8 minute read
Antonio San Miguel His Own Way
By Adele San Miguel
Antonio San Miguel stepped onto the pole vault runway when he was 6 years old. It is our family business and he has grown up in the sport. There was a pole vault pit in the backyard at the time, with the grill parked nearby, so club athletes could warm their hands on cold winter days when their breath hung visibly in the air.
When he was a rising 7th grader, Antonio’s run and takeoff were text book. He took 2nd place at AAU Junior Olympics Nationals. Then the pandemic hit and isolation set in. A middle schooler who attended classes online, Antonio grew resentful at practices. He pulled up his hoodie, yanked the strings closed, and listened to his music. We reluctantly let him stay home and missed him at practice. He loved having the house to himself. At the age of thirteen, Antonio retired.
Antonio hung a long bag in the garage and started boxing. He did push-ups, thousands of them, with his feet on the weight bench and his hands gripping dumb bells on the ground. Antonio stopped worrying about the expectations that come from being the coach’s son and started figuring out who he is. Away from our watchful eyes, he built physical and mental strength.
Once away from the sport, Antonio started his own clothing brand. Cloud Divine Clothing was born of a need for affordable streetwear, clothing teenagers can buy with their part-time work money.
On his own, Antonio found a manufacturer in Pakistan, built a website, added Shopify, and used his own money to buy a label maker. He booked four brand deals with up-and-coming music artists. Antonio organized photo shoots and dropped 5 lines of clothing and accessories. His brand is now available on Amazon. Antonio is our third child and by this time, we had figured out how to let go. Antonio knows how to follow his own inner guide; our job is support and encouragement.
Still, ours is a family that values sport. It’s not about the wins, but about what is learned through adversity, challenging oneself, and learning to be coachable. In the summer of 2022, Pole Vault Carolina hosted a decathlon and Antonio participated. He jumped his PR in the pole vault after two years away and exuberantly ripped off his tank top after the 1500m, feeling a strong sense of accomplishment.
In April 2023, a spring break trip to Puerto Rico got Antonio in touch with his raices (roots). He asked if he could compete for Puerto Rico like his siblings, Jose and Sofia, did.
We returned to Puerto Rico in early June for nacionales. On a day with excessive heat warnings, at a lovely track nestled in the Cordillera Central mountains at the Universidad Ana G Mendez, Antonio won the U20 and U18 event in the pole vault with a jump of 4.05m.
The joy of the day came from the confidence Antonio acquired. We interviewed Antonio for TAKEOFF the same way we interviewed Jenn and Rick Suhr, Hana and Amanda Moll, and Harrison Williams, except in our case, Antonio was upstairs in the bonus room and I was at the dining room table.
TAKEOFF: Tell us about your experience at Puerto Rican Nationals.
Antonio: This was my first time competing outside of the U.S. and my first time competing in Puerto Rico. At every meet I’ve ever been to, I’ve at least known one person there. I didn’t know anyone on that runway. I enjoyed that meet because of the overall vibe and the atmosphere. It wasn’t stressful. Everyone was laughing and having a good time.
TAKEOFF: How was the meet different than a meet in the States?
Antonio: So unfortunately, the liveliness of the big meets has gone down. There’s not as much turn up from people and they aren’t cheering as much. It also feels more stressful because you’ll see some coaches yelling mad and kids crying. It’s a lot of commotion. Granted, the sprinting events happened elsewhere, but there were track and other field events happening. I didn’t see a single person cry. Everyone was having a good time even though it was almost a hundred degrees there.
TAKEOFF: You competed for la patria (mother country). Your father competed in this same event. What did that mean to you?
Antonio: In the moment I didn’t feel any different. But afterwards, once everyone was congratulating me and his old teammates came up to talk to me about it, I was like, oh, so this is a big deal.
TAKEOFF: What has your season been like up until now?
Antonio: It wasn’t until recently that I became hungry and started taking this more seriously. It’s been weird because at the home meets, I have struggled, and at the away meets, I’ve excelled. I think I’m learning more about what my best environment is to compete in and that I like going to other meets because I tend to do better under a little bit of pressure. This is also my first few months really back into it, so it is interesting seeing the progress.
TAKEOFF: You took a long break during the pandemic…
Antonio: I did. But even before the pandemic, I had mentally checked out. I was ready to be done. I had lost interest. I had been around the sport a lot and when you’re 13, a lot of you changes as a person, but also how you see everything changes. I didn’t want to be around pole vault at all. I just went for something that I thought I would enjoy and picked up boxing.
I transferred the boxing mindset over to pole vaulting when I started training again, meaning that I don’t care how big the pole is, I’m going to be aggressive. If you analyze my jump, my run and my takeoff is aggressive. I’m trying to crush every single pole, so I’m not scared of going on big poles.
That’s why I’ve been able to progress without a good swing, or a good turn. I’m actually happy I took that break because it allowed me to develop a different mindset. I’m not scared of trying something new. I told Coach, put me on the biggest pole you want me on. Let’s go.
TAKEOFF: What was the process of coming back for you?
Antonio: Over 50 people tried to talk me back into pole vault, and I blew them off, because I wasn’t ready. The process of coming back was, first, I got dragged to the track because Pole Vault Carolina hosted a decathlon and y’all had told me I was competing. I didn’t know where my step was and I didn’t know what pole to use and I jumped my personal best of 10’6 after not having jumped in over two years.
Then, Jackson Millet of Mt. Pleasant Track Club encourged me to jump at a meet, We had competed together years before. I was the DJ at the meet. I put down my headphones and picked up a pole, PR’ing by one and a half feet.
At that point I had to admit to myself that maybe I know what I’m doing. I took another break and then heard about the nationals meets and I wanted a new backpack because my old one was starting to break. It was fun for me again, so I just kept going.
TAKEOFF: What exercises were you doing for boxing that benefited you in the pole vault?
Antonio: The bag work helped my cardio and I did excessive amounts of push-ups which helped my plant. I was just able to translate boxing to pole vault, which is weird because they look like two completely different sports. Boxing is a combat sport and pole vaulting is a combat sport with yourself. Some vaulters mess up a jump and think they are terrible and have to fight with themselves to believe they can be good. I just transferred the mentality from boxing, where I have to beat another person, to pole vault where I have to beat the bar. Boxing did help me physically, but it really made a difference for me mentally.
TAKEOFF: What would you like TAKEOFF readers to know about your pole vault journey?
Antonio: Just because you lose interest in something doesn’t mean that it’s gone forever. You can come back around to it. Now I’m like, let’s go to all the meets.
Don’t give up on something just because you hate it. It’s okay to take a break. Pole vaulting is one of the hardest sports, because it is full body, and it’s mental. Once you get mentally exhausted of something, it is super hard to do it. You can come back way better than you were before because the break gives you time to get mentally fit.
TAKEOFF: What’s next for you?
Antonio: Right now, I’m just waiting for the call to represent Puerto Rico in some meets.
TAKEOFF: And what is your goal as a pole vaulter?
Antonio: To represent my country and crush my next pole. I don’t have intentions of going to the Olympics. if the opportunity came about, obviously I would take it. My intention is to represent my country well. I am doing this for the pride of being Puerto Rican.
TAKEOFF: Thank you for your time, Antonio!
Antonio: You got it. I’ll see you downstairs in a minute.
