day of meets

[Peepers PV]

my head coach has always told us to "thrive on chaos" and i just started to get what that meant last year. a lot of things that go wrong at a meet, go wrong for everyone: weather, humidity, heat, cold, snow (i guess?), bad officials, etc. so he always just tells us to go with it, no one will pity you because you're in the same boat with your competitors. the one who deals the best will prob win.

[Russ]

I think that just having a routine is a good idea. I don't mean crazy superstitious stuff, I just mean sound habits: eating the same types of foods, drinking the same types of drinks, warming up in a consistent/routine manner. You should feel comfortable with what you are doing. Don't change your pre-meet routine - be consistent. If you get a consistent routine, then you never have to worry about whether you are doing the right thing - you'll have confidence and know that you are doing what's right for you.

[ladyvolspvcoach]

I call all that prejump "movement" voodoo!! We work really hard to get rid of voodoo...after all how many times do you have to rub your pole tip on the runway to insure a good jump??????

Meet days we go to the track (especially if it is a road trip) do some drills and pole runs, have breakfast as a group, chill until about two hours to one and a half hours before the meet. Go through a premeet warmup routine. Seems to get everyone focused and ready...Woohoo!

[Robert schmitt]

I hated getting to meets where I had to rush around to warm up and get jumps in.

Yeah I HATE being late to meets. If I am on my own, I'll often get there more than 2 hours early, to make sure I have enough time to talk to people, retape poles, whatever, and still have plenty of time to warm up.

I like to get there with about 5 minutes left in warmups or less (belmore, britdawg, and rainbow can vouge for this). The panic that sets in is good for the adrenalin!

Man you get there early! I usually show up 30 min late after they jumped a few bars. After three years of this the worker already has my name on the board and me passed to 13'6" before I show up. I take my one or sometimes 2 warm up trips down the run way. I figure at my age and training level I'm only good for 3 jumps any way.

[vaultmd]

Gary Hunter does that to me regularly at national masters meets. Generally he shows up when I'm the "last" guy in just when I've had probably my last clearance and I'm about ready to take my three misses. Funny thing is that we all know he is going to do it and check him in before the competition. The official usually doesn't know who Gary is, hears someone answer when he is calling roll and assumes Gary is there. I've been known to take a LONG TIME to jump at my last height while he's warming up.

[Robert schmitt]

It's awsome to have people that will help/put up with that. For me It is really a lack of time issue. I get off work at 6:00 when the meet starts after a half hour drive they are usually upto my opening hieght. I appreciate the heck out of the officials and the athletes to put up with my schedule and work me into the meet.