High School off season help

[Barefoot]

First time posting.

I've been reading the board, and coaching high school vaulters at a small school in socal (southern california) for the last two years. And I have a topic which is stumping me, despite exhaustive reading online and offline; What kind of unsupervised workout program can I give to young high school vaulters for the off season?

I encourage the kids to participate in other sports, about a third do. But for all of them I'm pondering the core exercises they can/should perform on their own to be ready for next season. I'm an in-season volunteer coach, so my supervision of these youngsters will be minimal. Our school has a killer weight room which is always supervised and available (thank-you football), but we do not even have a chin-up bar which is sufficient for bar drills (I've been asking for two years). The sand pit would be available, but we do store our vault pit. Also... no climbing rope (yes I have asked). I can probably arrange for the kids to have access to poles for pole runs, and plant work.

My vaulters returning are all rising sophomores or juniors, 7 out of 8 of them attended vault camp this summer so it would seem they are fairly hooked on the sport. I'm not of the mind that they commit to full-on year round vault training (unless they really want that, in which case there are private coaches in the "area") but I hope that they can return next season with sufficient strength and speed to pick up where we left off this year. However, if they return stronger and faster I wouldn't complain.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Coach B

[souleman]

Barefoot
I read your post on the day or day after you posted. I've been kicking around some ideas for you in a search of the complete "what to do in the off season" reply. Well? A complete version hasn't popped in my head so I'll just suggest a few ideas for you to consider. As we all know, the faster an athlete is the higher he will jump. So during the off season I would like to see your athletes work on running and exercises that focus on speed. Beach runs and running hills are great for proper knee lift during running. They can tie an old tire to a rope and put it around their waste and do "sled runs". They can also go down to Home Depot and for about $10 they can buy a piece of PVC 1 1/4" X 10 feet and a cap and do pole runs and planting drills. Much of this can be done with virtually no equipment or supervision. Keep in mind that your athletes have to take it upon themselves to do the training on their own. That can be easier said than done. I'm guessing that everyone of your athletes have a playground near where they live. That playground has to have a set of monkey bars on it. They would provide a great vehicle for arm work, Bubkas and the like. There's a strong likelihood that your vaulters also play football. Therefore they have probably been going to weight training sessions during the summer so if that's the case there isn't much need for weight training during the summer. I like to see a strength weight program during that period between the end of football season and the beginning of track season with the emphasis on flexibility as much as muscle building. That's about it for now. If I think of more I will post again. Later..........................Mike

[Barefoot]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the reply.

The PVC pipe/pole runs is a solid idea. Oddly enough, the playgrounds in Socal can be spread far and wide in our part of the world and rendered so safe (thank-you lawyers) that finding Bars of adequate height for swinging is problematic here. I have looked. Hill runs we can find. Running in the sand is less practical as the beach is a bit of drive.

Speed is the first thing we work on. And surprising as it was to me... I have eight female vaulters and ONE male, not a football player to be found in the mix. The majority of Kids entering High School around here seem to have fixed on a "one sport" mentality, something I heartily disapprove of for most youngsters at such a young age. Perhaps the one sport thing is a product of the "club/grooming mentality" that wants kids to specialize so early in life? Regardless, the "recruiting of pole vaulters" was harder than I imagined it would be. I have yet to convince one football player to vault (and as a former college scholarship football player, I thought I might know which buttons to press). My athletes are running cross country x2/ cheerleading/ dancing/ ex-gymnast/ ex-swimmer and a year round soccer player. Having said all that... most of my vaulters have more speed than their core strength can handle.

During their first year I focus almost exclusively on the Run, and the plant, and the takeoff, and more Run/Plant/takeoff, and when in doubt Run/Plant/Takeoff. Obviously they all have different strengths, the gymnast has no difficulty transitioning to an excellent swing. But most of the others have more speed off the ground than they seem to effectively cope with core-strength-wise through their vault. Though the male vaulter is strong enough to cope with the forces.

My difficulty in figuring out these off season work-outs may stem partly from the fact that when I was a pup, off-season conditioning was usually in the form of a second or third sport augmented with ropes and chin-up bars. I'm comfortable with in-season workout planning, but fairly clueless in designing an independent strength and conditioning program. What, how much, and how often... eludes me.

