Shot in the Dark

[jam354]

Hello all,

I am making one last ditch effort to help a girl I coach. Long story short, she tore her acl last year right as she started to "get it". She has come back and done well and has advanced to the New Jersey Meet of Champions. However, she admittedly has many technical flaws due to her time rehabbing. Anyway, the main issue comes when a bar is up. This past weekend, her warm-up jumps looked amazing and then the bar goes up and she never covers the pole. I have tried everything so if anyone has some "secret", please let me know. She is a senior so this will be her last meet. Again, I am aware of her technical flaws, but there seems to be a mental block that stops her swing when the bar is up. All the things that usually work with other athletes haven't with her. Here is a video from about a month ago to give you some frame of reference. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHk8YtDe-wY

PS--DJ, if you read this, all I keep hearing at meets from other coaches is how great her run looks. She really looks fast down the runway and was holding 11'8" on a 12'4" 140 and getting deep into the pit in warm-ups. Thniking of moving her to a 12' grip on a 13' 130. Thoughts? Thanks for your help

[rainbowgirl28]

PS--DJ, if you read this, all I keep hearing at meets from other coaches is how great her run looks. She really looks fast down the runway and was holding 11'8" on a 12'4" 140 and getting deep into the pit in warm-ups. Thniking of moving her to a 12' grip on a 13' 130. Thoughts? Thanks for your help

What brands of poles? 4" is a lot of grip to raise, and you said she tends to change everything when the bar goes up, so I definitely wouldn't go up during the competition until she is really blowing through the pole, knocking off the bar on the way up with the standards all of the way back.

[jam354]

I agree, it is a lot. She is jumping on an Altius right now. My thought on raising the grip is that her speed has been improving by leaps and bounds in the past month. 3 weeks ago she was holding 11'1", but every week is better since she has been cleared to run in March. It seems like everytime we move up in grip, she takes it to another gear and has no trouble. If she was a junior, I would have her work on covering the pole and not move her grip but she only has one more shot.

[rainbowgirl28]

I agree, it is a lot. She is jumping on an Altius right now. My thought on raising the grip is that her speed has been improving by leaps and bounds in the past month. 3 weeks ago she was holding 11'1", but every week is better since she has been cleared to run in March. It seems like everytime we move up in grip, she takes it to another gear and has no trouble. If she was a junior, I would have her work on covering the pole and not move her grip but she only has one more shot.

What brand is the 13' pole? I think she'd be better off with a stiffer 12'4 pole. The labels of the newer Altius poles are right at the top, so she still has like 7" of grip to move up on the 12'4 poles.

I think raising 4" grip and moving up poles is asking for trouble. During the meet, when she is really truly blowing through the 12'4 pole and landing deep, I'd try 2" more of grip on the 13' pole. She was not blowing through at the end of that video.

[altius]

Unless she goes on to vault in college this is probably redundant - because any solution offered here for a meet in a week or so is a black magic solution because I dont think the problem is mental - it is definitely technical. However if she is going to continue vaulting there are a couple of things that could be fixed with time and effort - that would make an enormous difference to her performance -which incidentally is what??

. The first is that her plant is late - which is one of the causes of problems with take off. The initial swing to the chord of the pole is good but the major issue is that she stays far too long with her trunk parallel with the ground - her feet go up but the shoulders are not instantly driven back towards the pad so she never gets into position to drive the hips vertically. Instead the whole lower body is driven into the bar - which is incidentally a bungy not a hard bar that you say causes the problem. With the trunk position maintained like that the feet/legs hip can only be driven towards the bar and not over it.

She does run quickly but could improve the structure and rhythm - if she goes on vaulting - hope she can and does!!! Good luck - it may still come good on the day!!

[jam354]

Agreed. I definately see all those things. She is not vaulting next year so this last meet is it. What I am hoping to fix, however unlikely it may be, is that all the technical flaws in the video get considerably worse when a bar goes up. This past weekend, she honestly looked like wine of the better vaulters during warm ups and there were a few 12 footers there. Then the bar goes up and she never covers the pole or drives her shoulders down. In my opinion, she is an 11 ft vaulter with her current technique, but has only jumped 10. I know it's probably too late, but just hoping for the best after such a devastating injury.

[rainbowgirl28]

Agreed. I definately see all those things. She is not vaulting next year so this last meet is it. What I am hoping to fix, however unlikely it may be, is that all the technical flaws in the video get considerably worse when a bar goes up. This past weekend, she honestly looked like wine of the better vaulters during warm ups and there were a few 12 footers there. Then the bar goes up and she never covers the pole or drives her shoulders down. In my opinion, she is an 11 ft vaulter with her current technique, but has only jumped 10. I know it's probably too late, but just hoping for the best after such a devastating injury.

Do you ever practice with a crossbar in practice?

[jam354]

Lately I have been only putting bars up rather then bungees. She does the same thing at practice with a bar. I,ve even been putting bars at real low heights to try and just jump freely with a bar present.

Again, I know that she has many flaws that are leading to problems but the problems seem to expand with a bar. In other words, if I was able to sneak a bar in at the last second of a warm up jump she would be jumping higher than 10 ft

[altius]

I sympathise old son, nothing worse that knowing the problems -understanding and trying the solutions - and yet nothing works. Been there done that as the saying goes -many a time!!!! If you or someone else does come up with even a partial solution in time I would like to know what it was. Good luck - just continue to enjoy the joy of coaching!!!

[tsorenson]

Try putting up a bar at 10'6 or 11', with a bungee attached 2 feet higher. See if she can focus on trying to kick her feet over the high bungee. She may clear the bar in the process, or at least take her focal point higher in the air above the bar.

Good luck,
Tom

[73-vaulter]

Tom,
I like your idea. I will be trying the same.