PoleVaultPower.com

I don't want to clog up KB's 'athleticism or technical ability' thread, so I'm moving Fred's house to this thread.

Here's Fred's story so far (if you haven't read this already, Fred is a model of the typical American male vaulter at the beginning):

Our new vaulter is an energetic, decently athletic freshman in high school, trying pole vault out in the Spring, just because it looks like a lot of fun, and they don't have to run for miles on end or deal with countless 400m repeats. Their school has an okay track team, and an okay football team, but football gets all the money. So our vaulter is stuck with a lack of facilities... Perhaps there's an old pit at the school, there is definitely not a large pole selection, and the standards are not in great shape, but are mostly usable. Our vaulter's coach (who is around to coach every once in a while) has heard talk of some Russian guy that said some stuff about some wierd technical model or something like that, and he likes some of it, but doesn't understand a lot of it, so will just teach what he's comfortable with. The main coaching phlisophy is simply based on what he did in high school and what he read 'a few years back'. The coach is in on the workings of the athletic department, so can pretty much get all the weight room time that they want for our new pole vaulter. Our vaulter is ambitious, but is lost in all the information on pole vault technique that they have access to, so they watch youtube videos and try to copy those athletes' technique, regardless of what model is being used. Our vaulter is hooked on the sport now, but is being exposed to a lot of bad influences.

We left our young vaulter struggling with what information to believe, and how to take all that information in, correct or not. He's heard about PVP, and yeah, he's checked it out and thinks to himself, "Wow, WAY too much stuff going on there, maybe I'll poke my head in every once in a while, but I'm just gonna listen to Coach Smith, he knows me pretty well, and I like him, so I trust him." So now Fred and Coach Smith are getting serious with the weights, and Fred is getting pretty strong. His PR is not improving by much though, going from a low 8'6" to 9', and neither can really figure out why. So Coach Smith tells Fred he should go and work out on his own in addition to the lifting that he does already, so that he's really, REALLY strong. Fred is optimistic, eager, and willing to do whatever it takes... except read up. There's just TOO MUCH. So, he runs a few miles every weekend. He also does countless sit ups and push ups, and will not let up on squats with his small house gym, composed of a 20 pound barbell that he can put 100 pounds on. He rarely ever puts all that weight on though, because he has no spotter. He also does plyometrics every day, because they seem like they should really help out. By the end of the outdoor season, Fred is utterly exhausted. His PR stays at 9' for his Freshman year. Now it's Summer, and Fred has the eye of the tiger, but is still lost...

Fred is looking at a long Summer. He has so much stuff to do! He's got to hang out with some of his new high school friends, try to hook up with that one really cute chick on the field hockey team, take that cruise with his family, and catch up on all that slacking that he missed while he was in school. Needless to say, Fred is way too busy to be very concerned with pole vaulting... He runs once in a while, and yeah, he does some push ups here and there, plenty of bicep curls (for that cute chick), and some squats when he's not too tired from running. He doesn't have any kind of structure to these workouts, he just does whatever he feels like on any given day. He is having a very comfortable, relaxing, stress-free Summer. He sleeps in every day, and typically talks with his friends on AIM for a good portion of the day, while eating those Baked Lays, Cheetos, and drinking that Mountain Dew. One day, about a month before school starts, he gets a call from his pole vault coach, Coach Smith. Fred is pleasantly suprised! He immediately remembers how much he loves vaulting, how awesome it feels to clear a PR with his friends cheering him on, and how hard he worked last Spring... and how little he improved. Fred's got the eye of the tiger! He is eager to hear what Coach Smith has got to say. "Fred, I've got an idea. Now, I know you might not like it, but I've figured out how we can take you to the next level." "YEAH!? How's that Coach!? Tell me what I can do, and I'll do it!" "Well, I think it's a good idea if you ran cross country this Fall, it'll get you ready for this Spring. What else are you gonna do!?" (Keep in mind, Fred does NOT have an indoor season.) "Uh... Coach... You know I can't run distance worth crap, why should I torture myself running cross country when I can just lift and run on my own?" "Fred, it'll get the competetive attitude into your head, and you'll be really fast from all that running! I mean, how wouldn't that make sense?" "Haha, you're right Coach. Alright, I'll give it a shot, and I'm really hyped up already for this outdoor season! I can't wait to vault again!" "Ok, let me know how you're doing, Fred!" "K, bye Coach!" Fred grabs a Gatorade right away, and tells his mom that he's going out running... And thus, Fred enters a new chapter of his vaulting career.

