Penetration!!! no jump!

[scootz42]

I have a vaulter thats having problems getting deep into the pit. He is fast, has a decent plant but can't get him to to hold higher than 13'3 on a pole that is at his own weight(14'-160 big bend). Tried getting him on a 13'7-170 altius holding 13'1 gets a little more penetration but pole moves so slow recoiling, it barely pulls him up. His jumps, pole bend(lower bend) and drills leads me to believe he has very little jump at take off. Knee drive looks active at take off, but then quickly becomes inactive after take off, legs straightens out and absorbs all his energy! Tried working a little on a penultimate step, focus on a jump and active knee drive until covering the pole....???? With his speed, he should be holding much higher, even with no jump. Of course If I can figure out how to post some video of him jumping it will be more helpful. He's a great kid, very coachable and LOVES pole vaulting! Any tips, verbal cue's would be helpful!
Thank you.

[CoachEric]

There's no way to know for sure without seeing a video, but here are some possible causes:
1. Pole carry is too low, forcing him to overstride and decelerate, and take off with the hips out of alignment.
2. Plant is late or otherwise out of time, making it difficult to takeoff, thus limiting upward impulse.
3. He is pulling or reacting to the pole right at takeoff, slowing pole rotation
4. He is blocking hard with his bottom arm, overcompressing the pole and instead of making it rotate to the back of the pit.

If his takeoff angle looks low to you, the issue is probably one of the first two points. If his takeoff looks really powerful and the pole slows its rotation after he leaves the ground, it's one of the last two. If it's some combination of any of the above, start from point 1, because it will affect the others.

[scootz42]

Here are a couple of jumps. Not the best examples but close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HPC4kmjyEI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgVFJy3A5XE

[vcpvcoach]

Two things I see right off the top. First, he is a full shoe under at the plant. He need to spend time off the runway fixing his run, plant, and takeoff until he can consistently takeoff with his right foot toe under his hand not his heel. Second, he is pulling with his top arm at takeoff. He cannot pull as it make his hips go forward. Search for Dave Butler on this site and watch his video on pull of the top hand.

[CoachEric]

It's reason #2!

In the first video, his plant motion is out of time with his feet, and he does not get fully extended. In the second video, he plants very late. Either way, he can't jump off the ground efectively because the motion of his arms is throwing him off balance, and it's the reason he is taking off under. Here's the solution. http://artofthevault.com/the-plant-simp ... specified/ He needs to do lots and lots of walking plant drills.

I would also agree that he is pulling right of the ground. I would recommend that he drop his grip by about a fist and a half and learn to move the pole to the back of the pit, and swing in time with the rotation of the pole.

[scootz42]

I don't know what happened to my post reply?

[scootz42]

I agree that his step is under on videos but he still doesn't move the pole when he's under, on or out. I also agree that his timing with his top hand does not move up with the timing of his jump. We try to work on pushing the poll up at take off and keep pushing up well into his drive. Sometimes it looks like he's hugging a tree trunk above his head at take off, with no upward impulse whatsoever! he understands what we're trying to do here but can't quite pull it off. Maybe he is pulling with his top hand or hanging on it with a rigid bottom arm???? I'm leaning towards thinking it is his lack of initial forward plant that doesn't promote upward momentum of his pole. Maybe this is why he gets cloths lined from take off(even when he's on) and also not allowing him to hold a drive. He straightens out because he getting cloths lined...??? The crazy thing is he doesn't penetrate at any hold height, 8'6-14'(really 8'6) At 5'11 tall he should be flying through holding 8'6(2-3 L). I noticed something this morning at practice...he hits the pole with his body to move the pole. At take off the pole doesn't move until his body catches up to it, then the pole moves when he hits it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGPgKbuCSXs (We normally do these with one hand but it was fairly cold this morning)

Thanks for the replies!

[CoachEric]

Do you see the tendency for the hands to go forward after he takes off? This is a reaction to the impact of the box, and it slows pole rotation at any grip height. Do this drill with both hands together, and practice opening the shoulders through the impact of the box, continuing the upward motion of the hands, like and extension of the plant. The one arm drill lets vaulters get away with a lot of bad habits.

[KirkB]

Scootz, you're generally on the right track in coaching him. Here's a few hints - some of which you already know ...

His last step is too long. His penultimate is OK, but then he strides out - putting him under.

His plant isn't high enough, and isn't forwards enough. When the pole hits, he's jerked off the ground because he hasn't stretched his top arm up as high as possible. His elbow is bent when the pole hits. This is quite common with vaulters that haven't done much highbar work. The more he swings on a highbar, the more comfortable he'll feel with his top arm fully stretched.

Reason: It's pretty hard NOT to have his arms stretched when he swings on a highbar!

As you know, he isn't jumping on takeoff. Lead knee needs to be driven aggressively forwards and upwards - like doing a layup.

Have him try dunking on a rim set at maybe 8-9 feet. Use a ball that he can palm. To start with, don't try to give him any hints - just tell him to dunk, and raise the rim high enough that he MUST jump on takeoff to dunk.

Once you determine how high he can dunk on his own, then start coaching him on how to jump higher - with a higher rim. e.g. driving the lead knee up, shortening the last step, etc.

His gut muscles are weak. Too weak to even do a trail leg swing with his leg straight. Get him on a highbar and teach him how to swing. If he can't do it on a highbar, then he can't be expected to do it on the pole.

The stronger his gut muscles get, the smoother his swing will be. Sorry - no magic here - it will take a few months before his gut muscles get strong enough to swing properly.

If he's not a senior, then better luck next year - get him doing highbar and rings (and even simple situps) all thru the off-season. He'll have a much better swing next year.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but you can use the left and right arrow keys on your PC to step frame-by-frame thru his plant, takeoff, and swing. If you do that, you'll notice his bent arm when the pole hits, and everything after that is due to his poor plant (and not jumping).

Try getting him to stretch the top hand up as he's jumping up - just like dunking a ball. The impulse of stretching his top hand up should be quite similar to the impulse of stretching up to dunk a ball. And of course, he'll never dunk the ball if he doesn't jump off the ground.

Here's an extra drill to try - kinda fun: Have him dunk a ball and stretch into the C position at the same time! This is a more advanced drill, and should not be attempted until he has the basic jumping technique down pat in his normal dunks. The landing from this drill should be back onto his takeoff foot. Don't take this drill too seriously - it's just for fun and doesn't emulate the takeoff to the C technique perfectly - but it's close.

Another drill to try - if you have rings that can be raised or lowered - is to have him do a runup and takeoff, then grab the rings. The idea here is to jump high off the ground and stretch the arms up high, ending up in the stretched C. This drill is closer to a PV takeoff than the dunking drills. Another advantage of this drill is that once he grabs onto the rings, he can then swing out of the C. Actually all the way up to the Inverted I position.

I like the rings better than the highbar for this drill, because the bar tends to get in the way on the highbar. So rings simulates the vault better for this run-and-jump drill. But for most other gym drills, I prefer highbar to rings.

Kirk