PoleVaultPower.com

Finally the deal is done!

I am proud to announce that Alan Launder and Jeremy Bailey will be the featured clinicians for the Midwest Pole Vault Clinic.

Host site will be Geneva High School, Geneva, Illinois, a far western suburb of Chicago, located on the banks of the Fox River.

Dates are June 2, 3, 4, 2006

Cost: $175.00 for vaulters, $125.00 for coaches

I met Coach Launder at the Reno Summit 2 years ago. Followed him to Nampa, ID last summer where I met Jeremy Bailey and his family. Best clinic I have ever attended. I knew that I had to bring them to the Midwest to share their vast knowledge and experience.

Coaches Launder and Bailey will present the system taught to them by the great Russian coach Petrov, and his most most famous athlete, Bubka.

I am sure that every vaulter who attends, both men and women, will come away with new knowlege which will help them to achieve greater results.

All coaches, from beginner to experienced will definitely come away from the clinic with new ideas which will help them to be better coaches. A bold statement, indeed, but one I think we can back up.

Contact info: Paul Omi, clinic coordinator, midwestpvclinic@comcast.net, or go to midwestpolevaultclinic.com in a couple of days when our web site will be up and running.

Why charge coaches so much $$$?? I've never understood why camps do this. I don't think camps should charge more than the cost of food and materials for coaches who attend and do not actually vault.

Isn't the point of camps to spread knowledge? The more you charge coaches, the fewer attend!

You teach one kid to pole vault you make the sport a little safer. You teach one coach how to coach safer and you make it a hundred times safer.

Good point Becca!

Although the charge for coaches is 70% that of a vaulter, $125 is a very low cost for the amount of time that is spent at the camp. If you figure 6 to 8 full hours per day (I don't know what the time will actually be, only how much time was spent at the camp I attended), times 3 days, that is only $5-7 per hour. Plus the coach is taught how to coach, not just what to coach.

I highly recommend the Alan Launder camps, and to have Jeremy Bailey there is a real bonus.

- master

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Why charge coaches so much $$$?? I've never understood why camps do this. I don't think camps should charge more than the cost of food and materials for coaches who attend and do not actually vault.

Isn't the point of camps to spread knowledge? The more you charge coaches, the fewer attend!

You teach one kid to pole vault you make the sport a little safer. You teach one coach how to coach safer and you make it a hundred times safer.

perhaps a better way would be to waive a fee for coaches who bring a certain # of athletes. that way it encourages coaches to go and the clinicians still get paid.

Bummer! Michigan's State Finals are June 3, that'll cut out a good chunk of coaches and athletes from Michigan.

Skyin' Brian wrote:
perhaps a better way would be to waive a fee for coaches who bring a certain # of athletes. that way it encourages coaches to go and the clinicians still get paid.

I agree. The kids benefit more when their coaches see what they are learning at camp.

A response in great haste!!! Well, well, interesting stuff!! I understand the issue of coaches paying for their professional development because except for the six years I worked at Western Kentucky, I have always been a hobby coach and almost always paid my own way. So just to keep things in perspective i would make the point that last year I essentially paid for the privilege of coaching American athletes - and a few coaches - for four weeks; four weeks away from my wife, my family, my dogs and from good wine. So when Paul Omi invited me to be involved in a clinic in the Chicago area I agreed, but only on the basis that it would not again cost me money. He accepted that and went further by offering to pay me.

So lets look at costs of being a coach in the wilds of OZ -which is a long way from most places where folk pole vault.. When I arrived in South Australia in 1973 I discovered that there had been no MALE vaulter over 14' for five years ( our state record for men is now 6.00m and we had two women over 4.40m). So although primarily a throws coach i decided to do something about it. The first thing was to find some athletes and the second was to learn more about the vault. So i took myself off to Europe with a young vaulter. We spent a week in England, two weeks in Paris with Maurice Houvion -coach of several? world record holders around that time and subsequently coach of 96 Olympic Champion Galfione, two weeks in Leverkusen with Anton? Krupsky and two weeks in Warsaw with Andre Krysinski - coach of Olympic Champions Slusarski 76 and Kosakeievicz 80. The total cost to me was around 7000 dollars. Worth every penny!

