New coach..

[thewr80]

I have been pole vaulting since high school. I am a sophomore in college jumping 15'1 and this is literally my coaches first season coaching pole vault. She's an amazing strength and speed coach, but when it comes to pole vault its hard to not question her sometimes. Few examples:
1: She always wants me to go up on my first run at practice without a runthrough to catch my step.
2: I was jumping on a 15'7 155 on a 7 step (14 total steps) at about 14'6 grip(give or take) i got a new pole 15'7 160 and I had never jumped on it. I got to practice and she wanted me at the same grip on the new pole but to take off from a 5 step (10 steps) her reasoning was that since it was only a drill i should be able to do it. I feel like i need to hit a certain speed in order to go up regardless of its a drill or full jump considering the fact its at my regular jumping grip and i dont think im at the speed in just 10 total steps. Who is wrong? I try to have faith in my coach but with stuff were i feel like i can get hurt its hard to. Please help!

[coachjvinson]

1: She always wants me to go up on my first run at practice without a runthrough to catch my step.
2: ...I got to practice and she wanted me at the same grip on the new pole but to take off from a 5 step (10 steps) her reasoning was that since it was only a drill i should be able to do it. I feel like i need to hit a certain speed in order to go up regardless of its a drill or full jump...

what exactly does this mean; specifically, "wants me to go up" and "since it was only a drill" (what was the drill)? also, what is your typical warmup directly prior to the workout?

whether it is a meet or a practice, and no matter what the event or discipline is, there is always a progression...

so I guess I am wondering what is the "progression" as directed to you during your practices?

an interesting dynamic and situation in which I am certain it will be important for you to exercise tact and patience, the relationship and dialogue that you have with your coach is immensely important...

[thewr80]

By she wants me to go up i mean that she wants me to take off and not just run through. The drill was hold at my usual grip and work on my driving and swing leg.
Usually we warm up with 2 laps, stretching, drills, and 30 meter accelerations. After that i head over to pole vault and begin jumping.

[altius]

Try and find another coach -sorry - she doesn't know what she is doing!

[coachjvinson]

...After that i head over to pole vault and begin jumping.

what does this involve... to "warm up"?

[coachjvinson]

a runthrough to catch my step...

what step are you catching? mid? takeoff? or both?

[coachjvinson]

Try and find another coach -sorry - she doesn't know what she is doing!

I trust Al immensely and I utilize and support his methods regularly; HOWEVER, let's not throw the baby out with the dishwater just yet... If the situation is that problematic and there is not an amiable solution then, yes that may be necessary as a last resort.

I am wondering if there is not some middle ground however in the meantime...

I believe there may be some creative ways to manage the dynamics...

[VaultPurple]

I have been pole vaulting since high school. I am a sophomore in college jumping 15'1 and this is literally my coaches first season coaching pole vault. She's an amazing strength and speed coach, but when it comes to pole vault its hard to not question her sometimes. Few examples:
1: She always wants me to go up on my first run at practice without a runthrough to catch my step.
2: I was jumping on a 15'7 155 on a 7 step (14 total steps) at about 14'6 grip(give or take) i got a new pole 15'7 160 and I had never jumped on it. I got to practice and she wanted me at the same grip on the new pole but to take off from a 5 step (10 steps) her reasoning was that since it was only a drill i should be able to do it. I feel like i need to hit a certain speed in order to go up regardless of its a drill or full jump considering the fact its at my regular jumping grip and i dont think im at the speed in just 10 total steps. Who is wrong? I try to have faith in my coach but with stuff were i feel like i can get hurt its hard to. Please help!

As someone who got into coaching college at a young age and have the athletes question every word out of my mouth due to experience let me show things from the other perspective.

1) If you question if your coach is a good coach or a bad coach, they will be a bad coach.
- A lot of athletes struggle on the fine line between being able to be coached and thinking they are smarter than their coach
- Sometimes it is better to just 100% commit to a coach that is not the worlds best, than to just struggle every day, because a moderately good coach is better than no
no coach

2) There is more than one way to skin a cat
- One thing I noticed when I started coaching was the battle with "this is how I have ever done it". That with a combination with "but my other coach, or this guy says
this". If you are a 15'1 pole vaulter and your coach tells you to try something, TRY IT. Guess what, you are a 15'1 pole vaulter, obviously "what you have been doing"
and ''what this other person said" had you jumping around 15'1, so try something new and maybe you go 16'1.
- I have a ton of respect for Altius as a coach but he is wrong! If everyone turned away a new coach because someone read an internet post and told them they had a
bad coach, there would never be any good new coaches in the world. Guess what, Altius was a new coach at one point in his career and I am sure he had to learn by
a lot of trial and error along with talking to other great coaches.

