Altius at Saugatuck in late July
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 7:31 pm
I am posting this extensive bio because ‘grandevaulter’ - George Sipes -has taken a BIG chance – even a risk- and invited me to conduct a clinic with him at Saugatuck, MIch. the week of July 21 -25. I say ‘taken a chance’ because it is clear that there is little interest from other coaches and athletes in Michigan who may not know of my background so the turn out may not meet his hopes. However there is one coach in Michigan, Jordan McClellan, who flew to the clinic I was involved with in Minneapolis last year, who may be able to provide a reference for the quality of my work.
I note that many folk advertising clinics place great emphasis on their personal vault performance. I don’t simply because my pr in the vault is 8’!!” in the one session I did at Loughborough College in 1957.
However I take great comfort from the philosophy of Arrigo Sachii a very successful Italian soccer coach who had never played professionally. In response to the continual criticism he faced on that count – despite his success in winning two European Championships with Milan - he observed, “You do not have to have been a horse to become a jockey.”
However I began teaching the vault in 1958 – one of my students in 1964 was Steve Chappell, presently CEO of UCS Spirit - and I have been teaching and coaching the vault on three continents since then! More importantly I have studied with many of the great coaches of the world –Anje Krysynski coach of Olympic Champions Slusarski and Kosakeiwicz, Alex Parnov coach, of world champion Dimitri Markov and World and Olympic Champion Steve Hooker, Dr. Jean Claude Perin, coach of Olympic champion Quinon and course Vitaly Petrov who most readers would know of. He has visited Australia three times at my request and on one occasion in 1999 he spent three weeks with us. In addition I have attended the Reno summit on numerous occasions and have twice been a keynote speaker. And of course some of you will know of my ongoing friendship with Roman Bothcarnikov –an outstanding authority on the vault in the USA .
Over the past ten years I have been working at vault clinics along with some of the USA’s best coaches and am presently assisting Rick Baggett, one of the most successful coaches on the West Coast.
However of even greater importance, I have had immense success teaching and coaching the pole vault in the track and field backwater of Adelaide, South Australia. The list in BTB2 of some of the boys I coached between 1986 and 2000 - begins with Keiron Modra who, although legally blind, jumped 14’9, and ends with Patrick Jesser at 17’9”, while the girls go from 10’10 to 13’10 in the period 1996 to 2003. Not earth shattering but in the context of Adelaide pretty good. Three of these athletes went to the world youth -Under 18 -champs and seven to world junior - under 20 - championships. Naturally I have coached dozens of other young athletes from beginner to the lower level but stopped my list at a point that I thought would make sense to US coaches. Note that all but three of these athletes, two boys and one girl, first touched a pole under my direction – they were not ‘inherited’ from other coaches.
While my focus had always been on helping young athletes, I was fortunate enough to work with Victor Chystiakov - 5th in Sydney - and Tatiana Grigorieva – silver medal in Sydney -as a technical adviser for a period – and saw them progress to 5.95 and 4.50 – before realizing that they needed a better coach than I was and sent them to work with Petrov in Italy.
Then of course I have attempted to present my approach to teaching and coaching the vault in the two ‘Beginner to Bubka’ books and accompanying DVDs. Writing a book is a great experience for clarifying ones thoughts – almost a PHD!!
After retiring from coaching in 2003 I returned in November 2012 at the request of the coaches in Adelaide, to become a mentor. Since we all know it is possible to make outrageous claims on the internet I would submit the following evidence of my recent work.
Anyone going to the World Juniors in Eugene with see the impact of that work if they watch Kurtis Marschall jump, for his technical model represents what we are aiming for in Adelaide. At just 17 – with a pr of 16’7” - he is unlikely to make the final unless he jumps out of his skin, but he will gain great experience for the next junior championships in 2016. He has improved from 13’3” in December 2012 to 16’7”, in sixteen months. His great friend and competitor, Declan Carruthers,has improved from 12’4” to 15’10” in the same period.
Finally I refer readers to the link to the film I have posted in the beginners section showing the 12 year old girl who I began teaching to vault in late November 2013, who after between 30 and 40 sessions basically only training twice a week - jumped 3.00m/9’9” at our National Under 14 champs. So far this post has only received two comments – and one of those was from my good friend pvstudent! Perhaps she is not as good technically as I think she is!
