Makes and Misses

MENTORS

By: Jose R. San MIguel

Growing up in Puerto Rico, in a loving family with amazing parents, I was surrounded by opportunities to become better, not because my family had the means (they did not), but because I never knew what we were lacking. My parents encouraged me to believe I could accomplish anything.

Like most kids on the island, I played many sports and was passionate about winning. Track and field gave me that opportunity. I was not the strongest, fastest, or best, but most failed to beat me.

Academically, I was not as accomplished. Lacking confidence in the classroom, I struggled for years and no one knew why. Tutors and special classes produced little improvement. My parents never gave up in their search to help me. Finally, I had the good fortune to meet Sr. Mendez when I was in sixth grade. Sr. Mendez noticed my dyslexia and taught me how to make sense of math. With this new skill, I felt empowered and my outlook for the future changed. A year later I was accepted into Colegio San Jose, where I flourished academically and athletically from grades 7-12. What an amazing gift!

One day as a junior in high school, I saw a man in his sixties pole vaulting. I introduced myself and asked if I could try it. His name was Don Carlos Loubrier. He said 'no way' unless my father agreed, as the sport is very difficult. My father approved, I tried it, and was hooked.

Papa became a student of the event and coached me to a full scholarship at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. He believed that having excellent technique in every event could compensate for not being as tall or fast as other athletes. I spent hours studying film on an 8mm projector and a VCR. My father was hard core 100% of the time. With no room for excuses, my job was to perform at my best in every single practice, which was hard but it worked for me. As a senior in the PRHSAA Championships, I finished 1st in the pole vault and long jump, 2nd in the 110H and high jump, and 1st place in the Puerto Rico Junior Nationals decathlon.

My mom made sure I had balance in my life. She sat down with me daily to ensure my schoolwork was properly done and that I understood how to study for my tests. She instilled perseverance, the value of surrounding myself with good people, that hard work equals success, and to never quit regardless of the adversity. I graduated from high school with a 3.47 GPA, a huge accomplishment for me. Flying high, I intended to pursue my dream of becoming a physician. Imagine, Dr. Jose!

A few days after my high school graduation, I broke my wrist pole vaulting, and my athletic future was bleak. I went on to college, unable to jump until November of my freshman year. My strength and speed improved, but I did not connect well with the pole vault coach. Seeing this, my father went on a mission to find the best coach in Puerto Rico.

He quickly figured out that the most knowledgeable person was Cristobal Lago. Don Lago had coached every Puerto Rican Olympian, since 1946 including Rolando Cruz who finished 4th at the Rome Olympics. He coached at four Olympiads!

Don Lago no longer trained athletes and was soon to retire from being the Postmaster General for the United States Postal Service in Puerto Rico. My dad went to see him, explained my situation, and he agreed to meet me.

Don Lago was in his seventies at the time, kind, giving, super proud, and full of pole vault knowledge. He refused to train me until I was able to do ten muscle ups on a high bar. I was ready. He took me to the Sixto Escobar Stadium in San Juan, where we had to climb a 15’ cement and iron fence to enter. In that first practice, he told me that he expected me to be at the stadium every Sunday at 10 am, a 2.5 hour drive from my college dorm; he required me to give my all, no excuses; to trust him and his process; and to win the university championships four months later. We shook hands and began.

At that time in Puerto Rico, my generation of pole vaulters wanted to do it the newfangled way, and thought Don Lago was behind the times. Not me. I completely trusted him. When he saw me being hesitant, he always instructed me to coge mas vara, grip up on a bigger pole. I was going to get over the bar one way or the other and have the confidence to do it. We trained in the rain, the heat, into a head wind by the ocean, and we prepared for every circumstance.

As a 20-year-old, I did not understand the magnitude of Don Lago’s influence in my life. He was like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid.

In 1986 at Sixto Escobar Stadium in Puerto Rico with my mother Carmen and Don Lago behind us.

Don Lago gave me his best and I was fortunate to have him as a coach, friend, and mentor. He taught me to be a good person and to respect my competitors. He gave me his time and knowledge and in return, I gave him my best. Don Lago never accepted money for coaching me. I eventually left the island to pole vault at the University of Tennessee, which I know hurt him, but he never stopped caring for me.

At UT, my next mentor stepped into my life, Olympic gold medal coach Jim Bemiller. At the time he was a 25-year-old graduate student who had been appointed the pole vault coach for the NCAA championship team that had no pole vaulters. Jim quickly earned our trust, trained us really hard and we all made big improvements in our first year – over 1’ each. We ran and lifted alot, and did some unnecessary stuff like 10-meter platform cannonball diving at the aquatic center. But we became a team that achieved great results. We believed in Jim, and he believed in us. We set the foundation for the amazing pole vault history that Tennessee established during Jim’s tenure that will never be duplicated, including 7 vaulters in the SEC Top 10, Olympic silver and Olympic gold medals. More importantly, I met my wife at Tennessee. Although difficult to leave Puerto Rico, it was the right decision for me.

When I failed to make the 1988 Olympic team, I was done with track and field. That same year, it was a great honor when Don Lago asked me to escort him to his induction into the Pabellon de la Fama del Deporte Puerto Rico, the sports hall of fame in Puerto Rico.

For 21 years, I wanted nothing to do with the sport. But in the fall of 2009, my oldest son came home from high school and said he had joined the track team as a freshman pole vaulter. The school did not have a vault coach but he would be coached by other student vaulters. I could not allow that to happen. Overnight I became Coach Jose, with all my mentors’ lessons imbued in me.

I never expected to be a coach. I had plenty of bad coaches in my life, but they also taught me who not to be, and what not to do. I was fortunate to have my parents, Sr. Mendez, Don Lago, and Jim Bemiller to guide me. I never became a doctor or an Olympian. But the journey has served me well.

Every year as athletes come through our doors, I wonder how their lives will turn out, and what their contributions to the world will be. I hope the lessons learned during the time we work together will serve them well, particularly in the difficult days that they may face. I wonder if I influence them as my mentors influenced me.

Pole vaulting is not just about the bars we clear, but about how we handle ourselves in victory and failure; what we do to get up when we fall; and how to persevere until we succeed.

As coaches, we have the privilege and opportunity to impact so many we come in contact with. We know how to get them to jump higher and become better athletes. We also need to focus on them as human beings. More than a state or national title, my aim as a coach is for our athletes to leave us with strong moral fiber and the intention to give to life and not take from it.