Then as you may know Oz is a big country - the National championships and the All schools champs move around the major cities. So in any one year i might find myself flying 1400 miles to Brisbane and 2000 miles to Perth - at my own expense - plus of course room and board. I cant even begin to estimate the cost over thirty years. But how do you learn to coach in competition unless you do it. Worth every penny! Incidentally these are the only occasions my athletes get a chance to compete outside the single athletic track in Adelaide!

In 1985 the World Cup was in Canberra so naturally I went there to meet Bubka and Petrov. To get more time with Vitali I slipped him $100 - out of the sight of the security personel with the Soviet team - - which bought me the best learning experience i could ever have had. Worth the money?? Indeed it was.

In 1986 I went to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh to be with my athletes -its a long way from OZ! In 1990 it was Aukland, New Zealand -not so far. In 92 it was Barcelona, 94 it was Formia and Europe preparing for the Commonwealth games in Victoria BC to watch Brits no height, it was also Berlin for the World Deaf championships with a decathlete. 96 it was Atlanta -watched the vault with agapit and Alex Parnov, 98 was the World Juniors in Annecy, France -sat alongside Petrov, 99 was Las Palma, Majorca for the World Student Games then Bydgorsk in Poland for the first World Youths (saw Isinbyeva for the first time)-then Seville plus 28000 kilometres around Europe with an athlete competing on the grand Prix circuit -but much of that WAS paid for by AA.,, 2000 it was Chile for the World Juniors. 2000 after that was easy - only Sydney, 2001 was Debrecen in Hungary for the World Youths, 2002 Jamaica - again money well spent because of the famed Bubka presentation -followed up with the Europeans in Munich where i stood between Petrov and Bubka as we watched the vault -money definitely well spent. Late 2003 i retired burnt out and rather broke because I am not independently wealthy - I just made professional development a priority.

From 84 to 95 I was involved as a coach with various Australian teams - great learning experiences and paid for by someone else!!

Oh, in 97 I brought a small group of athletes to the Reno Summit and in 99 brought another small group to the US West coast for competition. Helped fund two of them on each trip. Altogether I have been to the Reno summit six times. Learning all the time and money well spent. So although I understand where some of you folk are coming from, it is not quite as straightforward as it seems.


If nothing else I can offer a fair range of experience ( much of it from outside the US) which has been bought at some considerable cost. However if folk are interested I can provide a detailed statement of what I can bring to a clinic and why I think I am worth every penny!! Given that few people in the US will ever have heard of me or know my background perhaps that would be useful.

I understand the importance of coaches -especially in the vault. Over ten years ago I coined the phrases "Track and field is a coach driven sport" and "A coach has a thousand careers but the athlete only has one" - which of course can be turned around to make the point some of you are making.

It's a shame I'll be at field training this summer. THe camp is so close to me. And when do you get a chance to scrutinize the author of a book. I kid, I kid.

Becca:

First, let me thank you for running this website. It feels good to be connected to people who feel the same passion about the Vault.

As for the criticism about fees. Just to put things in perspective. Cost of one pole, $300.00. Knowing what to do with it, priceless. Cost of one, three credit hour course at the University, $900.00 (and you'll learn more at this clinic). Cost of one trip to the Reno Summit, $1000.00 (air, hotel, meals, registration) each time (5). Cost of one trip to Nampa, Idaho to see Alan Launder and Jeremy Bailey in action, $900.00

Don't some coaches charge for their services? And what do they base their fee upon? What they get for free, do they give out for free?

I am bringing to the Chicago area, two of the best coaches in the world, who will present, simply, the finest instructional system I have seen.
Very few people in the Midwest have ever been exposed to Coach Launder and Coach Bailey and their level of expertise. There is quite a bit of value here.

And I might add, I'm doing this on my own. I am putting up all of the money for transportation, coaches fees, insurance, medical staff, truck rental, equipment movers, AV equipment, gymnastics equipment, platform construction, and avertising. I have no club or corporation to back me up. And because this is a first time effort, I have no idea if I'll recover a dime!

And what if it rains? Scramble.

Man, I just want to break even, so my wife won't kill me!

I guess I will have to see if there are any tickets from Spokane to Chicago this summer! Jeez... lol