The Drop-Tip Technique

[distancejumper]

My coach had me start doing it at the beginning of the season, but now found out that it is alot slower.

[master]

[quote="vaultfan"]Actually, I feel that Alan Launder has recently provided a superior method of gradually lowering the tip of the pole during the approach and during the plant. And he provides a complete explanation of the technique in his book, “From Beginner to Bubkaâ€Â

[ladyvolspvcoach]

There were some excellent discussions of the drop in the "what is a late drop?" thread....

[ladyvolspvcoach]

OOps! "what is a late PLANT?" Thread.

[Kirk]

vaultfan wrote:

(1) I have been working on my pole drop and plant into a sliding box on my driveway ... (almost free drop).

(2) If I let the pole tip drop freely and move my arms and hands accordingly, my pole tip does bounce and sometimes out of the box.

(3) I have been experimenting with trying to decelerate the tip by a strong left hand up under the pole ...

(4) It is difficult, but not impossible to control the drop to minimize or eliminate the bounce.

(5) It is especially hard when using a hand grip separation of about 18" (45cm).

(6) ... Does anyone have any opinions about this method of controling the tip bounce?

Vaultfan, I'll comment on each of your points ...

(1) Although a surface-level box is a good practice tool, I don't think it's close enough to a regulation box to worry about whether your tip bounces or not. There's definitely less chance of bounce in a regulation box.

(2) In this drill, you should only worry about getting the feel of the pole's free-fall, and not worry about the bounce. In a regulation vault, if you aim for the back of the box, your forwards momentum far outweighs your pole's downwards momentum, and as soon as you hit the box, your body weight begins to be applied to the pole. In this context, the pole won't bounce. Since it's hard to aim exactly at the far bottom corner of the box (ideally the corner opposite your lower hand - your guiding hand), you can be a couple inches short of the back of the box, and any bounce will still be negligible.

(3) Anything that causes decelleration is bad.

(4) Please refer to my previous post of May 11, 2004 (above). Think "acceleration" and "aggressive", not "control" - assuming that you're an experienced (4.5m+) vaulter.

(5) A hand separation of 18" (45cm) sounds too narrow. Why do you feel you need that narrow of a hand-hold? IMHO, the bottom hand should be at a distance that's comfortable for the pole carry and plant. There should be no concern that a narrow hand-hold provides any advantages once you leave the ground. IMHO, all the work/energy going into the "C" and coming out of the "C" should be done by the top hand. The bottom hand is there just for balance - nothing more. I know this is easier said than done if you lack strength or confidence in your top hand/arm, but it's theoretically sound. You want to have a single fulcrum once you leave the ground. Let the top hand/arm do all the work. (I advocate no push.)

(6) Your focus seems to be on controlling the bounce. I wish I could help you more on that. I'm guessing that maybe that's not your biggest problem. I'm thinking that a more important problem for you to solve might be to widen your grip. With that change, you might find that the bounce disappears. It will definitely give you more of the "see-saw" effect that others have commented on. Expirement with a wider grip, and see how it feels. I think you need to justify to yourself why you think you need such a narrow grip.

Good luck!

[dj]

the pole tip will drop @ 32ft per sec sq.. unless the vaulter "holds" it up... and the pole tip should not "drop" hard into the box, creating negative bend and a "late" plant/takeoff action.

as the pole tip is comfortablly dropping, over the last 4-6 steps.... the pole is "turned over" 3 steps out, supported by both hands, the front hand still should be shoulder/chest height and the top grip/hand comes above the shoulder and continues high above the forehead prior to the pole tip hitting the back of the box... this action should "allow" the pole tip to slide/glide to the back of the box freely without bounce........

if you noticed most of bubka’s jumps he had very little “resistanceâ€Â

[master]

Kirk and dj, thanks for the advice. First is, I'm only close to a 4.0m jumper and I jump in masters competitions. And, I was doing some experimenting with my plant when this was happening. I normally have my grip about 22 to 23" but this was my effort to see what it would be like trying the closer grip. The reason for trying the closer grip is the idea of the free take off. I may be wrong, but I understood the closer grip would facilitate more vertical extension of the arms and body at take off. Additionally, I understand the correct drop for the free take off would have the tip of the pole hit in the box floor 15-20cm in front of the box stopboard and then it would slide to the stopboard, hitting it at the moment your take off toe leaves the ground.

I have never had the pole tip bounce out of the box during a jump. I have had it bounce up partially, hit the box stopboard midway up and then at about maximum bend, the tip slide down the stopboard to the proper position. That is a rather uneasy feeling. First because your pole angle is lower at the time you start the bend which affects penetration, and second when the tip slides and hits bottom you both feel and hear it.

I agree that if and when I would try to control the drop speed just at the end of the drop, that affects my run, my balance, my lean and none of that would be good. Also, the focus of this post was about tip bounce, but only as an aspect of the vault. I wondered if anyone else ever was concerned about it or did anything simple to assure it wasn't a problem for them. I also wondered about different pole tip materials. One of my Pacer FX tips seems harder than most of the rest. And some tips are fairly soft.

Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts and comments. I learn something from almost every one of them.

[dj]

the tip actually should never hit at an angle that the force would cause it to bounce up.. and i know you understand it is a result of a poor plant if that happens.... i sometimes use a tennis ball over my plug so i don't "here" the teflon tip.. and i feel it gives the pole a smoother "pivot"

dj

[master]

dj, that's an interesting idea. It might be fun to try just to see if I can feel the difference it makes. Do you know if that would be legal in competition? I would think not, but I'm sometimes surprised by the rules.

[dj]

as far as i know it's NOT illegal..

the french vaulters used it on their metal training pole "lark"??.... and sometimes on their glass poles in training ... but i used it on poles in high school in california, competition and training, several years ago...

saves tips also.. for those jumpers with a late palnt..

dj

[ladyvolspvcoach]

Master, the distance between you hands should be as close to shoulder width as possible. I mentioned this in an earlier thread. If you hang from a high bar your feet will be the closest to the ground with you hands directly above you shoulders. If you move your hands in or out the distance from the ground to you feet will increase. The same translates to the grip width on the pole.

[Kirk]

ladyvolspvcoach,

This assumes that you will hang on the pole by both arms. To get maximum leverage, all the weight should be on your top arm, and your bottom arm should be used for balance only. Therefore (assuming that you have the strength to do this), I think the width of the grip should be based on what's most comfortable during the runup - to gain maximum takeoff velocity.

Kirk Bryde