She vaulted 12'6" last night! What next?

[tex-teressa]

My daughter, Alicia Janke, has been vaulting for the past several years and gotten progressively better. She placed 3rd at state here in Texas her sophomore year and won district last year. Last year as a junior she stalled out a little due to minor injuries and from what I understand are typical body maturation issues for female vaulters. This year She's had some great vaults in practice hitting easily over 13' with regularity and finally cleared 12'6" last night at a meet. Her next attempt was 12'11" and she didn't make it although she definately has it in her for this season. She will be Pole vaulting at Texas Relays and has several more meets this season. Now for the issue, She's a senior and I'm concerned that she's late for good scholorship consideration. She's a very good student with a 3.9 gpa and will have 21 AP hours out of the way once testing concludes next month. She has been a varsity track athlete for all four years and the captain of her track team for the past two years. She went to State in Youth in Government and participated in Uil in choir. She is involved in volunteer activities and Church here in Rockwall. She has been accepted through the regular process to all the colleges of primary interest, but we as the parents of three children all proclaiming that they intend to get docorates would love for her to get a good scholarship. Her coaches are working hard on her behalf, but again I'm worried that it has taken her too long to register a competitive height and all the college slots will be full. Does anyone have any reccomendations for us? We taped her vault last night and plan to send it out with a link to her stats. She is our eldest and we are admittedly clueless but absolutely want the best fit for her.

[VaultPurple]

A few big things.

What is her height and weight?
Has she ran any other events and if so what are her times?

A lot of college coaches like to see girls that are just really athletic and they think they can make improve. A lot of girls can jump 12'6 or 13' in high school but never improve in college because they are pretty much at their max.

[tex-teressa]

What is her height and weight?
Has she ran any other events and if so what are her times?
Has she ran any other events and if so what are her times?

Good Points - thank you!

She's 5'9" and right around 133 lbs.

As a Freshman and Sophomore she usually did some combination of five events per meet - Pole vault, triple and long jump (she added High jump as a Sophomore), the 100 the 4X100, the 200 and the 4x200 and if they really need her the 4x400. She also played volleyball and basketball. For meets so far this year she's Mainly done the pole vault PR 12'6", high jump PR 5'4" (I believe), and the 4X100 and open 100 (I honestly don't remember her time, but she's always anchor leg). They are talking about having her take up triple jump again as she qualified for district as a freshman but hasn't practiced it again since they discovered she was good at high jump. For the most part her coaches have done a good job limiting her events to four per meet this year. She will run/jump her heart out and end up with minor injuries (shin splints, micro tears, burst bursa etc,). Last year for District she opened up her knee jumping over a retaining wall then Pole vaulted, high jumped and ran the 4X400 qualifying her team for district all before going to get 20+ stitches in her knee.

Does that help?

[VaultPurple]

She seems to be very athletic and has a very good size for a female pole vaulter. Just keep her safe and healthy, because a broken athlete going into college is no good to anybody. I am sure colleges will take notice, and if not, if she walks on somewhere they be hitting the jack pot if she continues to improve like she is.

[rainbowgirl28]

I would start by contacting the coaches at the schools she wants to go to and has been accepted. They won't know she's interested unless she tells them. You're not going to get a lot of coaches hunting her down at this point, especially not from the top schools, just because they are mostly done with signing next year's class and are in the middle of their own season plus checking out this year's HS juniors.

Some will have money left and some won't. She's not likely to get a HUGE scholarship anywhere major, and many of her top schools may have already signed away most of their money. It's just going to be super hit and miss as to what's available. She might be able to do better on academic scholarships.

She can get probably more money at a smaller school than a bigger one, unfortunately the schools who make the biggest offers are often the ones with limited resources (coaching and poles) for the pole vault. They like to sign good vaulters knowing that they may not improve much. But this is definitely not always the case, there are plenty of smaller schools with outstanding programs.

Also keep in mind that athletic scholarships are not guaranteed from year to year. She could sign somewhere for a decent scholarship and see it reduced if she fails to perform. She could also potentially sign somewhere for a smaller scholarship and see it increase, but keep in mind that this is less likely, as a coach knows once the athlete is in the school, they are less likely to go to the trouble of transferring.

[tex-teressa]

Thank you for all the great advice. We will follow through with your suggestions. She has gotten some academic offers, but was not a National Merit Scholar and that seems to be the major qualifier. The size of the school is not necessarily a major consideration, however the quality of both the academic and athletic (polevault) programs certainly are. That said, we have determined schools of interest based on pole vault heights acheived by recent female athletes cross referenced with strong academic institutions. Not many smaller schools seem to make that list. Can you reccomend some we may be missing?

As a follow up, She has been clearing, with no touches, 14' (over a bungee) in practice (the practice facility is indoors). If she clears over 13' in a meet this season would that make a big difference?

[rainbowgirl28]

If she clears over 13' in a meet this season would that make a big difference?

Maybe, but the biggest factor right now is how much money a given school has left because they have already signed most of it away. You need to initiate contact with the coaches at all of these schools ASAP. At this point in the game, you'll probably get a wide range of responses. If she was a junior it would be a different story.

[achtungpv]

Focus on those academic scholarships. Athletics scholarships are evaluated annually and money comes and goes. Like Becca said, be proactive at the Relays and talk to coaches yourself. They will all be easily identified. If she could be on her game and get 13' that day, that would go a long way to getting her name out there. Just get a coach interested in her. They can have significant influence on athletes receiving academic scholarships. I know I received several academic scholarships that I wasn't remotely qualified for and didn't apply for. Any athletic money would just be icing on the cake.

[tex-teressa]

Thank you so much for your advice. We are praying for a big jump at Texas Relays! The idea that academic scholarship dollars might be "found" for an athlete hadn't occured to me. The academic offers she has received thus far have been more in the realm of helpful than decisive.

She wants to study to be a physical therapist with perhaps a D.O. so she can prescribe as necessary. Our son want to be a trauma Surgeon and our youngest daughter a veterinarian. Scholarships will be an important factor in our family, but not the sole determinant. She is a wonderful girl and we just want the best for her, but realize that our resources are limited and will need to cover a lot of ground in the coming years.