Steve Hooker's New Swing

[dj]

good morning,

a nice looking "change".. based on my experience of the "pole design" to hand grip creating the knee drop 90% of the time (including Earl Bell in the 70's) someone might ask Gill if this is a changed pattern/sail position?

don't want to change this to a pole dicusssion... but it would be interesting to know if he is making the change with his earlier patterns or a pattern that lends itself to a symetrical bend and a continious knee drive and swing.

does the bend look more "symetrical" ?? ... hard to tell because of angles.. maybe two jumps from the same angle could be "overlaid" on Dartfish?


dj

[PaulVaulter]

If hookers just moved onto weaves, I'm with DJ.

[rainbowgirl28]

Sorry guys, Hooker is using the same poles he has been using for several years.

[dj]

hey

it could "look" the same but have a different sail pattern... that was why i started checking pole patterns many years ago.. i had an athlete that couldn't jump the same on a new set of poles that "looked' the same and had the same flexes... they were different in sail pattern.. we had a new set made and he jumped just fine.. over the years i have had the same thing happen with other vaulters i coached..

if you don't consider the "pole design" you sometimes end up "blaming" the athlete for a technical flaw that he/she can't change or can't consistantly change because of the physics from pole design.

i look at the technique, the physics and the pole design before i make a final judgement on what changes needed to be made.

dj

ps.. the technical model i use is "good" as Erica mentioned... was good in the 70's, was good for Bubka and should be followed by all now.

[rainbowgirl28]

Sorry dj, they are actually the same poles he has been using, they don't just look the same.

[Barto]

When his takeoff returns to it's past power levels, you will see him drop his knee again.

[altius]

You may well be right Barto - we will see this weekend. However it is worth noting that Bubka - who probably used the biggest poles relative to his body weight of any vaulter - never dropped his leg as far as i know. Indeed his knee drive and separation seemed to be especially pronounced on his 97 jump. Petrovs position is clear - what you gain in the swing from a double leg - ie penetration - you lose in the time it takes you to get on top of the pole. While the folk who have been mentioned - including hooker - do a pretty good job of covering the pole they are not in Bubby's class.

The importance of covering the pole seems to have got lost in all of the discussion about the take off and swing. As Bubka himself said - his aim was to swing so fast that he wanted to be fully inverted with the legs vertical when the pole was a maximum bend. If I can get Doc to do it I will try to get him to post the film of Bubby covering the pole that is tucked into the tail end of his jumps on the BTB2 dvd. It is simply amazing to me because he never takes his body to the bar - simply allows pole speed to do it while his movements are taking his com away from the bar.

[kcvault]

I hope he goes back to the double leg swing. His timing looks off with the new swing and he does not seem to be pentrating as much as normal. Either way drive knee no drive knee it's only a matter 0f time before he joins the 20ft club and potentially gets a world record.

[KirkB]

... Petrovs position is clear - what you gain in the swing from a double leg - ie penetration - you lose in the time it takes you to get on top of the pole. ...

That's exactly what we figured out too ... in the early '70s.

We also experimented with the "double pump" ... dropping the lead knee and then raising it again ... but that didn't work either ... there's just not enough time ... if you want an early inversion ... to cover the pole. Besides, the super-human gut strength you need to pull that off is near-impossible for most mere mortals ... like me.

However, I continue to keep an open mind ... and marvel at Hooker ... he's proven that you can go AT LEAST 6.06 by dropping the lead knee ... it'll be interesting to see what he does this year ... now that he's healthy!

Kirk

[Barto]

Is it better to hitch or hang? Why does either occur? Who were the athletes that have been the most successful with each technique? What did the share in common? What were their differences?

[rainbowgirl28]

Here's some trivia... what do you think Petrov told David Butler to do when he showed him video of Jason Colwick and asked what direction to take this vaulter?

[dj]

good morning,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5KOLxvuPvE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngSpcNGnGSY


compare what you see in these jumps...

hopefully it will express why i feel the pole "design" can and many times does "create" technique that we don't teach or may feel is incorrect.

my thoughts on Hooker is, if these are the same poles and exact patterns from before.. he will "revert" back when he has to vault "natural"...

doesn't mean he want jump high, just means that to make make a "technical" change he will be battling physics instead of with physics... which will make it more difficult to do..

dj