Coaching “advanced” Pole Vaulters Brandon Bangel Whiteland Community High School coachbangel@gmail.com
What do we mean by “Advanced”? • A few characteristics of advanced pole vaulters: – 1. Already has an established and consistent approach – 2. Already knows how to bend the pole – 3. Gets “inverted” or at least gets hips higher than shoulders on jumps – 4. Can jump at their hand hold or higher – Note: I am going to be speaking like I am coaching a right handed pole vaulter.
Coaching can make the difference • A good athlete can become a “good” vaulter without much help from coaches. To become great they almost always need help. • Here are the most important aspects of coaching an advanced vaulter: • 1. Diagnose the issue • 2. Explain/show them the mistakes they are making • 3. Provide drills to correct the mistakes • 4. Find different ways to address the issues until they get it fixed
5 Phases of the vault • 1- Approach (or run) – Consistent, fast, controlled • 2. Take off – Tall, good posture and body position • 3. Drive phase – Keep left leg back, pole away from body and face • 4. Swing – Quick movement to get upside down • 5. Bar clearance – Awareness of bar, throw pole “away”
A few coaching tips • Start from the “back” of the vault and work your way forward. – Most mistakes in vault are actually caused by doing something incorrect in the previous phase. • Slow things down for your athletes (when possible) if they are making the same mistakes. • Research, study, and ask for help from more experienced coaches (no one has all the answers). • Video tape as much as possible and share with athletes. • Understand that each athlete is different and needs to be coached that way. • Don’t be afraid to ask others for help – Track coaches are usually very good about helping if you ask!
Common problems with the approach • 1. Inconsistent start to the approach – From my experience this is the most likely time for vaulters to be inconsistent on their approach. – If they are off at the beginning it will throw off the rest of the run. • 2. Gallop (long) step when lifting the pole. – Sometimes this is hard to see but it happens often with vaulters of all levels. • 3. Long last step (being under on take-off) – Very common among vaulters/long jumpers – Try to break this habit early instead of fixing it later
Drills to fix the first two steps • 1. Do barrier run drills to emphasis the importance of “pushing” out of the back. – Place 3” to 6” hurdlers 5 or 6 feet apart and have athletes practice beginning their approach over the barriers (as seen on next video) • 2. Have athletes check each others first step to make sure that it is consistent on each approach. – Simply have other athletes watch and place a mark where their first step hits. They should be very consistent each time they begin their approach on this mark.
“Gallop” step when lifting the pole • The first thing I would say is to watch the vaulters left hand when they lift the pole. • Many times when they begin to lift their right hand they will also start to lift their left at the same time. • When this happens it has a tendency to slow down the lift and vaulters take a long step. • Their left hand does not actually lift until the last right step of the approach. • If the left hand lifts too early the pole tip will actually stop its drop momentarily and throw the run off. • The next two slides will show drills to help fix this issue.
Correcting the long last step • Again I think it is best to try to break this habit early instead of fixing it later. • The first thing we do to try to fix their long last step is to place foam just in front of their take-off mark. • Another drill is to place barriers a set distance apart and make the last barrier 1’ shorter than the rest. This forces athletes to shorten last stride. • Really focus on keeping their last stride short on all of your slide box and approach drills.
Common mistakes with Take-off • 1. The most common mistake with take-off is that athletes are “under” and can be fixed with drills mentioned before. • 2. The next most common issue is athletes not having their hands high and keeping their left leg back. – We use the “Jan Johnson” drill to fix this issue. • 3. A third issue at take-off may simply be the strength of the athlete. – I will show a variety of exercises we use at the end of the presentation to help build specific strength for pole vaulters.
Common Issues with Drive Phase • There are two major issues that can occur during the drive phase: – 1. Incorrect body position • Jan Johnson Drills will help get them in correct position. – 2. Attempting to swing up too early or not holding the drive phase long enough. • We will commonly use flag drills to force the athletes to stay in take off position longer than needed.
Common Issues with the swing • 1. Starting the swing too early – Use flag and Jan Johnson Drills to help • 2. Not keeping left leg long – Usually caused by bad take-off position – Leg Drags can be helpful – Tell athletes to “kick from the hip” • 3. Swinging sideways or getting off balance – Make sure take-off is not off balance – “pulling” with the left hand can also cause this issue • 4. Not getting completely inverted – Most common issue with vaulters – I believe it is the most difficult issue to fix in the vault – We tell our athletes to finish the top of every vault in practice
Drills to help get inverted • Rockbacks • Jump with standards as far forward as legal – This forces athletes to swing quickly • Do anything the helps athletes feel more comfortable upside-down – Many athletes simply do not know what being inverted really feels like
Common Issues with the finish • 1. Athlete “drops” their feet into bar once they start to turn. • 2. Athlete simply does not turn at all (common with girls). • 3. Poor bar awareness • 4. Does not “throw” pole away or consistently knocks crossbar off with pole.
Tips to improve finish • Note- I believe the top of the vault is the hardest part to work on because everything else has to be done correctly to get to this point. • 1. Tell your athletes to finish every jump in practice. • 2. We tell our athletes to “keep their hands active” the entire time…. Don’t just hold onto pole. • 3. If athletes are having issues turning once they get inverted tell them to take their right hand to their right hips. (this should initiate the turn) • 4. Straight pole attempts off of a box can really help the finish because the athletes can feel when they are doing it right….. And they get more attempts!
Core strength/lifting for vaulters • Clean and Jerk • Snatch • Power cleans • Core: – Glute ham raises, fireouts, back extension – Fish out of water (obliques) – Rock backs (on pull-up bar) – Rockies (think Rocky IV) – There are a million exercises out there….. Change it up!
More recommend
