PV Pet Peeves

[ashcraftpv]

ok, here's my take on running steps back. flame me all you want.

In high school, nothing wrong with it. I make my kids run their steps back every time we jump. I really don't care how many people I piss off. I don't like wasting trips down the runway on kids not taking it up to try and dial in their step. Most high school kids, especially beginners, aren't that consistent in their runs no matter how many pole runs you make them do. There was always a 2' - 3' difference in my practice run and competition run due to adrenaline, etc.... I prefer to know my kids are going to be on (or pretty darn close), on their first trip down the runway. I still run my seps back when I jump, but that's because I don't train seriously anymore and my mark fluctuates depending on how i'm feeling that day. If there is room to lay out a tape measure and grab steps off to the side, we do that to not take up the runway, but I generally ignore all the grumbling from other people.

Now if you're competing at the collegiate/elite level, there is no way you should have to run a step back.

[rabbit1]

1. Old fat lady meet officials in charge of the pole vault.
2. Kids that sit on the front buns while you try to practice.
3. Junior high coaches who try to tell you all the stuff your vaulter is doing wrong even after he beats all their kids by four feet.
4. Shallow boxes.
5. HS Coaches who make their vaulters do off season football before vault practice.
6. Old guys who say they jumped 17 feet when they were in junior high, but quit to play baseball.
7. Rain

[polecat]

I fully agree with Russ's suggestions on distance marking the runways. I think it would save a lot of time and confusion in the rather short runway prep times before the meets begin. I also think it is a great idea to have a clear "zero" line so that the standards can be set up properly. I've been in meets too many times when the officials discovered they hadn't properly placed the standards.

I also think it is a good idea for vaulters to mark the measurements on the poles in the tape area where the top hand grips the poles. You don't need to mark every inch, but we mark every three inches with a Sharpie pen. That way, a vaulter and a coach will know the grip height a vaulter will be using in a jump. This is a good time saver in practices as well as meets because it makes top hand grip adjustments that much easier.

[Duncan]

* Vaulters not from the Northeast who have "peeves" against people from the Northeast because they were kicked out.
* Vaulters who talk to themselves before they jump.
* Little skinny HS vaulters who jump higher than me.
* Vaulters who tear muscles then talk about how high they could have jump if...

I am not being serious of course. I agree with actungpv - athletes rarely bother me. I have seen vaulters holding too high on soft poles. I have seen vaulters running from a mile away and stepping 3 feet under and nearly crashing every jump. These are the times where I am not too happy with the coaching. At one meet I saw a vaulter warming up his pole by having one of his friends sit in the middle of the pole while he lifted the end over his head - I asked them to stop and they actually did even though I was coaching for a different school.

[Robert schmitt]

This statement drives me insane!! If I hear it one more time in any form I'm going to start bleeding out my ears.

"every one says I have really good form but I cann't get inverted. I'm gripping at 13' and jumping 9'6". I want to start lifting so I have the upper body strength to pull my self upside down and push off the pole"

[breaker]

5) People who run through... a lot

that one drives me crazy!!! i totally understand if your steps are messed up and you have to run through a few times to adjust them, but doing it all the time, over and over...
maybe its just because im lazy and if i run ALL the way down the runway, i going to jump.

[ladyvolspvcoach]

It's pit demons!!!!

[Bonevt]

I agree with most of what everyone else has said and also
*People who lie about there prs and you can tell that they are
*People that have made amazing heights but somehow there was noone else there and they "don't have the same pole so they can't do it again

[achtungpv]

that one drives me crazy!!! i totally understand if your steps are messed up and you have to run through a few times to adjust them, but doing it all the time, over and over...
maybe its just because im lazy and if i run ALL the way down the runway, i going to jump.

If you're warm, hang on first time down the runway...running through is worthless for checking a step because you are running to jump into the pit, not running to take off the ground.

[Peepers PV]

Highschool meets should always start at three heights or so below the best vaulters standard height. That way the kids just starting get the see the better vaulters jump. When the start at 8' or so the good guys get to sit and wait for four hours or more and the kids who need to see how it's done are GONE!! It's like being punished for being better than everyone else...what's up with that??

yeah that does kind of bother me. i remember one meet where the guys jumped first and started at 3pm. by the time they were done, the winning height was 9'.

about 8 girls started jumping, and i found out that they had PRs around 7'. so the lineup went like this:
6'
6'6
6'6
7'
7
7'6
7'6
11'9
by the time i started jumping i had already done prelims and finals for 100h, 300h, and the 4x4 was about to start. i got to jump once at 10', and once at 11(both feet and o'clock ). the officials asked me if i was done, and my head coach answered for me with a resounding yes. haha fun meet, i forgot about that until just now .

[Peepers PV]

*coaches who tell their athletes to do exactly the WRONG thing.
meaning:
they're under = move in some
they get wicked stood up = bigger pole
they stall out hardcore = raise grip
or they'll fiddle with the standards instead of fixing run length or pole selection when those are really the problems.

*parent's who will talk to absolutely anyone about their god-like vaulter.

these parents can't sell you short, i mean, you just simply haven't lived until they've told you about their child's diet, sleep patterns, social life, sicknesses, training, likes, dislikes, goals, but most of all, you must know where their precious 5th grader aspires to vault in college. congratulations parent, thanks to your lengthy speech on your son/daughters bodily functions, i can sleep with confidence knowing that one day, in the year 2012, your child will leave your house and continue to vault:dazed:

[saraf]

people who miss treat there pole i think is the worst. I feel so bad for the pole. The pole has feeling too. I don't think the athlete would like it if/when the pole kicks the athletes butt. thats a biggie. Also the bad sportsmanship yelling and screaming in a bad manor or taunting while others are jumping ohh and old guys who stand at the end of the runway banging there butt plug in and making sure there hand is STUCK to the pole correctly .. Ohh and also when people aren't haveing fun around the pit. Thats suppoed to be a happy place, maybe a little bit serious but mostly happy. Not sad and angry and confused. yea with the "practice PR" thing ... of coarse you jumped what ever height. I have jumped 28 feet in practice .. NO ONE CARES