Appreciate the thoughts Tim, I really do. However I was not looking for support in that post - I was just amazed that, after all the good stuff that many people have put up - you included - we seem to have jumped right back to the bad old days of 'grip it and rip it'/"no guts no glory" pole vaulting. No matter the open nature of PVP, those notions cannot go unchallenged because kids lives and futures are at stake.
I increasingly react like this because I have become more and more certain as i reflect on the vault that the secret to consistent development at all levels of performance from novice to superstar is the PRECISE execution of the highly specific movement patterns needed to meet the biomechanical requirements of the event.
In fact I have come to believe that we should be as demanding as a gymnastic coach as we look for that precision. I know Petrov is - and it is why he expects even international level athletes to repeat up to 200 two step take offs in a session to get every aspect of that movement pattern right -- and then to repeat the same exercise in the next session!
Of course that is the reason why he is so successful. Incidentally i suspect it is why Bubka would include 30 plus six step take offs in a training session many years after he set his first world record!
I began to follow a pattern with set routines for even beginners to follow before they were permitted to jump over a bar in any session. Once they were 'hooked' this routine included 8 x 6 walking strides in a 3/3 pattern to 'plant ' the pole; repeated with a jog/repeated with a trot/repeated with a run/ repeated with a sprint -- All done correctly and precisely before they moved to 6 step stiff pole take offs onto the pad. I am well aware that most adolescent boys only want to jump over bars, but even they can be lead into this system. Why did i do this - well like all sensible coaches i believe that without a very precise, controlled and consistent planting action there is little chance for even talented yougsters to have much success.
I am also aware that many youngsters in the US do not have coaches, so near enough has to be good enough for them, and that they can always manage to get over a bar somehow using the no guts no glory approach to vaulting.. But at every opportunity, clinics and camps especially - we should demand precision/perfection - raising the bar so to speak - so that they can indeed raise the bar! More importantly every coach should be thinking like this - not taking the event back into the dark ages.
Before folk challenge these ideas - because if the history of pvp tells us anything it is that some inevitably will, they should take a look at some of our kids shown in BTB - book or Dvd - especially Lauren Eley, a second year vaulter who demonstrates clearly what can be achieved with this approach.
Its what you learn after you know it all that counts. John Wooden
