PoleVaultPower.com

The link has a video of one of my vaults at 4.45m. I was using a 14' 7'' 160 pole gripping around 13'9''. My run is 6 lefts from about 76'. I was just looking for some advice or drills that I could work on to improve my plant. I usually get yanked at the take-off to the point where at some practices I can't even take up a vault on my smallest pole. I've been working with my coach on trying to keep my hips back as soon as I leave the ground as well as getting my step on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOXg0RNjbmQ

Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Pawel

You are starting your plant more or less on time, but your hands move slowly when you plant, and your pole tip is too low before you initiate your plant motion. The result of these two issues is that you will tend to be unable to get the hands all the way before takeoff, and you will always decelerate while you plant.

So:
1. Keep the pole thip higher for longer. Start with the pole very near vertical at the back of the run, and try to wait until you cross your mid before letting the tip drop. The pole tip should not cross eye level until you intiate your plant motion.

2. Practice your plant in slow motion, and slowly add more steps and more speed. The key for you is that your right hand should be OVER your head when you step with the right foot (your penultimate). In your video, the right hand is still near your shoulder when you're on your penultimate. Read this http://artofthevault.com/the-plant-simplified-and-specified/ and watch the videos. The high school girl in these videos does the drill almost perfectly.

Remember to be aggressive with your plant motion, and do not let your hands hesitate when you begin to plant.

Since indoor season is coming up and im beyond excited, I wanted to just get some more advice and ideas on what to work on. I'm just adding onto my old post just to keep from cluttering the forum. The link has a video of my last meet of last outdoor season (because of bad weather, we were moved indoors). The height was 15'4" (4.68m). My approach was 6 lefts from about 77'. The pole that I was using was a 15' 160 gripping around 14'6". Clearly one of my biggest issues has to do with penetration but any advice or training tips are welcome. Also I have been working on improving my plant and compared to the last video on this thread i think my pole positioning has gotten better. Sorry for the shakey camera work as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0JRrgkM ... aYWwFI9zFg

Thanks,
Pawel

You need to drive your top had up more at the takeoff....I see the end of the pole facing toward the ground at takeoff and that tells me you need to move your top hand more

Your inversion looks completely different in the 15"4" jump compared to the others. Your low plant angle coupled with quickly tucking appears to leave you well short of the coaches box and nearly in the plant box.

In the jumps in the lower height jumps, you use a long swing leg and continue to put energy into the pole. The result of that is landing deep in the pit.

It appears that you haven't used coach Eric's three step plant drills to synchronize your arms with your feet. The drills are a must. Good luck.

Another thing you might want to focus on is to try to keep the left hand in front of the sternum as the pole tip drops. Notice how left hand goes lower and lower from your third left out. As the pole tip drops so does your left hand where at it's lowest point is around your waste line or so. It leaves you in a position of "no power" at the plant which in turn leaves you not getting into the pit. If you keep the left hand closer to sternum height then it might make it easier to accomplish what the other coaches are recommending. I'm not saying that that is the total fix but if you can not lower that left hand it will help.