David Gronski article (CA)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_3883377

Gronski thrives on pole vaulting's fear factor
Ryan Metcalfe

David Gronski wonders how the pole vault was ever included in track meets with the mundane sports for earth-bound humans.
There is no other traditional sporting event quite like the pole vault, where athletes speed down the runway, jam a fiberglass pole into a box, hope it sticks and does not break, propelling the athlete into the air, soaring over a bar two stories high.

"I don't know how to explain it, but it is cool looking down on everything," said the Marin Catholic senior who qualified for the state meet with a personal best 14-feet,

3-inch clearing vault Friday at the Meet of Champions. "It is just fun when you are up there at 14 feet, but I wouldn't want to jump off a 15-foot ledge."

Novato pole vault coach Hector Benitez said he could take five similar kids and give them all the same instruction and four would struggle to clear 9 feet, but the fifth would clear 13 or 14 feet like Gronski. The former Terra Linda coach tutored four of the top 10 pole vaulters in county history, including the all-time champ, Sean Brown, who cleared 15-7 in 1992. Gronski is one of only two Marin athletes to clear 14-0 since - the other was Django Heckler of Terra Linda in 1996. Benitez likes what he sees in Gronski, who is now tied for fourth on the county all-time list.

"He's the type of kid you look for in a pole vaulter," Benitez said. "He is high spirited and a little hard to control. Those are some of the elements you look for in a pole vaulter when you try to get them to achieve the higher heights. It takes someone with a character on the edge. Without a doubt, there is a scare factor. It is like a roller-coaster ride and at any moment the car can fly off the track."

Gronski's pole vault coach at MC comes from the same stock. Bryan Jaeger was a pole vaulter at MC before graduating in 1995 and then at UC Davis, where he eventually cleared 15 feet. The 20-something English teacher at MC still vaults with Gronski in practice, challenging him to match him at 15 feet.

"It's obviously a huge rush," Jaeger said. "It is like trying to control something that is out of control. I wanted to stay in it after college and coaching allows me to do that. I'm not sure what I get out of it, but I have a wife and soon I may have a family and it is dangerous to be in. Only the people that do it know."

Jaeger has never bungee jumped or jumped out of an airplane, but he said what separates those thrill seekers from pole vaulters is: The vaulter must create his thrill with his athletic ability, fighting gravity rather than succumbing to it.

He has enjoyed working with Gronski the last four years, often for two hours a days and six days most weeks during the fall and spring. He knew he had something special in Gronski from the beginning.

"Something David has going for him is (that) he is quite fearless," Jaeger said. "He has the ability, the agility, the coordination, but that other important component is courage. Timidity will deter.

I've had a lot of athletes who are faster or stronger than David, but he's got that little bit of insanity in him and that is why he has been able excel."

Gronski and Jaeger both feel clearing 15 feet at the state meet and qualifying for Saturday's finals is a reasonable goal - the top nine marks from Friday advance to Saturday and Gronski is ranked 21st out of 28 competitors, 10 of which cleared 15 feet last week.

"To do well at state it is going to take a little bit of that insanity," Jaeger said. "He is a little hesitant in doing what he needs to do to clear 15 feet, but I think he will realize that he's got to trust it. You totally have to shut your brain off to swing back toward the runway and not toward the pit. It is counter-intuitive, but it is what you have to do to be a successful vaulter."

Gronski likes to do tricks on his skateboard and has taken go-cart lessons at Infineon Raceway - he'd love to become a professional driver - but none of it compares to pole vaulting.

"Pole vaulting is the most dangerous thing I do," Gronski said. "You have to get over the fear. You have to have the personality where you like to take risks. You learn how to fall and you get used to it."

You also have to get used to the bumps and bruises that can come even when you clear the bar and land on the mat, but are much worse when the pole slips or breaks, or when you miss the mat or land on the pole.

"He's definitely the kind of guy to get back on the horse," Jaeger said. "He's never any really bad spills that stick out, but when he does land off, he gets right back on the runway and shakes it off. He's probably been closer to death of all my vaulters, but he has that craziness."

The risk-taking nature of this swashbuckling duo was on full display last week at the Meet of Champions. With limited energy and sore knees, they elected to enter the pole vault competition at 13-0 - Gronski's previous personal best. Once he cleared that mark, he passed at two other heights, saving himself for the 14-foot barrier.

"It's exciting the way he rolls the dice," Benitez said. "I wouldn't have done that, but I'm more conservative. It was absolutely incredible, but he and Bryan did a great job analyzing what was going on. It was a magnificent strategy. David is a stallion. You open the barn up and you don't know what is coming out. He may come out kicking or he'll jump a fence or maybe he'll go chase some mares. He came out and put it all together and it was great to see him get his ticket to state."