6P's new PR of 15' from 6 Lefts (on a 14' pole)

[vault3rb0y]

Yes it can be done, and yes there is a drive phase. In order for there to be no passive phases, the drive phase must be finished in the fractions of a second before the pole hits the back of the box. in a 6.40 approach, the drive phase is completed just before a vaulter-pole system is engaged.

However, in terms of importance in the vault, generally it is more important to:
1.) Finish your take off as quickly and powerfully as possible("Drive the pole", "chest drive", "hit the pole hard".... all the same idea, just different mental cues)

2.) Swing quickly as avoid passive phases


If you mix up the two, people get over-anxious to swing, and dont convert much energy into the pole, instead the energy from your take off goes into accelerating your "natural swing" and your hips get sucked under the pole prematurely. It also takes away the ability to add MAXIMAL energy. Aka.... you might avoid passive phases, but you arent adding a high volume of energy throughout the jump because you cant swing as fast.

What im getting at is this- whether you are under, out, or have a perfect free take off, your focus should be on finishing that take off with as much aggression and as quickly as possible. Joe, when you commented about chest drive and being under, i believe what you are getting at is that even if you are under, by hitting a strong and finished take off, a lot of jumps can still go quite well (although still less than ideal). For some people, thinking about a strong "chest drive" is a mental cue to help them hit a big, tall, wide and finished take off.

[joebro391]

vault3rb0y, I agree with everything you just said. And as walker and my jumps from sunday show, you can certainly vault well (as you stated, less ideally), even if you're under. I also concur with you about the drive phase being fractions of a second long (any longer and you'll never be able to invert before the pole starts to uncoil).

Finally, about what you were saying about one's hips getting sucked under the pole, this is a problem that I sometimes encounter and FOR ME, the way I fixed it (and led into a decently timed drive-phase) was to simply think about pushing off of the ground with my trail-leg as hard and as vigorously as possible. The rest is where some confusion may lie. see, last june, right before i ended my season for some rest, to prepare for college, I was able to get on 15' poles from 6-left approaches. granted they were 140's (i'm sure i can pop on a 15' 150 or even a 155 from a 6 now), but they way i was able to get on them, was a drive-phase. It was a split second and more-or-less concluded when my trail leg was fully extended after a vigorous push off of the ground. I say this is confusing because the point at which I began my swing (snapped), was simply...when it felt right. Whether or not I was doing it ideally or not, I don't know. My coach liked it and I was able to blow throw the 15' 140... but since there is no video, no one can critique it. Though, since my coach is HUGE on the drive-thing, and my step was nice and out (around 11'6 with a 13'6 hand grip), i'll assume i was doing it well. I feel that i haven't really be able to perform/practice a decent drive-phase this season because there's simply no time to drive on a 14' pole. They'd uncoil as soon as you even THOUGHT about "staying down". In turn, I attempt to swing as soon as my foot leaves the ground (and as long as it's a LONG swing, it works as well as I feel it can work). Although this describes agapit's idea of vaulting and how bubka explained his way of vaulting, i don't have the speed to move the pole 'IN' so well and when it comes to 15' and 16' poles, need a split second more of horizontal motion to move the pole into the pit (or else i might land in the box)...hopefully this paragraph isn't to confusing to read. feel free to ask for clarifications and/or post arguments. -6P

[KirkB]

6P, you're on the right track, and I can relate to what you're talking about re the "drive phase". HOWEVER ...

Keep in mind that "staying down" is PASSIVE. You DON'T want to "stay down" ... rather, you want to pre-stretch (drive the chest ... or whatever you want to call it) ... and then ... IMMEDIATELY ... SWING LIKE HELL ... without a pause. Spend NO TIME in the "drive phase".

Having said that ... depending on your speed and pole flex for any particular vault ... you might need to pause a split second ... to rotate to vertical. However, DON'T get into that habit, and DON'T consider those vaults as your TARGET technique. Instead, recognize those vaults as having a passive phase which you MUST strive to eliminate in subsequent vaults.

If you find that you HAVE TO pause (for that split second), then think about dropping down a pole and eliminating that delay. Once you "get it", then move back up to that same pole and strive to pre-stretch WITHOUT any pause. None. Nillo. Zilch. Instead, fill that time gap by starting your downswing a bit earlier ... even slightly BEFORE your pre-stretch is finished (you can still be pre-stretching your shoulder whilst your trail leg goes back and then immediately forwards). Pop in ... then IMMEDIATELY pop back out.

Kirk

[joebro391]

6P, you're on the right track, and I can relate to what you're talking about re the "drive phase". HOWEVER ...

Keep in mind that "staying down" is PASSIVE. You DON'T want to "stay down" ... rather, you want to pre-stretch (drive the chest ... or whatever you want to call it) ... and then ... IMMEDIATELY ... SWING LIKE HELL ... without a pause. Spend NO TIME in the "drive phase".

I agree with this, in fact I don't think I could have said it better myself...(hope we're not just arguing over semantics again haha). My coach refers to it as "staying down" (though I think he literally is talking about a passive phase, so ignore that), you refer to it as "obtaining the pre-stretch/driving the chest" and I refer to it as the "drive phase". But at the very least, You and I mean the same thing -6P