3) Your coach was not wrong
"I was jumping on a 15'7 155 on a 7 step (14 total steps) at about 14'6 grip(give or take) i got a new pole 15'7 160 and I had never jumped on it. I got to practice and
she wanted me at the same grip on the new pole but to take off from a 5 step (10 steps) her reasoning was that since it was only a drill i should be able to do it"
- A 15'7 155 pole is a tooth pick, even if you are only 135-140 pounds, if you are fast enough to take up a 14'6 grip, you are probably fast enough to be on something
stiffer than that. I know about 99% of coaches on pole vault power will preach technique comes first no matter what, but sometimes drills that just make you more
aggressive and attack the take off are good practice. That means if you normally can swing and jump on a 15'7 155 with a 14'6 grip, if you attack the take off from a
shorter run and just focus on jumping and planting properly, you should be able to move the bigger pole to vertical without swinging
*If I remember correctly, Altius has this cool drill he uses where the athlete runs 3 lefts with a straight pole and just try and raise the grip over and over until they can
not push the pole to vertical any more. He calls it an auto correcting drill in which you can tell the athlete is doing it better simply by the fact that they can move the
pole better. The athlete can only push this grip to vertical, but the majority of athletes would not be able to swing up on this pole. So this is essentially what your
coach is trying to get you to do, except from a 5 with a bending pole. If it rejects you, hold on tight, go back to pole vault 101, NEVER LET GO OF THE POLE!

She always wants me to go up on my first run at practice without a run through to catch my step.
- Then be more confident and do it.
- If you are jumping 15'1 you have been vaulting long enough to be confident in where your step is. Depending on the surface or how you feel that day, your step may
vary a little, however if you start your run with the idea that it might be off by a little and that you need to run through, it will probably be off.
- Nothing is more aggravating to a coach than when an athlete has to 'test' every pole and every step. Trust your coach when they tell you it will work, they are
most likely saying it based on a previous jump. If I see an athlete that needs a bigger pole, I do not want them to try harder for the bigger pole, I want them to
jump the exact same way they did on the smaller one, they were put on the bigger pole because the last one was too small. If you are an athlete that has to 'test'
every jump and every pole, It is going to be a bad day when you are in a meet with 30+ vaulters trying to warm up in 1 hour and you only get 3-4 jumps.


To give you a little more insight as to my back ground. I was put in charge of a group of college vaulters that were recruited by another coach while I was still in undergrad. From what you have described about your coach she is not handling things much more differently than I would. I took over 3 guys who had all jumped around 15'1 the season before I took over, those three have now jumped, 16'9.5, 16'5.5, and 16'0.75. And I expect them all to not run through any in warm ups!

[altius]

Great post VP - really positive and helpful. I must apologise for my trite response but I am just getting tired of folk who should never be allowed near a pole vaulter. Folk who have never bothered to really study the event but come out with incredible ideas while imagining they know everything they need to know about the vault. Over the years there have been many plaintiff cries like this one and I find it immensely frustrating. Thirty years ago if one wanted to learn something from the great coaches it often meant a trip to the other side of the planet and it cost a fortune - now you can hit google/utube and find almost everything you need to know.

[rainbowgirl28]

I don't think we have enough information to judge whether the coach is good or bad. The OP sounds like a bit of a head case, and it sounds like the coach is trying to find ways to work through that. The best thing you can do to jump high in college is trust your coach. If it's not working out, your only alternative is to transfer schools. Staying with the same coach and questioning everything is going to be frustrating for everyone.

[coachjvinson]

I don't think we have enough information to judge whether the coach is good or bad. The OP sounds like a bit of a head case, and it sounds like the coach is trying to find ways to work through that. The best thing you can do to jump high in college is trust your coach. If it's not working out, your only alternative is to transfer schools. Staying with the same coach and questioning everything is going to be frustrating for everyone.

Agreed, keep a positive perspective in your current situation and utilize the resources that you have: this can be a great opportunity for you and your coach to grow, develop and learn together. 76 HS school Juniors were over 15' last year and will be Seniors this year: if you are serious about the vault, take responsibility to
1) Develop the relationship with your coach
2) Learn every thing you can with your coach: the best vault coaches in the nation are still learning and studying; it is a lifelong process...

She's an amazing strength and speed coach...

This is awesome: a vaulter with exceptional/perfect technique is limited only by their functional speed into the plant and takeoff...

She always wants me to go up on my first run at practice without a run through to catch my step.

- Then be more confident and do it.
- If you are jumping 15'1 you have been vaulting long enough to be confident in where your step is. Depending on the surface or how you feel that day, your step may vary a little, however if you start your run with the idea that it might be off by a little and that you need to run through, it will probably be off.

I believe this is very important and I support what is being stated here - I will add... make sure that you are keeping a journal and a record - know your run, pole and grip from every workout and competition... and from every run 2L, 3L, 4L, etc...
Also, this statement is predicated on the fact that the RUN and Pole Plant is practiced on the track religiously and it should be very consistent IMO...

Currently, I see 1 run-through in 50+ vaults in both practice and competition in our program... If you know and practice your run with precision you will have a greater degree of confidence and as a result, you will have more productive workouts and competitions...
Work to build a rapport and TRUST with your coach...

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

[thewr80]

Thank you so much all of you. I think i was in the position where i felt like i knew more than my coach only due to the fact that i have vaulted for six years and this is her first season coaching it, and she's trying to coach me out of a book. I felt as if more experienced vaulters and coaches agreed with her i would be able to have more confidence in her. Thank you once again, hopefully by next sunday I will no longer be a 15'1 but 16'6 jumper with my new pole at conference usa meet!