Here we go for today's addition.

Fred tries out for cross country that Fall. He's not bad, running about a 22:30 on his home course. He's really getting into it, you know? Lots of running every weekend, and all the while, getting his PR down... His cross country coach is actually considering putting Fred, a Sophomore running cross country for the first time, on the school's varsity squad, an almost unheard of occurrence at Hoagiestown High School... Fred finishes the season with a 5k PR of 19:56. Not bad! But now what will he do all Winter? He can't play basketball, and he gets his butt kicked every time he wrestles somebody... so he guesses he'll just keep running those long distance workouts. He does.

I realize that the story is becoming less and less generic. Please bare with me, this guy has a few different purposes.

How many of you have similar stories (so far) to Fred's?

Hey c'mon, 22:00+ is not particularly good, even for a freshman boy, and if high 19s is making varsity, their team sucks!

Fred is from the East Coast!

Getting my butt kicked every time never stopped me from wrestling

KirkB wrote:Fred is from the East Coast!

hey we're not that bad, all of our varsity team was sub 17:45. dont be hatin'

Let's say that Hoagiestown is in a really hilly region, and that Fred's team is very small, only 18 people. He's just barely on varsity with his times, and a few people have been injured. So THERE! HA! Back to his story.

Now cross country season is over, and Fred feels very tired... but he is happy about how he did that season. He does go out and run a few miles every couple of days, for a while at least. Once it gets cold (the temperature will often drop to 12 below 0F in Hoagiestown), Fred decides that it's better if he just rested up for outdoor season. So he kicks back, relaxes his legs, and focusses on getting that C+ he has in US History up to an A. It should not suprise you that he soon forgets about his pole vaulting goals, never even really giving outdoor a thought until his head coach has that perky girl on the PA every morning give an announcement that there will be an informational meeting for outdoor track very soon. Fred immediately gets those memories up front and center once again... He realizes how he hasn't done any real excercise at all since a month after cross country got out, and thinks to himself, "What have I been doing other than sitting on my butt for the past 3 months? Where did all that time go to? WHAT AM I GONNA DO?" He goes out running in the frosty, late February air, now totally focussed on the coming Spring season.

Another vaulter on Fred's team, Red, reminded him that a strong core was good for vaulters to have. So, Fred started doing sit ups every day (again) and got back in the weight room working on his bench press, which was now up to 115 (Fred weighs 130). Fred gets all his papers turned in for outdoor and waits in excruciating anticipation for the season to start so that he can start working on his vault again! What fun! The first day was not as fun as Fred imagined, doing about 45 minutes of teaching Freshmen/noobies how to do the team's warm up drills, and the rest of practice was the head coach talking about general rules, things like that, and having people start to learn some basic track 'stuff'. So Fred's first day wasn't that great, but Coach Smith said he'd be up there the second day. Fred shows up bright eyed and bushy tailed on Tuesday, ready to start to work again! The whole team helps get the pit set up, and Fred grabs the same pole he had last year, a 13' 130 Skypole. The Hoagiestown Hogs' pole vault squad, composed of Sophomore Fred (PR 9'), Junior Ted, (PR 10'6"), Junior Ed (PR 10'), and Senior Red (PR 12'6"), begin to warm up, while trying to get Freshman Jed doing some fundamentals correctly (holding the pole, plant, take-off). (There are no girls.) Jed is overwhelmed, but Fred is too busy worrying about himself to be concerned with Jed's development, leaving that task to the upperclassmen and Coach Smith, who is now busy chatting with the head coach (Coach Miller) about a couple of rule changes and what that wierd girls' coach at Potsdam High School had been up to lately...

