How often do you walk away happy?

[varska]

How often do you leave a meet happy? When everything is clicking, step is on, right stick, great form and you PR - you walk away happy. But seriously, how often does that happen? The nature of the game seems that more often than not, a vaulter walks away disappointed.
I'd say that in the circle of vaulters I know, 70% of the time they are [i]not[/i] leaving a meet with a smile on their faces. Rationally, we all know that we can't PR every meet. We know we should be happy knowing that we did the best we could on any given day. But in reality, let's face it, it's very difficult to put a positive spin on a sub PR performance.

So how often do you walk away happy?

[smokinvaulter1]

But to me the sports about having fun so no matter what result unless I get hurt. I just try to have fun and seems like results come with that.

[KirkB]

How often do you leave a meet happy? When everything is clicking, step is on, right stick, great form and you PR - you walk away happy. But seriously, how often does that happen? The nature of the game seems that more often than not, a vaulter walks away disappointed.

Varska, you ask a fair question, but your implication is that you should never be happy with anything less than a PR ... every meet.

There's happiness after a jump ... there's happiness after a meet ... there's happiness after a week of practice (without even jumping, let alone PR'ing) ... after a season ... and after your career is over.

These are all different levels of happiness, and the reality is that in every meet, only one vaulter will win, and everyone else won't. You even say this yourself. That doesn't mean that everyone else is a "loser", it just means that you weren't the "best" vaulter in that meet. Nothing more.

You could even say that a vaulter misses the bar more times in his lifetime than he makes ... which can be discouraging.

Speaking from someone that's been there, done that ... I'd say that TRUE happiness is knowing that each day out, you've tried your hardest. If you "gave it your all", you should be happy. It's the QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE ... you against the bar ... that drives you to succeed. You WON'T PR every meet, and you WON'T win every meet, so those are false measures of happiness (self-satisfaction).

At least that's what kept me training hard throughout my career.

I'm happy!

So how often do you walk away happy?

After a meet where I didn't do as well as I thought I should have (which actually was almost every meet), I was so focussed on figuring out what went wrong and how I was going to fix it that I didn't have any time or energy left over to "be moody". It's all in your state of mind. You can be dissatisfied but still be happy. The happiness is in the journey ... the striving for excellence ... looking forward to the day when you DO win or PR ... or both!

Kirk

[master]

From the perspective of masters vaulters, any day you get to jump and be with friends that love the sport, and you don't get injured.... well, that is a great day! That doesn't mean we don't like to PR and set records, but all must be put in perspective.

If you use a baseball analogy, a .300 batting average is considered pretty good. But that means that 70% of the time you don't even get on base, let alone hit a home run. Of the few times you hit a home run, how many of those times were the bases loaded? In some ways that compares to a PR. In vaulting, not only do you have to "earn the right" to be jumping at a crossbar that would be a PR for you, but you have to put it all together on one of your three attempts at that height. When that happens, you can be ecstatic. Other times you can and should still feel good, even if (and maybe especially if) you have learned something from a competition that will help you be a better vaulter.

- master

[varska]

All great points, thanks for the perspective.

Jim

[drcurran]

Lots of good points being made. I know we all know this but just a reminder. PV & HJ - the only two events where you continue until you fail! Unless you withdraw from competition on a "make", you will end you competition for the day on a failed attempt. I don't see this as a negative, just a "fact of life about our event" and something to get use to. OK just my .02

Dan

[vaultmd]

Every day above ground is a great day.

[master]

Every day above ground is a great day.

. . . .

- master

[VTechVaulter]

Every day above ground is a great day.

haha... my grandfather always says and day your looking at the grass from the top side your doing okay...

I think its a matter of perspective. Whether you enjoy the rest of whats going on, whether or not you jumped well even if the bar didn't stay.

One of the most fun meets in my life, my pr at the time was 5.53, and i jumped 5.27 which is pretty far below. But it was a street vault in the middle of a square in Italy. About 800 people lined the runways, being loud and getting excited. Wanting high fives and autographs. It was great. I had been in the middle of an awful european season and massive run through problems. Took off every jump all day, enjoyed being in the air, enjoyed the scenery of being buried in a town square in the middle of mountains, with good friends.

On the other hand i have had days where come out and jump 18ft and leave angry. I think its important to not take anything for granted and try to enjoy doing something that few will ever experience. Obviously there is a lot of disappointment and frustration. But if you find yourself unhappy more than your enjoying the simple act of flying.. probably time to hang up those shoes.

[decanuck]

Every time. I walk away happy every time, whether I PR or no-height. I might also be frustrated if the latter occurs, but I always enjoy the process.

We get to pole vault. Do you know how lucky we are? Can you imagine how many people see it from the sidelines and wish they could do that for a day? Can you guess what the distance runner on their umpteenth interval of the day thinks as he drudges by the pit looking up in envy of the guy that just sailed two stories through the air and cheered all the way back to earth?

[chasing6]

Every time.

Every day I get to do something even remotely related to vaulting is a great day. People (even fellow vaulters) always laugh at me on meet days because I enjoy myself so much, even in the pouring rain up here in Washington. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

[birdi_gurlie]

Honestly, MOST of the time.
I love doing it, really, but on the days where I only run-through, without even vaulting, no. [That's when I walk away frustrated...but when I get a single vault, or even just off the ground, I'm happy ]
But all the other times, yes.

That said...I LOVE vaulting in the rain...we did that at one meet, more as a casual "let's have fun" than competition and I was 1 of 3 who made it over the bar. It was fun...my mom had told me to bring extra clothes that day, because it was supposed to rain, so I figured that as long as I was going to get wet, I may as well get soaked!