Never Surrender, A Recipe for Success

By Jose R. San Miguel

This is the athletic story of Sofia San Miguel, an average high school and collegiate pole vaulter who decided to re-write her personal history. Two years after her college career ended, while working a full-time job, and coaching part-time at a local high school, in the midst of the pandemic, Sofia achieved her highest heights yet.

The most valuable bench warmer on her middle school basketball team, Sofia practiced hard, but seldom played. Not because she was not athletic, but because of the politics of coaches playing their friends’ kids. When Sofia was on the court, she scored.

As a father, I was furious and vocal about the lack of rotating players in a middle school game. Whether the team was winning or losing by twenty points, the same five played. One day, my daughter was finally on the court, but three other athletes were being denied play time when there was no chance of victory. I started to chant from across the gym, “Play the bench! Play the bench!” With that, we knew the end of Sofia’s basketball career was eminent. I was thrilled! But she did not want to be a pole vaulter.

In the early years of Pole Vault Carolina, we had a pit in our backyard and a handful of vaulters training with us. It was an excellent group! In 2012, three of our five vaulters made it to New Balance Nationals Indoors and Outdoors, including Harrison Booth, a 5th place finisher who was our first non-family member vaulter; our first New Balance medalist; and our first college recruit. Harrison convinced Sofia to join practice.

As a freshman, Sofia jumped 9’6” before breaking her ankle while competing in the 100H. She fell on the first hurdle, got up, and cleared the next nine on her injured right leg. I raced alongside, yelling for her to stop. I was mad as hell and asked her why she didn’t. She said that I had always told her to finish the race. With her ankle broken in three places, I knew then Sofia had the fierce competitiveness it takes to be a pole vaulter.

When she recovered, we worked on reinforcing her strengths and improving her weaknesses. Sofia jumped on big poles for a high school girl, 13’ 165, about 30 pounds over her weight, because she was fast and had an awesome takeoff. She attended private sessions at a gymnastics club to learn to kip and swing over the high bar. Even though her hands dripped blood, she was not able to master it, nor how to do a proper back roll. But, she tried.

In 2014, Sofia represented Puerto Rico in the Central American and Caribbean Junior Games placing fourth, and became the third pole vaulter in the family to compete for Puerto Rico. She finished high school with a PR of 11’6 tying for first place at the 2015 NCHSAA Indoor State Championships. Another injury ended her outdoor season, but not before she was given a walk-on spot at Appalachian State University. Perseverance paid off.

Three months after Sofia started at App, Pole Vault Carolina moved to an indoor facility, and attracted a new generation of vaulters. They accomplished great things using our new set-up, with 100+ poles, and equipment that Sofia and the others before her never had while in high school. Quickly, Sofia’s name was erased from the top 5 lists for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It was painful to watch as a father; as a coach it was thrilling to see the new vaulters benefit from what we now had.

Sofia’s college career was as challenging as her high school one. Her coach changed her running mechanics and removed a skip at the start of her run, which resulted in many practices filled with run throughs and frustrations. She did not PR until her first meet of her junior year, after her coach agreed to let her go back to her high school run and skip. Imagine attending practice 5 days a week for 22 months - about 260 jumping practices with 15 jumps per practice equates to over 3,900 jumps without improvement at the bar! But Sofia was intent on working through the issues. She finished 4th at the Sunbelt Conference meet that spring. A concussion in the outdoor season of her senior year abruptly ended her collegiate career with a PR of 12’2.25”, an 8.25” improvement in four years’ time. Commitment.

Sofia was not done. After healing from the concussion and adjusting to her full-time job, she came up with a plan to pole vault our way - BTTW. Yes, Balls to the Wall.

She hired a personal trainer to bolster her strength and speed. Improving her diet, she transformed her body. She took the humbling route of returning to train at the club with a group of talented teenagers who out-jumped and out-drilled her daily. The path was not easy, but Sofia stayed the course.

In February of 2020, she tied her collegiate PR, and placed in the top three at several college / open meets. She jumped confidently. In mid-March 2020, we closed the club due to Covid-19 and quickly realized it would be a while before we could reopen. While most accepted the outcome of the cancelled season, Sofia ran hills in our neighborhood, lifted weights in the garage, and did drills with a stubbie until we reopened in June. The shutdown stoked her hunger and determination.

We set a goal of preparing for the 2020-21 season and planned to be ready to PR as soon as we were able to host meets. With the uncertainty of unattached athletes being allowed to compete in open meets, and colleges not hosting indoor meets, we knew she had to make every opportunity count.

Sofia competed at our facility, as well as at three college meets as an unattached athlete. In March, she won at the University of Mount Olive with a new personal best of 12’10”, and on May 16 she took on the field for the last competition of her season and won at North Carolina A&T with another PR of 12’11.5. Sofia is currently ranked #8 on Puerto Rico’s all-time list.

For some, jumping 12’11.5” is a piece of cake. For most, jumping a nine inch PR two years after finishing college and while working full time, is a rare feat.

If you have not accomplished your goals, don’t quit; you will always have regrets. Instead, recommit with a focus of enjoying the journey, the good days and the bad. Train with passion, and listen to your body. Eventually you will breakthrough.

In order to succeed in pole vault and life, you need to be committed, dedicated, and resilient. You also have to be patient in order to see the best of yourself come to fruition.

The next time life, a meet, a season, does not go as planned, re-group and re-start, but never quit. Your success is around the corner.

My daughter accomplished what many thought impossible for her. I, however, have no doubt that her greatest jumps lie ahead.