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contents FROM THE EDITOR
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East Ridge Raptors
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USF Offers Unique Athletic Opportunities
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Maggie Vaults Over the Moon
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Wapanucka Indians Shock the Competition
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Last Call – Gotta Run + An Athlete’s Story!
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28 Happy Life for Joe Johnston
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Photo by Paul Heckel, LitStudios
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FROM THE EDITOR Our final issue of 2012 brings an exciting development in the pole vaulting circle. Grant Overstake, Former Miami Herald Sports Writer and a lifelong participant in the sport of track and field, has created his first work of sports fictiona novel titled Maggie Vaults Over the Moon. This novel is an endearing and inspiring story, and one worth taking a look at for any athlete. Once you read the information and some reviews we collected, you will want to pick up a copy. Maggie is a character you can’t help but fall in love with. The very unique University of Sioux Falls is our featured college this month. With a staff that has over 60 years of combined experience and extreme focus on faith and character in addition to athletic training, the USF vaulters are doing great things. Especially if you are a young vaulter ready to head to college, you will be amazed at the success of the Sioux Falls program. We have two high schools included this December. The small, but strong Wapanucka High School is one of them.
They are competing very well and gaining notice from their rivals. With the limited resources they have, this small school has managed to accomplish so much through dedication and hard work. Coach Robert McDonald gives his all to his team, and thanks to him they know the right
example to follow to success. It is truly shocking what they are up to and you must read it for yourself.
The up-and-coming East Ridge High School is the other high school we bring to you in this issue. Coach Mark Haesly sees potential in his 4 year old program and expects to see much growth very soon. With
the success they are having it looks like his hopes will be realized in the near future. He is working hard to prepare his vaulters for life’s obstacles as well as athletic ones. Make sure to take a look at what they are accomplishing.
A very bright and motivated young woman is included in this issue as well. Newcomer to the pole vault Kat Majester recently competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials and has been busy ever since. Not only has she stepped up her vaulting, but she has made huge strides in her education and her professional life. Majester is also living out a dream of hers by joining the Atlanta Falcon’s cheer squad. Not many people can juggle all that she has been taking on recently, but she has a wonderful attitude and shows no signs of stopping. We hope you enjoy the last of our 2012 magazines. The New Year promises to bring many more good reads so we hope you will keep joining us. See you in 2013 and we hope you are enjoying your holiday season. Editor Doug Bouma
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East Ridge Raptors are Prepared Well for the Vault and for Life By: Michelle Walthall
In sports there are many life As a pole vaulter, the lessons to be learned. While crossbar is your obstacle training in whatever sport, an when you take off to jump over athlete is not only preparing it. In life there will be many for competition, but for many obstacles you face. As you seasons of life. Of course the life pursue your life the obstacles lessons must be allowed to sink in your life will get harder and in if they are going to be of any higher as the crossbar does in value. Good coaches try their vaulting. It will be up to you to best to apply this thinking in Allen Swenson talking their coaching. with Coach Mark Haesly This month’s featured high school happens to have a pole vault coach that does just this. And the usefulness of adopting this type of thinking is evident in his long career and success with his current team. The first quote we got from this coach, conquer your obstacles, or your which wonderfully states the obstacles will conquer you. above philosophy, is as follows: Pole vaulting isn’t easy, and life isn’t easy. You need to believe “I have dedicated my life to in yourself so you can become pole vaulting and, as a coach, I successful in life. Conquer your am more concerned about my obstacles for success.” vaulters learning the following:
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The above quote is from Coach Mark Haesly- the pole vault coach at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota. He is truly a coach that means what he said in the wise words above. Coach Haesly is the only pole vault coach for the boys and girls at ERHS. He is a very experienced vaulter with an obvious passion for the sport. This longtime coach has plenty of wisdom when it comes to vaulting and the ERHS vaulters are fortunate enough to be coached with it.
“I started th vaulting in the 5 grade by making my own runway, pit, crossbar and standards. I vaulted with a tree branch. I vaulted at Winona Junior High School, Winona Senior High School and, after 2 ½ years in the Navy, I started vaulting
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Sectional Meet and qualified for State. He is the first East Ridge boy vaulter to qualify for State. He holds the school record. I see Allen this season jumping 14’6” with some good attempts at 15’. He wants to vault for UWMadison. He has learned the mechanics of pole vaulting and has learned through his injuries what it takes to train hard to be a successful vaulter.”
