Pekin Flying Dragons Pole Vault Club Article

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/01270 ... 7056.shtml

Pole vault club taking off


By Randy Sharer
rsharer@pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON -- Logan Ruder's athletic tastes lean toward extreme sports.

So when the 13-year-old Eureka eighth-grader learned of the Pekin Flying Dragons Pole Vault Club, it was nearly impossible to stop him from joining.

In eight months with the club, Ruder has seen his pole vault best go from 8 feet, 6 inches as a seventh-grader to a personal best and meet record of 9-7 in the Jan. 16 USATF National Youth Invitational at Sterling.

Ruder credits Coach Mike Cockerham for his rapid improvement.

"He is really positive about everything," Ruder said. "He's just a great coach."

Cockerham, 52, oversees the largest pole vault club in Illinois with 52 members. They train at Shirk Center Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.

"Most of the core group of kids are from Normal Community, Normal West, Normal U High, Bloomington, Olympia, Eureka, Pontiac and a couple kids from Carlinville come up," Cockerham said. "We've only got a couple kids from Pekin.

"It's all about starting them. I like to start them when they are 10. By the time they are eligible to jump (for their schools), they have some of the mechanics down and it's not such a struggle."

Cockerham, a 16-foot vaulter in his college days, runs a home maintenance company in Manito. He started coaching 10 years ago. He also coaches Pekin High School vaulters and is in his second year as the vault coach at Illinois Wesleyan.

"I'd rather do this than anything else in the world," he said. "I don't get paid for it. My payment is when kids go over that bar, jump up and scream (for joy). That's why I'm here.

"Every one of these kids is here because they want to be, not because they have to be. That makes it so easy for me."

Club membership costs $50 for the indoor season and $50 for the outdoor season. New members can join by phoning Cockerham at (309) 267-3973.

"The $50 pays their insurance and gives them a place to vault," he said. "I have to carry $1 million in liability on everybody and that is through the USATF."

Since founding the club five years ago, Cockerham has seen very few injuries among his athletes and nothing worse than a broken hand.

"It is more safe than football, basketball, wrestling and baseball," claimed Cockerham.

Athletes buy their own poles or have their schools do so for them. Poles can range from $200 to $450.

"I've got kids with three or four poles," said Cockerham, whose is working with some of Central Illinois' best vaulters.

Among them is Pontiac junior Phillip Hanson, who went from clearing 14-0 last high school season to 15-6 last summer.

"I look for him to do great things at state this year," said Cockerham, who also coached Pekin's Kyle Calvert and Jon Blome to fourth- and seventh-place finishes in the 2003 Class AA state meet. "They are jumping 15-6 and 16-0 as sophomores in college."

Cockerham can't wait to see how much Taylor Troemel, the NCHS girls record holder at 8-6, improves the next five months.

"She will go 12-6 this year," predicted Cockerham of his club's captain. "We started her on a carbon (fiber) pole last week. She's making 11-6 consistently. She's jumping 12-0 in practice. Her hips are over 13 feet. I've never had a kid work so hard."

Manito's Megan Emmons, 13, set an Illinois Elementary School Association Class 7AA state meet record of 9-3 last spring. She cleared a meet record 8-9 at Sterling Jan. 16.

"She'll break the eighth grade state record (of 10-0) pretty easily," Cockerham said.

Other eighth graders to watch are Carlinville's T.J. Bouillion and Olympia's Alex Freshour, who placed first and fourth, respectively, in last year's IESA 7AA state meet. Both are threats to the 8AA state meet record of 12-2.

As for Ruder, who has made 10-6 in practice, an 11-foot vault could come any day his coach said.

"Ninety percent of the game is the want," Cockerham said, "and he has the want."

[Skyin' Brian]

sweet article. the pantagraph is the local paper where i am from and when i was in high school i had many encounters with Randy Sharer(the writer of the article. he does amazing coverage of high school sports) and Mike Cockerham(the coach in the article i used to vault with his pekin vaulters in the summers in pekin for a different track club before he formed this new club. thanks for posting this article. I will have to get my parents to save that paper for me.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/high-s ... 03286.html

Pole vaulting club makes itself at home

By Randy Sharer | rsharer@pantagraph.com | Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 6:54 pm | No Comments Posted



U High's John Munson is among area athleates participating in the Flying Dragons Pole Vault club Tuesday, March 23, 2010, in Normal. (Pantagraph/CARLOS T. MIRANDA)

NORMAL — Much like an athlete visualizing a result before making it happen, Mike Cockerham dreamed of having a place where pole vaulters could train year round.
“This is the vision I had 12, 15 years ago,” said Cockerham to a first-time visitor of the Dragons Den, the massive new home of the Flying Dragons Pole Vault Club at 1802 Industrial Park Drive in Normal.
The building has a wow factor only 160,000 square feet can provide.
“There is not a better pole vault facility in the nation that I know of,” said Cockerham, who opened the venue for his 36-member, not-for-profit club last October.
Most of the club’s high school members have qualified for Friday and Saturday’s Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic at Shirk Center.
Club members Emily Clay and Logan Pflibsen, the reigning Class 2A state outdoor champions from University High and Streator, respectively, along with Class 1A star Sarah Bell of Central Catholic are all seeded No. 1.
“I love it,” said Bell of the facility. “It’s awesome to have because normally we don’t have a place to practice in the winter. It’s very awesome.”
That double-awesome description is due to the building’s many features.
There is a 140-foot elevated runway to the main pit, a 64-foot runaway that will soon be extended to 120 feet to a secondary pit. Crossbars can be set at 4 feet, 6 inches all the way up to 19-2.
There is a video station so athletes can analyze their form frame-by-frame.
“We convert it onto a laptop and then we can compare vaulter to vaulter,” said Cockerham, who uses landing pads donated from Olympia, Clinton and Spring Valley Hall high schools as well as pads donated by the Panno family of Pontiac.
There is also weight-lifting equipment, a high jump pit and an area surrounded by nets for discus, hammer and weight throwers. By the end of the summer there will be a 140-foot long jump/triple jump runway and a shot put area.
“My big plan is to turn this into the only field event training center,” Cockerham said.
The facility is open to non-members at $10 an hour. Member dues are $100 a month. Approximately 20 high schools and junior highs have booked training time at $20 an hour.
“They bring their coach in. We unlock the door and we leave,” said Cockerham, who estimates 200 youngsters have trained there since October.
Cockerham, who works for maintenance contractor SAMI in Normal, credits the building’s owner, John Nord, for lowering the rent to a manageable $1,500 a month.
“If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here,” said Cockerham, who drove club members to Sterling once a week to train in 2008-09.
Cockerham looked at 30 properties before being shown the Dragons Den.
“As soon as I walked in, I said, ‘This is it,’” remembers Cockerham. “Whatever it takes to get this done, we’ve got to get it done.”

[patybobady]

Awesome, amazing, just great. As an IL coach, the strides made because of Mike's efforts have benefited countless vaulters. Thank you Mike.

[Chukam All]

Mike's having a Moon Vault this Saturday at The Den. Competition is slated to start at 5:00 PM.