I just hope a few more folk will help support George with this clinic – enthusiasm should always be rewarded. I would love to see you there –you might just learn something that will make your coaching easier and more successful.
I note that many folk advertising clinics place great emphasis on their personal vault performance. I don’t simply because my pr in the vault is 8’!!” in the one session I did at Loughborough College in 1957.
However I take great comfort from the philosophy of Arrigo Sachii a very successful Italian soccer coach who had never played professionally. In response to the continual criticism he faced on that count – despite his success in winning two European Championships with Milan - he observed, “You do not have to have been a horse to become a jockey.”
However I began teaching the vault in 1958 – one of my students in 1964 was Steve Chappell, presently CEO of UCS Spirit - and I have been teaching and coaching the vault on three continents since then! More importantly I have studied with many of the great coaches of the world –Anje Krysynski coach of Olympic Champions Slusarski and Kosakeiwicz, Alex Parnov coach, of world champion Dimitri Markov and World and Olympic Champion Steve Hooker, Dr. Jean Claude Perin, coach of Olympic champion Quinon and course Vitaly Petrov who most readers would know of. He has visited Australia three times at my request and on one occasion in 1999 he spent three weeks with us. In addition I have attended the Reno summit on numerous occasions and have twice been a keynote speaker. And of course some of you will know of my ongoing friendship with Roman Bothcarnikov –an outstanding authority on the vault in the USA .
Over the past ten years I have been working at vault clinics along with some of the USA’s best coaches and am presently assisting Rick Baggett, one of the most successful coaches on the West Coast.
However of even greater importance, I have had immense success teaching and coaching the pole vault in the track and field backwater of Adelaide, South Australia. The list in BTB2 of some of the boys I coached between 1986 and 2000 - begins with Keiron Modra who, although legally blind, jumped 14’9, and ends with Patrick Jesser at 17’9”, while the girls go from 10’10 to 13’10 in the period 1996 to 2003. Not earth shattering but in the context of Adelaide pretty good. Three of these athletes went to the world youth -Under 18 -champs and seven to world junior - under 20 - championships. Naturally I have coached dozens of other young athletes from beginner to the lower level but stopped my list at a point that I thought would make sense to US coaches. Note that all but three of these athletes, two boys and one girl, first touched a pole under my direction – they were not ‘inherited’ from other coaches.
While my focus had always been on helping young athletes, I was fortunate enough to work with Victor Chystiakov - 5th in Sydney - and Tatiana Grigorieva – silver medal in Sydney -as a technical adviser for a period – and saw them progress to 5.95 and 4.50 – before realizing that they needed a better coach than I was and sent them to work with Petrov in Italy.
Then of course I have attempted to present my approach to teaching and coaching the vault in the two ‘Beginner to Bubka’ books and accompanying DVDs. Writing a book is a great experience for clarifying ones thoughts – almost a PHD!!
After retiring from coaching in 2003 I returned in November 2012 at the request of the coaches in Adelaide, to become a mentor. Since we all know it is possible to make outrageous claims on the internet I would submit the following evidence of my recent work.
Anyone going to the World Juniors in Eugene with see the impact of that work if they watch Kurtis Marschall jump, for his technical model represents what we are aiming for in Adelaide. At just 17 – with a pr of 16’7” - he is unlikely to make the final unless he jumps out of his skin, but he will gain great experience for the next junior championships in 2016. He has improved from 13’3” in December 2012 to 16’7”, in sixteen months. His great friend and competitor, Declan Carruthers,has improved from 12’4” to 15’10” in the same period.
Finally I refer readers to the link to the film I have posted in the beginners section showing the 12 year old girl who I began teaching to vault in late November 2013, who after between 30 and 40 sessions basically only training twice a week - jumped 3.00m/9’9” at our National Under 14 champs. So far this post has only received two comments – and one of those was from my good friend pvstudent! Perhaps she is not as good technically as I think she is!
I just hope a few more folk will help support George with this clinic – enthusiasm should always be rewarded. I would love to see you there –you might just learn something that will make your coaching easier and more successful.
