This didn't quite explain my entire short run vault ...
The sensation I got in my 9-step vault (in both 1971 and 1972) was that of accelerating into the takeoff, JUMPING extremely hard into the Split, lifting up my trail leg BACKWARDS/UPWARDS for just a split second, then IMMEDIATELY BRINGING it forwards again. ABSOLUTELY NO PAUSE!!!
I HAD to do it that way, because there was NO TIME to pause in the Split (with chest driven forwards), and no time to pause with my trail leg raised backwards/upwards. With the lower grip and less takeoff speed (due to the shorter run), I had no choice but to do everything quicker, WITH NO PASSIVE pauses during the Jump to the Split.
And because of my extremely quick swing (initiated by lifting/stretching my trail leg back/up), I got inverted very early and very quickly. I remember a "sinking sensation" when this happened, where my shoulders seemed to drop. I know they didn't actually drop. I know that my hips were continually rising, so it just SEEMED like my shoulders were dropping. But just like I tried to [and was unable to eloquently] describe my Standing Shoot-to-a-Handstand Drill on the highbar, I couldn't tell you EXACTLY what I was doing during that "sinking sensation". All I know is that it felt very much like the "no-man's land" of the Standing Shoot-to-a-Handstand - everything happened so quickly. It had to! No passive actions!
Another sensation that I felt - immediately following the "sinking sensation", and right thru to the fully-extended "I" position - was a feeling of "Get back! Get back! Get back!" This was the thought that I had as I was inverting and extending.
It wasn't an ENGLISH thought, as that would have taken too long to think. It was more like the thought of a ratchet or drum roll - as I was "telling myself" to get back more and more. Just like musicians don't think their muscial notes in English, I didn't think my "rhythm" in English. Instead, I FELT it.
By "Get back", what I mean is that I needed to CONTINUE my swing/inversion/extension to PAST vertical. Well, first to vertical, and then keep going back ... and back ... and back. If I didn't tell myself to do this, I'd get too far under the bar, and hit it on my way up - no matter how far back I set the standards.
I was quickly rising, and the bar was quickly getting closer and closer. There was no time to waste!
Really, by thinking this way, and by taking action on those thoughts, I was able to NOT PAUSE OR SLOW DOWN at all during the extension. What I mean is that in some of my 1972 vaults, I bent the pole so damn much that during its recoil, I had all the time in the world to extend in unison with it.
Now, on its own, this doesn't sound like a bad thing. You WANT to extend in unison with the pole. But the thing is, a very slow recoil, where your extension becomes "slow motion", is actually a PASSIVE action.
"Passive" doesn't just mean an isometric position that you hold. It can also mean a very slow motion that you're performing. Any "slow motion" movement - any action that can be done faster - smells just like a PASSIVE action. Just maybe not QUITE as bad. But PASSIVE non-the-less.
Without even understanding the difference between PASSIVE and ACTIVE at the time, I felt intuitively that I had little or no time to complete all my various vault parts, so by necessity, they were all ACTIVE!
Well, on my short runs and pre-June/1971 competition vaults, that is!
Kirk