Eye Positioning

[KirkB]

Are you describing having the eyes' point of central focus being one place while the mind's point of focus being somewhere else in your field of vision? Looking at the bottom hand for instance, but focussing your attention on the horizon?

There's a lot of ways of looking at this but it all happens so fast, it's hard to say for sure. It's a bit of a blur for me, and quite frankly, I have to dig a little further back into my memory than you guys.

PP, I don't think you'd focus your MIND on the horizon ... that would be purely visual. But what I MIGHT be saying (not sure, because it happens so fast, and it's so subconcious) is that your SHORT-RANGE focus might be more mental than visual. I had my eyes wide open during the entire vault ... but I think my primary receptors to my spatial orientation and balance "in the air" and "upside down" were not my eyes ... they were my ... built in gyroscope ... whatever scientific label you and VaultMarq want to put on that.

If you search for "gyroscope", you'll find my quote from Sep 19, 2008, where I talk about something related to this ... here ... http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=15483&p=116313&hilit=gyroscope#p116313

It’s like having a built-in gyroscope in your inner ear that automagically points your legs straight up. I recall that in high school, it took me a long time to become comfortable getting upside-down on the pole. It’s not natural. But after training hard for several years on rope, rings, and highbar, I became totally comfortable in the inverted position on the pole. I guess what you’re doing when you do inverted gymnastics drills is to literally TRAIN YOUR INNER EAR (your vestibular system) to become accustomed to this.

And I see that I referred to the "vestibular system" back then, but the ...

... proprioception (which is from Golgi Tendon Organs in the tendons of your muscles) ...

... that VaultMarq refers to is a new one on me, so I bow to his expertise in this area.

Kirk

[chasing6]

It might seem strange, but at takeoff I always look at the warning label on my pole. Not necessarily to remind myself of the dangers of vaulting, but because it's always slightly above the horizon. After that, it's all feel.

One cue that we use with some of our vaulters is to look at your top hand when you go into your swing. This tends to help some athletes who 'throw' their head back to vigorously to initiate the swing. Again, this only works for some, not all, of our vaulters (much like every other coaching device known to man ).

[LHSVaulterJJR]

actually ive learned to use reference points or points of focus to help some vaulters learn different skills. for example to achieve an earlier/ high plant, looking at your bottom hand would help you tell if your getting your plant up high enough or weather it was late. (obviously you can feel this without looking) but it acts as a trigger for some vaulters. also one Very effective way to teach a vaulter to get ALL the way back at the top of his/her swingup is to use their top hand as a trigger. During the swing up if you physically try to find your top hand, it gives you a little more awareness on how far your (feet, shins legs, body) actaully is and your able to learn to get more inverted easier this way. now this is just to teach the skill, once this is burned into muscle memory you wont need to focus on that any longer and it will come naturally and youll go back to a black out mode. or whatever you want to call it

[altius]

"Bottom hand, back of the pit, 'front'... Not much difference."

Sorry PP you have misinterpreted what Bubka was saying or rather implying ie that folk look at the box because they are scared or uncertain BUT that is NOT where they should be looking. They dont need to look there because the box does not move. Instead they should look where they are going - up and forward.

Unfortunately I did not emphasise this in BTB2 because for me it was an absolute given. However 95% of the young athletes I see in clinics in the US, when asked to demonstrate the position they want to be in at the instant they leave the ground, look down at the pole tip. Invariably I point out that since the box will never slither away -or at least I have never seen one do so -they do not need to look down - but they do need to improve and learn to trust their run up and plant through hours of practice.

[powerplant42]

Got it.

[Andy_C]

In retrospect, my eye position changes quite a bit during my entire vault. When I first start, I'm just looking forward in a general direction. I only ever look at the box at the initiation of the drop at 6 steps (3 lefts). Near the completion of my drop, from about 2 steps out I start looking upwards and forward. Through the takeoff I'm usually looking just above the pole label, not that I'm trying to but because it's just what's in my line of sight. During the latter part of the swing I'm looking at my hands because I'm trying to get my feet there, though that doesn't always happen. If I get my legs up; I bring my shoulders down and punch my lower body upwards. I'm really not sure what I look at specifically during this motion, personally it's not what concerns me most at this point since my technique from here on is pretty bad (relatively speaking) and it needs a lot of work. At the end of my *attempted* pull-turn, I'm usually looking down somewhere between the box and the mat.

But I do get what Bubka says about not looking at the box. I think you can extrapolate a lot of mental aspects of somebody's vault by this behavior, namely fear. Personally, I think fear is one of the two biggest causes of bad plants (among other things), the other one is of course plain-old bad technique. But on the topic of fear, there can be a whole range of consequences during the plant; pulling, not extending the arms upwards, hesitation but I also that it causes the development of strange techniques... One in particular would be a bad drop, where people will keep the pole very low (sometimes almost horizontally) throughout the run. Though more experienced vaulters may not actually be afraid at this point I think this habit would have originally developed out of a concern that they may drop too late and miss the plant. I don't do this myself so this is just a 3rd party observation and guess.

[KirkB]

Quoting Bubka ...

Q. Where is your point of focus?
A. To the front, many jumpers look at the box, the box doesn't move, it is always there. I think it has to do with mental pressure or being scared.

This is an example of us needing to be wary of an incorrect translation ... or simply a misquote ...

Look at what a very slight edit makes ...

Q. Where is your point of focus?
A. To the front. Many jumpers look at the box, but the box doesn't move, it is always there. I think it has to do with mental pressure or being scared.

I underlined my edits.

Kirk

[yankee814]

I've got a question on this: A coach from another school told me to try to look at my bottom hand throughout my swing. Is this correct?

[powerplant42]

Do what FEELS right (as in, is the most comfortable). The important thing is to avoid looking at the box at take-off... Try some different things with your line of sight, get a feel for what you like, and stick with it. It's really not something you'll end up thinking about eventually.