Remember when Alan Launder at the Summit said....

[zipsDIGSpv]

What I remember of Alan Launders (Australian national coach) talks at the summit was how the American vaulters need to adopt the European way of coaching and training or we would never be able to compete at the national level with the Europeans. He talked about how this would become clear to us at the Olympics when we got our butts kicked. I'd like to hear what he has to say now. If you look at the other posts you see how much the americans have dominated this year and Tim Mack is the man! Great job USA...lets continue domination!

[rainbowgirl28]

None of the women even made it to the final. I am not ready to say we dominate. I am extremely proud of Tim and Toby for medaling, but I think we still have a lot of room for improvement.

It seems like the only people who did well internationally this year were our guys and Stacy (up until the Olympics). None of the other women did anything impressive on the international scene. Our juniors have not done well internationally in several years.

I think there is a lot of great stuff going on in the United States. We have lots of exciting rising talent like Chelsea Johnson and Tommy Skipper.

But I don't think we should be patting ourselves on the back either. Just my opinion.

Maybe I'll pat myself on the back when I can attend any high school meet in the country and I don't see a single kid who is hell bent on breaking their neck every jump thanks to poor coaching. Heck I'd be happy to see less of that at college meets.

[NUVAULTER]

I remember his exact words " lets not talk about 17'6 18' come talk to me when your vaultin 5.70 5.80 5.90" makes me laugh now

[KYLE ELLIS]

Well our guys dominated this year, so maybe now they will start showing some of the mens competition on tv instead of just stacy. Stacy has done well during her career internationally and Jillian placed well at the indoor world championships but thats about it for women. And I dont know if anyone else would agree with me but I think Tim and Toby could jump 19'10 or 20 ft soon. It looks like Toby is a little under at takeoff and his pole doesnt seem to make it to vertical (seperates a little and then just lets go) very often but the way he hits the box I think hes got a shot at 6.15 or 16. I think we have to get our guys jumping higher during the non olympic years for us to jump the really high bars and dominate completely.

[achtungpv]

The US men did really well this year, but the big problem is that most of the US elite are old farts already! Get rid the US vaulters over 25 and who do we have? Walker and Skipper. Get rid of the gals over 25 and you've got Johnson.

That's pretty thin. Some you fellas need to step it up.

[CowtownPV]

What I remember of Alan Launders (Australian national coach) talks at the summit was how the American vaulters need to adopt the European way of coaching and training or we would never be able to compete at the national level with the Europeans. He talked about how this would become clear to us at the Olympics when we got our butts kicked. !

I couldn't agree more, there are some great coaches here in the US who the Europeans could learn from. In all of athletics there has always been several ways to be successfull and yet people always want to jump on the current bandwagon. How many other countries had someone jump 19' and not make the team or 18'8 and get 8th place. Congrats to all the elite vaulters and coaches on a great summer.

[wacky274]

I think in the next couple years you will see some people start to really step it up and make a name. There is so much talent out there, so there is bound to be someone who can stay healthy, and stay focused. Everyone talks about skipper...the guys a bad a**, we all know that, but there is a lot of other potential in that group. Chip heuser, 535, scott martin 536 ( I believe). Granted it's no 570, but everyone matures and peaks differently, so I think they next few years should be quite interesting. Outside the freshman class there is clearly some potential as well. All i'm saying, should be interesting. Tommy and Walker are leading the forefront right now, but I think it will get more competitive than most people might think.

[KYLE ELLIS]

speaking of scott martin and chip heuser ou will also have ty barrington (17'3) and austin landreth 17'7 (fr,so,and jr yr just never has improved much). That will be a good young squad.

[lonestar]

I couldn't agree more, there are some great coaches here in the US who the Europeans could learn from. In all of athletics there has always been several ways to be successfull and yet people always want to jump on the current bandwagon. How many other countries had someone jump 19' and not make the team or 18'8 and get 8th place. Congrats to all the elite vaulters and coaches on a great summer.

I agree that there is more than one successful way to do things, and that we have some great coaches here in the US. Too often though, I think that most coaches in the US overtrain and underjump their vaulters. I even heard from a well respected coach that Petrov once said something to the effect that US vaulters train like 20'ers, but only jump in the 19's and below because they disregard physics. I don't know how true the statement is, but I have to agree. Let's put a pole in their hand, let them jump for awhile, then spend the rest of their career trying to fix all the bad habits they've developed. Then when they're 31 years old, if they've hung in the sport long enough, they start hitting closer to their absolute potential. I think this is the reason for the "old fart" issue that achtung mentioned, as well as why our juniors are not having as much success as they have the potential to internationally.

How old was Bubka when he broke his first wr? 21? How old was Tarasov when he first jumped 5.80m? Gataullin? Brits? How bout Feofanova and Isinbayeva - 22 and 23? How old were the Ryschich sisters when they first jumped over 4.30? Coincidence? Why are they jumping higher at so much younger than we are? Don't say it's a lack of talent - we probably have at least 3 times the number of vaulters (total - not per capita) of vaulters than ANY other country in the world, and not ALL of our great athletes play other sports. Don't say it's drugs, drugs can't teach you how to pole vault, and ALL of them were/are technically great pole vaulters!

How about teaching them to not take off under, to jump off the ground, to plant efficiently, and swing, before we go backing them up to the end of the runway and letting them rip. It's easier to get faster and stronger than it is to break bad habits. First train smart, then train hard.

...steps down from soapbox...

[wacky274]

[quote="lonestar"] First train smart, then train hard.

quote]

Definitely have to agree here. It is ESSENTIAL to learn good habits from the beginning so you dont have to spend your career breaking them. Rather you should be able to spend it perfecting little things, getting stronger and faster, and just getting used to jumping high. I think it is coming around...it's tough when not everyone has the oppurtunity to have a good coach to start off with. Either way, some people will figure it out, I think slowly Americans are starting to jump higher sooner in their careers. But either way, the point still stands....learn to do it right the first time.

[achtungpv]

How old was Bubka when he broke his first wr? 21? How old was Tarasov when he first jumped 5.80m? Gataullin? Brits? How bout Feofanova and Isinbayeva - 22 and 23? How old were the Ryschich sisters when they first jumped over 4.30?

...steps down from soapbox...

I put all this info for all 5.90+ vaulters in a spreadsheet several years ago. I think i did this around '99 or '00.

Off the top of my head.

Ave. Age @ 1st 5.50:
Americans: 24
Other: 20

Ave. Age @ 1st 5.80:
Americans: 27
Other: 23

Ave. Age @ 1st 5.90:
Americans: 28
Other: 25

Ave. # Years over 5.80:
Americans: 3
Other: 6

[mdavis2685]

i think one of the main biggest differences between American vaulters and European vaulters is the culture you also need to look at how young the europeans are when they started and how strick their coaching might be in America it is nothign like that we tend to start later hopefully that will change