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OK, I don't know if I'm going to sound ridiculous, but do you think the way you vault (righty or lefty) should be determined by which hand you prefer or which foot? I know that most righties are fine vaulting right-handed since they are left-footed (the norm for right-handed people), but I am both right-handed and right-footed (meaning I would long jump off my right foot).

I heard that Stacy Dragila is right handed but vaults lefty...is this true? I have also heard of people (perhaps April Steiner?) who have switched based on their foot preference and have improved significantly. I tried vaulting lefty today just for fun, and while it was awkward, I loved taking off on my right foot (I jumped 7 feet! haha). Any thoughts?

How strong is your left arm? Your top arm does most of the work in the vault. If your left arm is as strong as your right you could maybe switch if in fact it felt more comfortable to you. I worked with this kid a number of years ago that vaulted right handed and took off on his right foot. Goofyest thing I ever saw but he could jump over 12 feet. Personally, I would stick with your right handed vaulting but who knows? This probably didn't tell you anything you didn't already know but I thought I'd throw in my $.02. Later................Mike

I feel strongly that the biggest factor is which FOOT you jump off of. If you teach a person the correct FOOT from the beginning, the hands take care of themselves. It's not fine motors skills with the hands the way it is with writing. Most people are much more powerful off one leg or another.

I write lefty and jump righty. I jumped lefty for a month to give my hamstring a rest. I got the technique going after a little while, but I had no power out of that other leg. I could only get on tiny poles and jumped like 7'6".

It always makes me sad when I see someone who doesn't achieve their full potential, because their coach didn't want to take the time to teach a lefty.

The first thing I do with brand new beginners is figure out which foot is dominant. I usually put the end of the pole up high and say run and touch this.

I agree with Rainbowgirl. A friend of mine who coaches PV uses another test for beginners to assess overall their mechanics. He simply has them do (or make believe they are doing) a layup, starting at the foul line. This usually does a good job in identifying the dominant foot, as well as the person's body mechanics.

My daughter, who is left handed in most tasks, vaulted right-handed for a year because that was how she was taught. She switched to the left hand, and improved her vaulting, after doing the test described above.

Hope this helps.

I just dont understand why coaches have such a hard time with us lefties. I mean, we always convert directions for right handed people automatically in our head - whats so hard about swapping out 'left' for 'right' if you're working with a lefty?

Anyway, definitely going to agree with everyone who says that you should go with whatever foot is dominant.

PS - Lefties ROCK!!!

rainbowgirl28 wrote:I feel strongly that the biggest factor is which FOOT you jump off of. If you teach a person the correct FOOT from the beginning, the hands take care of themselves. It's not fine motors skills with the hands the way it is with writing. Most people are much more powerful off one leg or another.

I write lefty and jump righty. I jumped lefty for a month to give my hamstring a rest. I got the technique going after a little while, but I had no power out of that other leg. I could only get on tiny poles and jumped like 7'6".

It always makes me sad when I see someone who doesn't achieve their full potential, because their coach didn't want to take the time to teach a lefty.

The first thing I do with brand new beginners is figure out which foot is dominant. I usually put the end of the pole up high and say run and touch this.

I vault left handed because im right footed.

i'm a righty who vaults lefty....take off of my right foot...although the way i've always defined it, i'm left footed, did everything lefty in gymnastics, which meant hurdling off my RIGHT foot, so thats what i do polevaulting... (it sounds like everyone here is defining left and right footed by the foot on the ground at takeoff? while i've always defined it opposite, based from gymnastics, so going that way, most righthanded people are rightfooted, not left like someone else said, which still means they jump off the LEFT leg.)

i agree that the foot is more important, if it just "feels" better for someone to jump off of one foot, they're gonna do it, even if you switch their hands.

Aviendha wrote:i agree that the foot is more important, if it just "feels" better for someone to jump off of one foot, they're gonna do it, even if you switch their hands.

Yes I have seen beginners who have trouble jumping off of the "correct" foot. Often their coach has them jumping off the wrong foot for that kid.

occasionally i'll jump off the wrong foot and not even realize it lol...although i'll usually end up smacking into the pole with that shin...
the other day my teammate kept jumping off the wrong foot and didnt' even realize it.

Thanks you guys...

So I guess the answer is yes, I should have been a lefty! So sad...I vaulted righty for 7 years so I guess it's too late to switch now. I long jump 2-3 feet farther off my right foot, so I wonder how much higher I could vault off my right if I had the time to relearn.