PoleVaultPower.com

So my athletes have busted three butt plugs on three separate poles since the season began in February.

Unfortunately two of them were on 11' 120 poles, the only two such poles I have. I pulled off a butt plug from a 12'4 120 pole and put it on the 11' 120, only to have the athletes bust that one in about 10 days.

My question to the audience is: Is this normal?? They aren't new poles or anything, but that third plug was in good used condition when I put it on. If they are doing something wrong, what could it be?

Second question being: my third plug is ripped through, but only about half way. I have a meet tomorrow and of course my replacement plugs are in a delivery truck somewhere - Is it legal/safe to use that pole with the damaged plug?

Thanks ahead of time, I'm a new coach and honestly never had this problem when I competed back in the day.

Let me guess, the plugs are on Altius or ESSX poles?

Gill and UCS plugs usually last a lot longer. ESSX now sells some premium plugs that look like they should last longer too.

nope, skypoles

Maybe some of the suggestions in this thread will help?

http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/vie ... php?t=2115

The problem with the hard plastic tips is that after a few jumps, the pole inbeds itself in the butt plug. You can't twist it without tapping it off and then the "blowout" is inevitable.

I got one of those "unbreakable" plugs from ESSX and it blew out in 4 practices. They may have upgraded them since then, so maybe they last longer now. We have NEVER blown out a "Swedish" style tip, like the ones Altius uses. As long as you give it a twist after each jump, it's like the Energizer Bunny.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Let me guess, the plugs are on Altius or ESSX poles?

Gill and UCS plugs usually last a lot longer. ESSX now sells some premium plugs that look like they should last longer too.

Our ESSX plug is still being worked on it is a great idea of design but the special polamar material is not strong enough and is not working yet. We have two more solutions to test soon they will be good. UCS and Gill have a solution but 21 differret sizes so you have to make sure the plug fits.
We find most of the time it is not the plug but the pole is to sharp on the butt edge. Soften with metal nail file and run a match around the edge to round it. this should help. Also too flat of take-off will be to much for the plugs try a higher angle which should be better for your vault.

i blew out an altius plug yesterday

PVC wrote:So my athletes have busted three butt plugs

please call them pole tips

other than that, if it is a chronic problem with a specific pole then it may be a problem with the bottom of that pole. as far as safe or legal, the only weird checking in of poles i have dealt with has been an official meticulously checking my tape job and to this day have no idea why this matters, except maybe unless a high schooler puts grip tape above the max handhold. but if part of the pole is protruding through the bottom of the plug, you can probably still take some jumps on it until it completely blows through, but be careful, it may sharpen the bottom of your pole, causing more blow throughs, or worse, make little cracks and cause the pole to subsequently break on you. but seriously though, i would worry more about beaking and suck if they were longer poles and bigger athletes. one meet shouldnt be too bad.

there arent tips on other poles you can swab between vaults?

also, i believe gill now makes fewer sizes of pole tips than previously, so you may want to check when you place an order of what size to get.

would taping the damaged pole tip (covering the rip) be smart? or will that make the tip open to slip? making the vault more difficult/dangerous.

and Brian, my supplier uses the plug terminology so i adopted it..but pole tips attracts far less looks in a crowd

(edited in)I've already swapped all the pole tips that fit and they have blown through them all. in a remarkable amount of time, i might add. I'm just hoping the competition brings an identical pole since they have a large vault team.(done editing)

Plugs will eventually wear out, but you certainly can make them last longer by a few things. Get your vaulters to habitually rotate their plugs. More times than not the end plug blows out due to repeatedly planting under. When your vaulters are not taking off freely (ie. the pole is already bending before they are actively leaving the ground) there is a tremendous amount of stress applied to the end of the pole. When this happens the plug will actually tilt to a side (not on the end of the pole squarely) and begin wearing through. If your vaulters consistantly make sure their plugs are on correctly and rotate them, they will last much longer. This is a band aid approach to save money, the real problem lies in their take-off. I would work with them there and teach them to take off before (at just as) the pole tip hits the back of the box.

I would not recommend jumping with a pole tip that has partially busted through. You'd probably be OK for one meet, but check the pole after every jump to make sure it is not cracking or otherwise getting stressed. Tape won't hurt anything, but it probably won't help much.

I agree that you should check the bottom of the pole and try and smooth it out. I've never heard of such small poles busting through hard plastic tips so fast.

Although I never actually got a look at the pole tip after any of the jumps, the vaulters said it survived. I'm hoping the metal washer and the taped up rubber/plastic tip absorbed most of the shock.

Thanks for the planting under explanation, I have little doubt that that is the main cause. Every pole tip has been ripped in the same semi-circular fashion. At least my vaulters are consistent.

And those vaulters did great today.