My next post will discuss a typical Hogs pole vault practice. Stay tuned.

powerplant42 wrote:Another vaulter on Fred's team, Red, reminded him that a strong core was good for vaulters to have. So, Fred started doing sit ups every day (again) and got back in the weight room working on his bench press, which was now up to 115 (Fred weighs 130). Fred gets all his papers turned in for outdoor and waits in excruciating anticipation for the season to start so that he can start working on his vault again! What fun! The first day was not as fun as Fred imagined, doing about 45 minutes of teaching Freshmen/noobies how to do the team's warm up drills, and the rest of practice was the head coach talking about general rules, things like that, and having people start to learn some basic track 'stuff'. So Fred's first day wasn't that great, but Coach Smith said he'd be up there the second day. Fred shows up bright eyed and bushy tailed on Tuesday, ready to start to work again! The whole team helps get the pit set up, and Fred grabs the same pole he had last year, a 13' 130 Skypole. The Hoagiestown Hogs' pole vault squad, composed of Sophomore Fred (PR 9'), Junior Ted, (PR 10'6"), Junior Ed (PR 10'), and Senior Red (PR 12'6"), begin to warm up, while trying to get Freshman Jed doing some fundamentals correctly (holding the pole, plant, take-off). (There are no girls.) Jed is overwhelmed, but Fred is too busy worrying about himself to be concerned with Jed's development, leaving that task to the upperclassmen and Coach Smith, who is now busy chatting with the head coach (Coach Miller) about a couple of rule changes and what that wierd girls' coach at Potsdam High School had been up to lately...

My next post will discuss a typical Hogs pole vault practice. Stay tuned.

Dont want to interrupt, but situps are bad?!?!

No comment. Not yet, anyway. Stay with me Split, you're getting ahead of the discussion.

u just discribed the story of my life (well atleast my high school vaulting career).

I was fred my sophmore year, and Red by my senior.

I am going to guess a typical practice consist of everyone but Red jumping every day while Red spends most the time concentrating on how to coach the new guys and may take a few jumps one or two days a week. Red may Improve by six inches to a foot but he really doesnt have to try too hard and his coach doesnt care what he does because he can jump 12;6 so that makes him the best in his confrence

Sort of... Realize that Red has been through more or less the same sort of thing that Fred has, being in the same area with the same coaches. Now, let's remember that Coaches Smith and Miller are concerned with the here and now, not with what might happen to Fred 5 years down the line. They want to win meets! They want their vaulters to score points! However possible! So let's get talking about Fred's first practice (which is pretty basically the same thing done at every practice).

(As mentioned before, the Hogs have a pretty limited selection of poles. Here's what they've got: 1 13' 130 Skypole (1997), 1 12' 120 UCS/Spirit (2001), 2 13' 140 Pacer, Altius (1989, 1995), 2 14' 150 UCS/Spirit 1 Catapole (1988), and 1 15' 155 UCS/Spirit (2005).)

So everybody starts out warming up with some good ol' American drills... Red is doing one-arm jagodins, Ted and Ed are waiting to do pop-ups (get inverted on the pole quickly and hold it), and Fred starts hittin' up the stubbies. Coach Smith glances over from his discussion with Coach Miller, which has now turned into a talk about the latest episode of Survivor: Guam, and makes sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to... he's satisfied. After a few more minutes of chatting, he shouts over to them all, "Start your runbacks!" Everyone but Fred lines up by the box, since he has volunteered to catch Red's 7 step. He gets it, then heads on over into the line to wait his turn to run back. He is waiting behind Jed, the Freshman. He points out to Jed what each person is doing... "See that? You want your pole tip in the back of the box, and get your foot underneath your top hand..." Fred is finally up, and gets his 6 step (lefts). He doesn't plant at the end, just like everyone else... he also doesn't trust Jed that much to get his step, so he glances down as he hits his last step, just to make sure. Then everyone starts to vault... all practice. Red gets stuck with a lot of teaching to do, but he's alright with it. Coach Smith is now standing right next to the box. Fred is up to vault... Coach Smith yells, "OK everyone, you all get three more jumps!"

My next post will give some insight on how Coach Smith ticks. THAT will be very interesting. Watch for it.

Spirit doesn't make 12' poles in 5lb increments, so you'll have to pick either a different brand or weight for your 12' 125 pole.