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I was just curious if there are any FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) rules regarding practicing pole vault during the off-season. For instance would I be allowed to vault at school with the school equipment on the weekends without being penalized by the FHSAA during the next season? Or do I have to vault at a certified camp or club?

Ask your athletic director...

I was a bit in the dark for these rules as well, from what i was able to uncover was that you can vault with your own poles but not in your high schools' pits. Also your athletes cant be coached by any of the high school track coaches until indoor practicing starts. However the athletes can go to clinics at colleges or third parties as long as they pay if the instructor is a coach somewhere else (illegal recruiting measure i believe).
As a high school vaulter i ended up having this scenario play out:
Coach can you watch me vault at the highschool this weekend.
No, i cant coach you until indoor.
Well can you show up at the local clinic and coach me there.
Nope, but they can.
Can i vault up at the high school on my own time.
Nope.
Can i use our poles?
Yes.

Basically i was allowed to legally touch our pit for the first time 2 weeks ago after all summer (well maybe not all summer ). I believe indoor has started so this may be pointless in posting but this is what i came up with after investigating the rules. However I could do pole runs, sand vaults, grass drills and what not till i collapsed. As long as you dont use the pit you shouldnt be breaking the rules. The poles are kind of considered as turbo javs, weighted rags or foam hurdles, aka the loop holes for off season athletes to practice a little.

Vault 101 Boy, each state sets their own rules, so unless you live in Florida (and I'm guessing not since you mentioned indoor season), the rules are probably different for the OP.

Having coached year round in Florida for the past few years, I have become very familiar with the rules. I have everyone that i coach registered to my AAU club, They pay for their AAU membership ($12) and a low one time membership fee to join my club. I am allowed to use a high schools facility during the off season as long as I have a contract through the school and am paying rent every month. I am only allowed to be an official coach at THAT SCHOOL during season, if less than half of the kids that I coach during the off season are from THAT SCHOOL.... If you are an official coach (paid something to coach by the school), and you are just trying to practice in the off season with the kids from your school, you would be in violation of the rules. The way that I stay within the rules, is remaining a "club coach" year round, and never get paid by any school to coach, only paid by the athletes.... As far as equipment goes, FHSAA rules state that any school CAN (doesnt mean they will) lend an athlete school property/equipment to use at camps/clinics during the off season. Usually, it is up to the athletic director/track coach, if they want to allow one of their high school athletes to take thousands of dollars worth of poles to someone elses facility to practice. Sometimes some of the coaches do not mind lending equipment to their athletes, but other times there is no chance they will let their poles out of their site. If you have any other questions about the rules, feel free to visit my site, call, or email me!

Bob Leidel
www.floridapolevaultacademy.org

Thanks for the help guys!

Right now I'm currently registered with the USATF and paid for a membership at a club in Jacksonville so I can vault on weekends. I'm guessing this qualifies as a third party thing since I'm paying the coach for a membership and have insurance and what not through USATF?