“My best girl vaulter is Sara Press. She is a senior and has been vaulting for 4 years. Her best jump last year was 8’6”. I see her jumping 9’6” this season. She took 8th place at the Sections last year. The girls’ current record holder is Leah Robinette. She vaulted 9’1”. Sara has learned what it takes to vault to her potential and is a student of the vault.”
The order of the season for ERHS shapes up like this: “The last meet of the season is the Conference Championship. The next is the Sectionals. You have to place 1st or 2nd to qualify for State or vault the state qualifying standard. The final is the State Championships,” says Coach Haesly. The East Ridge Raptors are offered plenty of preparation and training time for these big competitions too. Since they are staying so competitive with established programs, the training shows. They have
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quite a bit going on during the off-season. Coach Haesly says, “I conduct a summer pole vault camp. It is offered for 6th grade and higher. This is a free camp.” The winter season is not forgotten either. We are also told by Coach Haesly: “Some of my vaulters vault in the winter at University of WisconsinRiver Falls Pole Vault Clinic.” One advantage to ERHS being newer is having topnotch equipment and facilities. “All of our equipment is brand new,” says Coach Haesly. “I have a Gill Collegiate Pit and National Pole Vault Standards. I have 36 poles: Pacer FX, Skypoles and Mystic Poles. I have climbing ropes, rings, a swing up invert device and a pull and turn trainer. Also we have use of the gymnastics room at the high school.”
Coach Haesly and the Raptors have something wonderful in the works. With such experienced coaching, the off-season training, the rapidly growing area and the talented athletes hopefully we will see more success for the Raptor vaulters. Learning to apply the life lessons that Coach Haesly is trying to teach them will surely help these young athletes have much success out in the world outside of sports as well. Good luck to this young program, and we wish you much growth and success.
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Sara Press
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Allen Swenson
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USF Offers Unique, Faith-Based Athletic Opportunities By: Michelle Walthall
The world of athletics has more to it than just doing well in a sport. Athletics, and more specifically pole vaulting, must have talent combined with character. Or at least Coach Reid Ehrisman, now Director of Track and Field and Cross Country of Sprints and Relays for the University of Sioux Falls, seems to think so. He says this of what it takes to be a pole vaulter in his program: “When we look at recruits we obviously look at what they have jumped in high school, as well as their athletic ability, and just as important is the character of the recruit. We believe that the success of our program lies within the character and values of the athletes that are a part of it. We want people in our program that will work hard and are dedicated to reaching their full potential as track athletes, and at the same time contribute to a positive team community. It is important to us as coaches to continue to foster character development through their experiences as athletes within our program.”
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A unique aspect of the University of Sioux Falls, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is its faith-based training and education. “USF is a private Christian college Brian Schenavar
which allows for some very unique opportunities. All of our coaches value the Christian aspect of the university and is an important part of our track program,” says Coach Ehrisman. “We believe that track and
field can provide avenues for growing in relationship with Jesus Christ. Throughout the last five years, we have coined the phrase that ‘at the end of the day this has to be about something more than running, jumping and throwing’. We want to take our vaulters to the highest level possible, but in doing so we keep in perspective that we have been blessed by God with abilities and opportunities that others do not have, and that in all we do we want to glorify Him. If it is only about success and nothing else, it can leave one feeling empty after their vault career is over. We want our vaulters to be part of a team community that leaves them feeling cared for and having cherished memories with teammates, as well as experiencing the love that Christ has for them through the peaks and valleys that the pole vault presents.” The coaches heading up the track and field team of USF are Gene Brooks, Chad Aurich and, of course, Reid Ehrisman who
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Coach Ehrisman, before becoming the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country of Sprints and Relays for the University of Sioux Falls, attended Concordia University (as did Coach Brooks) from 2000 to 2005. His personal best is 16’1� and he is a 6-time National qualifier. Chelsey Schenavar
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Concordia University is also where Coach Ehrisman started his coaching career in 2005. He coached 7 AllAmericans in the pole vault as a graduate assistant in the pole vault until he left in 2007. USF received Coach Ehrisman as the Assistant Track coach of Pole Vault in 2007 and in that
position he coached 34 National qualifications in the pole vault, 15 All-Americans in the pole vault, 7 National runner-ups in the pole vault and coached 2 National Championships.
