When I was training for high school pole vault at Oxford High School, my
coach and I had modest goals. We wanted to break our school record of
13'7"!
That was a pretty tall order, because I started
off pole vault at 5'8" tall and about 90 pounds! As a matter of fact,
my first pole was an 11' x 90 pound pink Mystik made by Pacer. The
thing that my coach emphasized the most was safety. After that, we
wanted to master the technique. Thirdly, we wanted to jump a lot,
because it was really fun.
I think if
you keep those three elements in mind as you start your season, you
will arrive at the State Meet in May with your best chance to perform.
Firstly,
speaking of safety, every vaulter needs to know their numbers. What is
your weight? What is your pole rating? How far exactly is your run?
Those
are important safety numbers. You should never vault on a pole rated
below your weight unless you have a lot of trouble bending a pole. We
can use a lighter pole to learn basic skills, but you need to be on a
pole rated at your weight for competition. A good rule of thumb is that
a high school jumper should never bend the pole over 90 degrees. If
you're bending it 90 or more, you should go to a higher weight pole of
lower your grip slightly to get back to 90. High schoolers break a lot
of poles when they bend past 90. Knowing exactly how far your run
length is will ensure that you take off at the proper distance from the
pit. This is a point basically directly under your top hand if you
stand and hold the pole overhead at the box. Another good rule is that
steps should equal feet of height. That is to say, that if your best
jump is 10 feet, you should run 10 steps. Girls can add 2 more steps to
this rule. To jump 18 feet, most world class jumpers are running 18
steps or 9 lefts. 19'-20' jumpers are running 20 steps. This rule will
give you plenty of power for your particular height. Running too far
increases the mistake factor at take-off. Also, speaking of safety, the
most important thing that you do as a vaulter is to "Hit that mat!"
Your goal should be to land safely in the middle of that landing area
every time. It doesn't matter if you jump 15 feet if you miss the mat
and your season is over! Those are some safety guidelines that I have
always followed. For example, in practice, I jump on a 15' x 204 lb
pole (I weigh 170). I run 8 lefts to jump 17' to 17' 8". I take off
12' from the box. To jump 19'3", I jump on a 15'9" x 209 lb pole. I
run 10 lefts and take off 13'3" from the box. If I am close to those
numbers, I will be safe and land in the middle of the pit.
Secondly,
we have always tried to improve technique. We measure this by
efficiency. We want to jump above my top hand grip. If I can jump
above my grip, then my technique is good and I am doing things right.
In high school, I jumped 2'6" above my grip. These days, I jump 3'
above my grip in training and I have jumped 4'6" above my grip in a
competition. Have someone video your jumps on a phone or ipad. Look at
each jump right after if you can. Your brain will start to work out
small details to improve your jumping. Also, look at video clips of
good high school jumpers. Don't try to jump like a college vaulter or
pro vaulter yet. Concentrate on being a good high school jumper right
now.
Lastly, try to jump a lot. If
you're safe, and your technique is improving, jumping over (not
touching) a lot of bungees will improve you fast. You should also jump a
couple of bars at your opening height every day. This will give you a
lot of confidence at the start of competition. (Everyone gets nervous
on the first bar). I would say 16-20 jumps total per session, 3 days
per week. If you have a competition, then practice 2 days per week.
When I finished high school, I had over 6000 safe jumps. Now I am up to
about 15,000 safe jumps. I've never been rejected nor have I ever
landed in the box. We have always made safe jumping a priority. If
you're landing safely, you're doing a lot of things correctly. Pole
vault is fun! Don't get short tempered with your coach or your
parents. Take responsibility for your performances yourself. If you
have a bad day, stop before you get hurt! Come back even stronger the
next practice or the next meet.
Jump safe, jump better and jump a lot. If you do all those things, you will jump higher as well.
Join
us at our clinic at St. Andrews on March 10th at 1:00. Email us at:
trackkendricks@hotmail.com if you want to join in. You will be doing a 3
hour pole vault workout with me. I will show you everything that I do
to train.
Jump hard and land soft!
Sam Kendricks