Thanks again... any basic advice is welcome... and if anyone has the bare minimum they expect vaulters to do during the off-season, that would be welcome advice too.

Coach B

[souleman]

One more thing. Most high school vaulters have absolutely no idea what pole vaulting all entails. For the most part they grab a pole, run like hell and hang on. Any and all adjustments and corrections comes from the coach. They don't know where they should grip unless the coach tells them, they don't know where they should run from unless the coach tells them, they can't adjust anything when it really counts unless the coach tells them what to do. Why? They don't know the event. Therefore I would suggest the most important exercise they can do during the off season is exercise the brain. How can they do that? Study the event. By joining PVP they have access to some of the best knowledge the sport has to offer. They can Google "Rick Baggett", and study everything that he has on the web. Likewise, http://www.bubbapv.com Jan Johnson, Earl Bell, David Johnston etc. If they will do the study they can accomplish a lot up in the ol' melon that will make your job easier. They have to understand the event to give you what you want from them. High school kids are made out of rubber bands. If they mentally understand what you are trying to get them to do physically, in most cases they can do it if they have any athletic acumen at all. For workouts at home, one of the best things I've seem out there that's cheap is that perfect push-up deal. For $69 you get the push up handles and a door bar apparatus. Great for body weight exercising and something each one of them can do at home. Compared to camps and the like $69 is nothin'. If they have weight benches at home they can do some pole vault specific exercises like I've got in the videos on my myspace site. http://www.myspace.com/mikesoulewyomingmn . My regimen is geared for older vaulters coming back to the sport. It does show a routine that a smart kid (or coach) can modify to train the younger athlete. The exercises are vault specific and work those muscles. Combined with hill and pole runs, the perfect pull up deal you're kids can get in great shape by the time you need them to perform. Later................Mike

[Barefoot]

Some really great advice. I have two copies of Alan's B2B, one for me and one for team circulation. I send out regular links to the kids for sites and information I find on the web including the complete USATF Pole Vault Manual, PVP, Stabhochspung, PVEI, etc. Our DVD collection include a couple of Rick's DVD's, B2B and Isi, Some Earl Bell, and one Neovault for the fun of it. I only wish I had my dog eared copy of Ganslen's book (circa 1976). The odd article from Mcginnis makes the rounds, and I encourage my kids to watch the good vaulters in the area and make friends with as many as possible. Camp down this ways serves to broaden their horizons... sometimes someone else saying the same thing I've said a thousand times will make an idea clear to them.

I can't believe I didn't steer them to Bubba's site, as he was the first point of contact I made when I determined to get involved with the coaching again after such a long break from the sport (20 years). Anthony Curren being my second as I had a vaulter that he was working with at the time. Have to revisit Bubba's site with the kids in mind as well as checking out yours.

My favorite link I sent out to them this year was a tie between the 1936 Olympic pole vault set to Pink Floyd and dave Butler's Reno address. The '36 Olympic's is killer in getting them to understand that it's pole vaulting, not pole bending... I pretty much refuse to allow a kid on a lighter pole just to bend it, which frustrates them when they see kids in the area bending on poles 30 pounds under their weight. The kids do appreciate that by year end they are jumping higher than those big benders, but selling beginners on technique, when all the "good vaulters" bend the pole can be an uphill battle.

Towards the end of our year, I have mock competitions, where I will function only as an official. Steps, adjustments, grips, pole selections, opening heights must all be chosen by the vaulter and they can only get advice from a fellow team mate. This helps in two ways... they have to help each other which forces them to study the vault and it prepares them for the bigger meets where coach/athlete communication can be very sketchy. It's hard to pass information from 60 feet up in the stands at CIF.

When teaching drills I explain which part of the Vault this helps to address, sometimes that sticks with them. Before I offer adjustments I try to ask them what they felt or to note where they landed and ask them what they think they should change, if anything. Ultimately any vaulter has to be a student of the sport if they want to transcend the narrow limitations of their own physical gifts and the scanty knowledge of their coach... ie, me.

Thanks again,

Coach B