Coaches: Got Everything Your Vauters Need in Your PV Bag?

[Russ]

This story is so bizzare that I had to share it.

I always carry a very large bag (okay, it's one of those big Gill Pacer bags) to all my practices and meets. I also carry along a Cramer First Aid kit (another relatively big black bag...w/extra band-aids and esp. instant ice packs).

My vaulters are always kidding me about how I'm so over-prepared with my Pacer bag. I've got a towel, extra spikes, spike wrench, extra tape, firm grip spray, tape measure, extra little football arm pads (you know for the bottom forearm), aspirin, sweatshirts, rain jackets, etc. It's stuffed.

On Sat. at the New England Championships, my vaulter, Amy, had been to her Senior Prom the night/morning before. When we arrived, she started going through her bag, and couldn't find her contact lenses. "It's okay, I can jump with my glasses," she said. Of course her glasses are the tiny, reading-type glasses that fit over the end of her nose. I looked down through my bag, and there at the bottom of one of the pouches were 2 of the disposable type of contact lenses. They were actually my son's but I had thrown them in the bag back during indoor season because his prescription actually is the same as my right eye, so I suppose that I wanted to have a couple of extras...just in case. So, I asked Amy if she knew what her prescription was. She said that she didn't have a clue. I told her to go ahead and put in one of the disposables and check it out. Worse case scenario I figured would be that it wouldn't work and she'd throw it away and vault with her glasses on anyway. What a coincidence/miracle: her prescription is the same as my son's (and my right eye)! So she wore both lenses and vaulted 10-6 (placing 5th...only 3 inches under her PR).

Now what's the likelihood that I'd even be carrying spare diposables in the first place, and what's the likelihood that her prescription would match? My advice, vaulters: always carry a spare set of contact lenses and a bottle of lens solution in your bag. You can't always expect your coach to be a travelling optical supplier.

[Bruce Caldwell]

BE PREPARED

Great Boy Scout motto
That story was beyond being prepared LOL

Bruce

[rainbowgirl28]

This was a great post Russ

[vcpvcoach]

Great post.
This was one of the first questions that a posed at a clinic in San Diego. Luckly, Tom Martin of Rancho Bernardo HS was sitting there with his bag. (If you don't Tom, he gets frequent flyer miles for his trips to the State Meet in CA. He also was Tracy O'hara high school coach)

The other coaches started to give a bad time about how big his bag was and he simply said, "I never want to be at meet and not have what my jumper need to win."

My bag starts light and gets heavier during the season. I actually bought a back pack for my camera and notebooks.

[IndyCoach]

one other thing that I carry in our bag is an extra cross bar. I have been to a few meets where the cros bar gets broken and the other school didn't have a good replacement. I also take the bungee and a couple of bottles of water. Also, check your end caps once a month and check for wear and tear.

[vcpvcoach]

I can tell you have many meets that we have saved by having extra crossbar in our bag. My last head coach always gave me a dirty look when I had to pull it out so I told him to take it out of my pay if it gets broken. So for, I haven't bought a broken pole yet.