My best jump of the season -- Video critique

[Pit Rat 1]

Nice jump,
the only thging i seen wrong with it is at the top of your swing you curl into a ball.
try to swing all the way back and the pole will shoot you even more.

[RasmusWJ]

Very nice jumping. Looks crazy with that helmet on (im from EU).. Your technique is very nice, but still: running from 12 steps? That's a thing to work on. And try to keep the pole upright until plant - You are almost running with it the same way all the time.

[trackris24]

Hey! I'm impressed with your jump in the air. You swing to inverted very well, and like many others have posted I would work on keeping your trail leg strait rather than balling up. I would reccomend watching countless videos of the pros, breaking down their vault from the run, to the last 3 steps of the run when approaching take-off, the take-off position itself, and so forth.
My opinion of your vault and what you can do to improve it is to work on your run as much as posible. Also the way you carry your pole. You stated that you stutter up the last few steps of your vault. A lot of vaulters have this problem, and I find the best way to fix it is doing sliding box drills. That way you get the feel of actually taking off, but if you do stutter you have a chance to correct it and change that bad habit, without affecting your vault in the air. Every great vaulter has a great run, and I think your vault is very good and you have a lot of potential. Good luck with the rest of your season!

[theczar]

you mention the pole run and carry, and it's been about a year since then, and now with better coaching in college i've changed my run dramatically. It is much more deliberate, more upright, more powerful too. And I've also worked on the entire plant sequence, so my pole drop is pretty much on time now.

And the swinging all the way up thing...I do that now too . Now I don't break my trail leg at all, insed I swing it all the way to the top and past.

Thanks for your post!

[jcoover]

hey man. things look pretty good . one thing is that your head seems to come back just a bit right as you're covering the pole. try to keep that chin in your chest. also, you need to find your top hand and pull it into your hips as you invert, so that you can really go up and match the energy of the pole. right now, as the pole straightens, your top hand is running away from you, and you are not able to match the energy of the pole. dont pause when you cover the pole... start going up once you've swung to your hands and then bring your hips to that top hand so that you're really tight like this:



obviously thats a bit idealistic but you can understand what im tryin to say.

most of all... good luck and have fun!

JCoov

[theczar]

that's the part I'm focusing on right now. Everything up to that point is good, so I've been working on perfecting the invert and clearance. I still tend to get away from the pole when I turn, but whenever I keep my top hand close when I turn and release I get some huge air! I just need to repeat that...lol

here is a more recent video for comparison:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... pole+vault

[vault3rb0y]

Comparing the first video in this post to the more recent, i see one main difference. Your bottom arm keeps a lot more pressure in that 14' than it does in the 15'1. In the 15'1, you are not doing what a ton of 15-16 vaulters seem to have problems with, and thats a good thing! That thing, i think, is getting both hands above your head to allow for a more loaded swing, thus adding more energy. However, i think you might have over-done it a little on the 15'1. Its ok for that top hand to come back as far as it is, but that bottom hand should be putting more pressure upward. You know more than i do about your own form, so maybe thats for a purpose, but based on an ideal jump i can see from you in my head, both arms are almost locked and over your head. Im not sure though, just a thought. Maybe experiment with it some practice and see how it feels. Keep up the good work man, later!

[theczar]

thanks...when I PRed last weeked (15'6.25", only a .25 inch PR, but a still a PR!) I had a great punch with the bottom arm, while still getting my arms over my head as you describe. I has some pretty huge attempts at 16 that day too, and hopefully I'll get that tomorrow!

[vault3rb0y]

lol hey man take the PR!! Yea i figured it might have been a one time thing, but your jumps have all looked great!! You have one of the tightest swings ive ever seen.