Steve Hooker

[rainbowgirl28]

No disrepect intended to any coach or coaching style, but I do beleive that run cosistency can help athletes avoid the yips. Probably will never solve the yips completely...........the vault is complex and yeah it is dangerous and more so at the elite level, big poles lots of speed and dynamic jumping.... just saying not direspecting.

The problem is you and dj have no idea what Alex Parnov is doing in training with Hooker, you just see what is happening in a meet and are making assumptions about the why.

[fishman4god]

Point taken.

[dj]

hey Becca

this has nothing to do with what Parnov is doing or me making an assumption.

This is about an approach that is "off" by his own admission.. my "opinion", from a coaches and experience stand point, to the readers on here on how it can be fixed.

Everyone continues to discount and ignore the obvious without even considering to check the run/MID..

Why would we do this if we really want the answer!

My contention is the "MID" six stride mark is too far out. Even on the jumps that he takes off and goes up on, there still has not been the "frequency" over the last six that I think he should have. The only way to increase the frequency is to have the right, closer distance for the last six steps.

I am trying to teach something here that is critical to the vault and to the coach in coaching the vault.

I also want us to stop "blaming" the athlete unless we have eliminated my point from the process and secondly I want every vaulter to jump there best at every practice or meet.. period.

All ask Alan or you to do is check it before you discount it or try to steer the conversation away form the issue.

Where is the six step "MID" on all his jumps? and compare that to the "speed"/MPS of the last six and "science" of each jump.

dj

[PVstorm84]

Hooker used an 18.30m (60') mid when he jumped 6.06m and became the second best of all time. Have ANY of us jumped 6.06m or coached that caliber of athlete? No.

And, let's remember... all of this with fairly average speed data for a 6m guy - 9.2-9.4 m/s... Parnov knows what he's doing more so than anyone that posts on this board, so let's just sit back and enjoy watching.

[PVstorm84]

Everyone continues to discount and ignore the obvious without even considering to check the run/MID..

dj

Hooker always puts out a mid with two tape marks on either side of the runway, and one in the middle in smaller meets... they check it every jump.

[RPVA03]

The funny thing to me is when you have an athlete that is using the 6 step mid mark, is hitting it, yet still won't take it up. Or when their run is on every time and everything is the same and takes it up sometimes, but not others. To me this screams that there is something else going on instead of the run needing to be "on".

Maybe we should just accept that some of the best coaches in the world kind of know what they are doing. Instead of saying, "Why are they so short sighted, why are they not listening to me? Why are they not doing it my way?" Try asking, "What are they doing that I am not doing? What can I learn from them?" That's how we improve as coaches.

Steve has gone through this in the past and gotten through it. When he did get through it, the solution was not to just follow the mid mark chart. That should beg the question, what did they do to get through that? They must be doing something effective.

Ask questions, don't think you have all the answers.

[altius]

Thank you folks - that is what I was trying to say --- but not as well. The point is that -as all coaches in all sports know - it is one thing to do everything right in training but the wheels can still fall off in competition. Vince Lombardi called it 'game slippage' in football but it applies in all sports -especially when there is an element of danger involved and the athlete's head must by totally right if they are to perform. Bubka's failure in Barcelona is an interesting one to consider especially after you watch his warm up jumps. But just watch the Olympic gymnasts and divers - there are usually some interesting blow ups in these sports when the pressure comes on -- this despite perfect preparation and coaching. In the end athletes are human beings out there striving to do their best - sometimes they don't manage that.

If anyone has a perfect solution to that problem they should set up in business and start selling it - they will make a fortune.

Finally I would say that if Steve can compete anywhere close to his best after this preparation it will be a fantastic achievement. But incidentally,when was the last time a vaulter repeated as Olympic champion?

[dj]

i give.. you guys are the winners..

dj

ps

"Why are they so short sighted, why are they not listening to me? Why are they not doing it my way?"

this has never been about "being right".. or me

[TeamCurtis]

I reject DJ's notion that the run is the source of all problems leading to the "yip" (aka running through).

[dj]

Bolt's 14 th stride from the blocks on his 9.58 was 2.24M @11.1MPS

Bubka's strides on a 6 meter jump was 2.10M and 2.04M - >17.50 "MID".. @9.7MPS

a 18.30 Mid is average 2.28M and @ 9.4MPS?

Honestly… what part of overstriding is being missed here?

[VaultPurple]

I reject DJ's notion that the run is the source of all problems leading to the "yip" (aka running through).

It depends on the athlete. Look at Hookers 6m and up jumps and look at where his mid is and then look at where it is if he is 'yipping'. If it is really different then the run is the cause of his problems. If it is the same, he is just a head case.

But the 6 step make is a good measuring point to tell if the run is the problem. But it can also tell you if the run is not the problem. But if the athlete trust the coach and the coach can tell them with confidence that the run is on because it is how it always is, and the speed is the same as it always is, then it may give the athlete more confidence to just do it.

[rainbowgirl28]

It depends on the athlete. Look at Hookers 6m and up jumps and look at where his mid is and then look at where it is if he is 'yipping'. If it is really different then the run is the cause of his problems. If it is the same, he is just a head case.

Unless the problem starts before he reaches the mid, and the mid being out is just a symptom of the underlying problem...