Does changing poles change your PR?

[completemadness]

In the summer of 2002 my wife started using ESSXSport poles for the first time, she had previously jumped on Pacer (3 years) and UCS (4 years). Her PR is 4.20m (13'7) set on a UCS 14' 160lb (73kg) in 2000.

In October 2002 we decided to experiment, and purchased several series of poles from ESSXSports, in 12'4", 13', 13'6", 14' and 15' length. The athletes I advise used each of these length poles, for short and long run-up work. The poles matched the range of poles we had available from UCS before we started.

By the end of the 3rd month we had to go back to ESSX and order more poles as the technique of the athletes was improving so quickly they had to get bigger poles to jump the same heights. We added some more 13'6 poles and some 15' poles.

The outcome of all this was the following :-
U16 Girl PR improved from 2.90m to 3.20m in 4 months
U20 Girl PR stayed the same, but jumping became much more consistent, equalled PR 4 times.
Senior athlete equalled best ever height in winter competition, improved consistency by 30cm

U20 Boys improved by 20 and 30cm respectively, and became more consistent.

The accuracy of the flex and weight information in regards to the poles meant that the athletes became much more confident in the series of poles, and knew that the next pole given to them was the correct pole to jump on. This was reflected in the way they all jumped.

The final outcome of this was that the "team" finished with the following results over the season (Australian Summer/European Winter)

Irie Hill - Ranked #2 in UK, 3rd in National trials
Jacinta Lynn - Ranked #3 U20 in Australia, Won U20 Youth Champs, 4th Nationals
Sarah Riseley - Ranked #5 U16 in Australia, 4th Schools Champs

Neil Joubert - 6th at U20 National Champs, ranked outside top 10
Tim Pollard - 4th at U20 National Champs, ranked 6th

None of the junior athletes were ranked in the top 10 in Australia at the start of the season.

So, changing poles may not change your PR, and changing manufacturer may not do that also, but using more consistent poles certainly helps create a consistency of vaulting in technique from our experience.

[PVJunkie]

You need to give yourself more credit as a coach. Consistancy is the fault of the coach/athlete. If a vaulter is inconsistant it does not matter what pole they are on it will be a direct result of steps, plant, speed, angle etc. etc. Pat yourself on the back and take a look back at your log from last years work, whatever you did and the sequence in which you did it worked.