mrs. boren in case you want to look her up on the directory at the spotsy schools website) and i asked her if anything was said about getting new matts and she said that no one said anything about it at the last meeting(and her neice pole vaults too). I will however try and do something about this problem. i CAN NOT and WILL NOT run track and field Without pole vaulting this year!!!!!!

I don't know the Mass. Girls and Paul very well so I don't have a way to contact them but i think i will talk to my coach tommorow about this and see what he can do( the sad part of this is that my field events coach is a great guy, but i really don't think he cares all that much about pole vaulting so i'm not sure that he will do anything). I will talk to ms. boren and my other coach(he JUST bought me a BRAND NEW pole too). I know people from KG and Caroline, Woodbridge and Lafayette that vault and i stay in touch w/ but i can't tell anyone from Spotsy, or Mass. sorry . Don't worry though....I'm workin on this too!!!! see ya next week(districts)
-em