Skipper Signs With Oregon... Again

[Keith]

Yeah, its really annoying, but true. my birthday is in November, so in 2005 I will be 19 all the way through the season, but will have to compete in Under 23 not 20, as I will be 20 by the end of the year.

[Barto]

Worst birthday ever......Bobby Most Dec 31st.

Barto

[Carolina Extreme]

Worst birthday ever......Bobby Most Dec 31st.

Barto

In one way it's bad, but not others. My guess is he was 18, or like some 19, through his senior year. Many vaulters have late birthdays and compete as 17 yr olds through most if not all of their senior year. As teenagers, a year can make a great deal of difference in physical maturity.

For USATF Junior Olympics a late July birthday would stink.

[Carolina Extreme]

Yeah, its really annoying, but true. my birthday is in November, so in 2005 I will be 19 all the way through the season, but will have to compete in Under 23 not 20, as I will be 20 by the end of the year.

I'm not 100% convinced about this. My reasoning is that I am pretty sure Tommy Skipper was 19 all season and turned 20 recently. Yet he competed in Juniors as a 19 yr old. I would think that the Under 23 would use the same dates as Under 20. Or would they????

Now if you find out you can compete in the Under 20, when you are on the awards stand, you can thank all your friends at Pole Vault Power.

It's confusing and the age dates differ depending on what it is you are talking about. JO's, Junior's, Records, etc. etc.

[Keith]

I know for a fact that it is definately true for the world Juniors, European Juniors and any European other competitions that are called Junior or Under 20. I would assume its the same for any competition in the states, but I couldnt say for certain, so I couldnt comment about Tommy as I dont know much about him. Under 23 is the same as under 20, meaning that its your age at the end of the year that counts.

[vaultin chris]

Worst birthday ever......Bobby Most Dec 31st.

Barto

i feel his pain. my birthday is dec. 30, whic means i was 18 my senior yea of hs and i jumped 15'7'' and missed qualifying for jr nationals. my freshamn year of college i went 16'1'' (qualifying mark at the time) in february when i was 19. i told my coach to enter me in Jr. Nationals, then we found out that i was to old by two days. so there could be some one who was two days younger than me but born in 1983 that could have qualified. I say its bs.

[Carolina Extreme]

i feel his pain. my birthday is dec. 30, whic means i was 18 my senior yea of hs and i jumped 15'7'' and missed qualifying for jr nationals. my freshamn year of college i went 16'1'' (qualifying mark at the time) in february when i was 19. i told my coach to enter me in Jr. Nationals, then we found out that i was to old by two days. so there could be some one who was two days younger than me but born in 1983 that could have qualified. I say its bs.

Ouch!!!! sniffle sniffle, sniffle

A friend told a vaulter of mine after a bad meet and she was upset, she said "You have two minutes, after that it's over, move on!"

My quote below works too...

[wacky274]

quote="Carolina Extreme"
Many vaulters have late birthdays and compete as 17 yr olds through most if not all of their senior year. As teenagers, a year can make a great deal of difference in physical maturity.

For USATF Junior Olympics a late July birthday would stink.[/quote]

I can vouch for this as i was 17 up until july 30th of my senior summer, and it does suck always being compared to people who are a year older. Only advantage is it really brings out the best in you and forces you to jump at their level. Not a real big deal when you look at it, but it does make a little difference.

[Carolina Extreme]

I can vouch for this as i was 17 up until july 30th of my senior summer, and it does suck always being compared to people who are a year older. Only advantage is it really brings out the best in you and forces you to jump at their level. Not a real big deal when you look at it, but it does make a little difference.

I was the same way with a July birthday. You are right it does make you work harder to compete at their level. I was always the first one not to get on an All-Star team, but when I hit my growth spurt in HS I left everyone behind. It will catch up at some point and working harder to get there will pay off for you.

Just think if you and Chase and a few of the others with late season birthdays had another year. WHOA!!! Chase will catch up in two years when he goes D1 as a sophomore.

[wacky274]

looking forward to having him compete d1 next year, think it will raise the bar, no pun intended, just another notch. I'm really anxious to see how all the incoming freshman this year will do. There was a lot of succes all around on the HS level last year, and I think each of the top people were all true competitors and that will only help college vaulting over the next couple years. Either way, it's going to be an exciting ride i'm sure.

[mcminkz05]

how old can you be to still ump in Jr. Nationals? If you can be 18, wouldnt a late like July or aug. b-day help you cuz you could compete after your frosh year in college too?

[Carolina Extreme]

[quote="wacky274"]looking forward to having him compete d1 next year...[quote]
I think you missed what I said. He'll have two years of JUCO before going D1. So not this year, or next year, but the next in 2006 he'll be a D1 sophomore. Even though he would rather be there now, two years of training with Jan Johnson, then 3 years of D1 isn't such a bad thing. In fact, it'll probably help very much.