Gymnasts often find pole vault to their liking

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New sport, old twist: Gymnasts often find pole vault to their liking

By: SCOTT BAIR - Staff Writer

Emily Mattoon was looking to try something new. She had spent most of her childhood in gymnastics, training as many as 25 hours a week to hone her craft. Her intense regimen paid dividends, as Mattoon reached elite level status during junior high. She was an emerging talent at the prestigious Southern California Elite Gymnastics Academy in Temecula and placed second in her division at a national meet at age 14.

It was around that time that Mattoon experimented with the pole vault, a track and field event that brought attention to a long line of girls at Rancho Bernardo High, including her sister Kate.

Success is common for gymnasts who become pole vaulters because they have a leg up on the competition when it comes to learning the trade. Gymnastics requires a keen sense of body awareness, tremendous upper-body strength and a heightened level of coordination, all of which are necessary in pole vaulting.

"It was a natural transition," said Mattoon, now a sophomore at Rancho Bernardo who never returned to gymnastics after trying the pole vault as an eighth grader.

"Going from gymnastics to pole vaulting wasn't as difficult as I expected. I was able to apply what I learned in gymnastics to the vault. Because of that, I was able to pick up the sport much faster."

Mattoon's gymnastics training eased the normally arduous, often frustrating process of learning the pole vault. The inexperienced rookie skyrocketed to elite status during her freshman year, clearing 12 feet. She quickly made her way to 12-7 this season, which is fourth best in CIF San Diego Section history.

"Most every aspect of the pole vault you can relate to something from gymnastics," said Escondido pole vault coach Jodi Waltz, a former gymnast who vaulted at UC San Diego. "So, obviously, girls with gymnastics backgrounds understand the concepts and know how to apply them."

At its core, pole vault technique is a merger of two gymnastics disciplines.

"It's a combination of the uneven bars and the vault," Waltz said. "You've got the sprint and power of the vault in addition to the coordination, upper-body and core strength from uneven bars."

Speed is needed on the runway to launch skyward, at which point uneven-bars training kicks in. A pole vaulter must go upside down on ascent to precisely maneuver over the bar, using only the pole for support.

Familiarity with basic pole vaulting principles is one reason gymnasts excel while others don't. The other comes between the ears.

Pole vaulters must be mentally strong and fearless, focusing on technique as opposed to possible consequences of failure. High-flying feats and risky maneuvers are a way of life for serious gymnasts, so the prospect of vaulting several meters into the air doesn't weigh on the mind.

"It's always freaky to see something bad happen," Mattoon said. "But you have to stay aggressive, trust the equipment and trust your technique. If you understand those things and you don't mind flying through the air, isn't not that big of a deal."

Rancho Bernardo graduate Tracy O'Hara set the bar by which all in the section are judged. O'Hara was an elite-level gymnast until she stopped training in her sophomore year. She didn't pick up a pole until her senior year, when some fellow ex-gymnasts suggested she try the vault.

She set the section record and the then national prep record with a 13-3 in 1998, her first and only year of prep track.

"It completely changed my life," said O'Hara, who went on to UCLA, where she became an NCAA champion and set a national collegiate record. "I just kept improving, probably too fast for my own good. For some reason pole vaulting just clicked with me."

O'Hara's instant success created a bit of false logic about the correlation between gymnastics and pole vaulting success.

"Everyone had an 'A-Ha!' moment after Tracy O'Hara, (1999 state champion) Kathleen Donoghue and Natalie Dennison went through and did so well," said Rancho Bernardo High pole vault coach Tom Martin, who coached all three with the Broncos. "Everyone thought that because they were ex-level 10 gymnasts that's was the key to their success. That's true in large part, but not entirely.

"It's been brought up that all you need is a gymnast and you've got a pole vaulter. In reality, there's no guarantee. I think that an important factor is speed. A girl could be an incredible gymnast, but if she's not fast she'll plateau, reach a peak and never get better."

Even so, the perceived correlation between gymnastics and pole vaulting has many former gymnasts rushing to track practice, eager to try out.

At Escondido, which does not have a gymnastics team, Waltz openly lobbies gymnasts at the school to give track a try.

"I actually do actively recruit, because we're in Escondido and pole vaulting isn't as popular as it is in other areas," Waltz said. "I put posters up for preseason pole vault training, because it is the most difficult event to learn. Most of my (female) vaulters are or were gymnasts from the YMCA. That's where most of them come from."

It's a different story at a place like Rancho Bernardo, which has a top-flight gymnastics program.

"Our gymnastics team won CIF last year, and they're loaded with talented kids," said Martin, whose reputation is often a main attraction for those contemplating a sport change. "If I see someone in a P.E. class that could do well with pole vault, I do try to actively recruit them. But once they've made a decision to stick with gymnastics, that's it.

"I can't recall where a girl has quit the gymnastics team to vault. I get the get girls who are burned out and want to do something fun and something different."

That's what brought Breanne Evans to the sport. The Poway junior was an elite-level gymnast in addition to being a CIF event champion who led the Titans to a 2005 overall team title in gymnastics.

The daily grind of gymnastics training was starting to wear on Evans, who decided to stop and focus on cheerleading and the pole vault.

"I got pretty burned out," said Evans, who used to share rides with Mattoon to the Temecula gymnastics academy. "I was competing for 14 years, which is a long time. A lot of my friends who quit gymnastics switched to pole vault, so I thought I'd give it a try."

Evans struggled at first but has turned the corner after clearing 10 feet this season. She joins a distinguished list of ex-gymnasts ---- who comprise the top end of the all-time section mark list ---- who have become successful in the pole vault.

"I really enjoy it," she said. "It's a lot less time-consuming, and I still get to use some things I learned in gymnastics. It's a new challenge for me, but I like it. It's fun."

Contact staff writer Scott Bair at (760) 739-6642 or sbair@nctimes.com.

Here's what a pole vaulter needs to clear the bar:

Speed must be high on the approach

Plant The pole must get planted from a high position and then bent back to ensure a quality launch.

Swing the body upside down on ascent, pushing the legs skyward.

Turn the body to get over the bar.

Release the pole and fall into the pit.