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ok here's the deal; pole vault has been taken out of my county for now, and i am currently trying to find a way to practice it before we have a big invitational meet. Unfortunatly i didn't get the schedule until today and i was just informed that i am expected to pole vault on next Tuesdsay at an inv.! oh geez!! i haven't pole vaulted since early august and i have no way to actually practice before tuesday. is there ANYTHING that i could do to help get ready for this?? i mean ANYTHING: advice, special exersises, something? thanks for taking the time to read this! i really need help!

grab a pole and do your runs with a plant. get back into the comfort of holding and running w/a pole

Exactly - pole runs. Do about 15 pole runs every day, having a friend catch your step every time and mark it with chalk. Also have that friend catch a mid-mark 4-6 steps from your takeoff and mark that. Take the average marks, measure them, and write them down. Then at least you'll know where to run from in the meet.

Also, plant drills never hurt, pullovers on a high bar, sand vaulting, rope drills, etc. Whatever you can do, do it, but the pole runs are a must.

As far as advice goes, less is more. Start at a really low height, on a really small pole, with a low grip, and short run and just work on technique. Inch your grip up a little bit at a time, and when you have trouble making it into the pit, move your run back 2 steps farther. Keep your expectations in check this early in the season without any practice. Above all else, have fun!

oh don't worry about the fun part. (i'm good at that lol). but i haven't actually vaulted since very early august and i haven't even touched a pole since then so i'm nervouse. the pole plants are a good idea! i will tell my coach that and see if i can run a bunch. unfortunatly my whole season is going to be like this unless somehow i can find a way to practice.

Sand vaulting is good

Put a tennis ball on the bottom of a pole and plant the pole in the bottom of the deep end of the pool and vault into the pool! (Indoor pool at this time of year!! )

water vaulting is a good idea. If you have access to a pool and you have a couple people to help (one to hold the pole and one to watch from underwater), underwater vaulting can help a bunch. You can go through the entire vaulting motion underwater in slow motion and someone can be watching and tell you exactly what to work on. Besides the pole runs this could help ya prepare for meets that are coming up soon. Hope that helps... Good luck.

Underwater vaulting is good....he's right. What I was talking about would require no one else. You stand on the side of the pool, put you pole tip with the tennis ball on the bottom and stand on the side of the pool. You step back and take a couple of big steps and swing up. You may land on your back in the water...but if you swing up fast enough, you can get upside down and then let go of the pole and come down into the water...maybe in a "cannonball" type position. Jodie did this at a hotel pool in Virginia. If you do have someone there, you can have them hold a bar or pole across the corner of the deep end and vault over it!

thanks guys! this is really helping out a lot. got any more tips? anything is good right now and i need all the help i can get. it is sooooo cold here! its just started snowing so it's a good thing that this is gonna be indoors! we were supposed to have our first outdoor (most of our winter track meets are outdoors in freezing temps) meet today but it was 15 degrees this morning! COLD!!!

lol, you think it's bad to jump in 15 degree whether, try jumping in 115 degree whether....now thats killer

Holy Cow...........next thing we know all those poor texans will tell us how bad it is jumpin with that killer tail wind all the time.........man am i gald i live and train here in the midwest where we only have to deal with snow, cold, rain, tornados, rednecks (that one is for Bobby Sr.)and constant head winds. BOY...........lucky us...........hope none of those who have to deal with that extreme heat ever move up here to the great cold vaulting midwest.

Just givin ya a hard time..........the cold is tons tougher to jump in than the heat!!!!!!!!

later, B