The USF Cougars have certainly benefited from the credentials listed above. The
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program has flourished and Coach Ehrisman has much to say about it. Here is what he has to say about the history of the program and the success they are having: “In 2007 my former pole vault coach and, at the time, the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at the University of Sioux Falls, Gene Brooks, offered me a stipend position as the pole vault coach.“
At this time the track program, along with the vault program, were not competitive at the National or Conference levels. There were about 40 athletes on the team and five vaulters. The best female vaulter at that time was a freshman, and she had jumped 9’, and our best male jumper was a sophomore, who had transferred to USF, and had jumped 14’9”. The women’s school record was 9’ and the men’s school record was 14’. In the history of the track program at USF there had never been a Conference Champion, nor any All-Americans, not even a National qualifier. This was all about to change! The administration at USF decided to make an investment in the track program at USF. They decided to build a track, which in the 125 year history of USF, it has never had. They completed
the 10-lane Tartan track in the fall of 2007, which included four pole vault boxes. Along with building the track, they invested in hiring more coaches and increasing operational budget and scholarships.
In the summer of 2008, I was hired as a full-time coach at USF. My only coaching responsibility was the pole vault, but I had other administrative duties with the track program which included Recruiting Coordinator for Track and Cross Country. It was a very unique situation, due to the fact that the head coach was a former vaulter and vault coach and I was a full-time coach who was also a vaulter in college with the sole coaching responsibility of coaching the pole vault. This was a recipe for success.
Since 2008, our vault program has had eleven Conference Championships, eight Conference runner-ups and forty-four All-Conference performers (top 8). Our women vaulters have won every Conference Championship (indoor and outdoor) since the 2009 Indoor Championships and our men vaulter’s have won every men’s’ Conference Championship (indoor and outdoor) since the 2009 Outdoor Championships. Brigitte and Kayla set the
Conference record, Brigitte the indoor record and Kayla the outdoor record. At the National level, since 2008, we have had two National Championships, seven National runner-ups, fifteen All-Americans, and thirty-four qualifications for the National Meet.
This past summer Gene was promoted to the Vice President of Student Services and Athletes. With his promotion, I too was promoted to the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. With these change in positions, we felt it would not be suitable for me to continue coaching the pole vault for a variety of reasons, with one of those being because I would not be able to give due diligence to the vault program. We felt like we needed someone that could focus on coaching just the pole vault and would continue to grow the program and its success. With this in mind we hired former vaulter and graduate assistant, Chad Aurich. This is such a unique coaching situation that has developed over the last six years. We have three coaches on our staff that have over sixty years of combined experience as a either a vaulter and/or vault coach. In our vault program, we currently have 17 vaulters, 7
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year as full participants in the NCAA Division II and members of the NSIC (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference). USF underwent a three year transition period from the NAIA and members of the GPAC (Great Plains Athletic Conference). In the third year of the three year process (which was last year) USF athletics were not allowed to participate in post-season
competition or Conference Championships. Due to this, several of our top vaulters chose to redshirt (Brian Schenavar, Andrew Ellsworth, Brigitte Gross, Kayla Coffee) which would allow them another year to compete in the NCAA and the NSIC. This year we will look to take vaulters to the DII National Championships as well as other highly prestigious meets such
as the Husker Invite, Kansas Relays and Drake Relays.�
Here is what Coach Ehrisman says about the training schedule for the Cougar team: “We begin our training early in the fall, usually the second week in September. We are limited in the fall to what we can do and how long we can practice each week, because of NCAA rules.
All-Americans we have had in the last 5 years minus Brian Schenavar Brigitte Gross, Chelsey Schenavar, Kayla Coffee, Andrew Ellsworth, Samantha Koch
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past year, but decided it would be a little safer if we flew. Flying left us with fewer stories but a shorter and safer trip.”
Dustin DeLeo
There have also been exciting events on the personal level for the Cougars. Coach Ehrisman tells us, “We have had a string of marriages amongst vaulters over the past two years. Two summers ago, we had two vaulters get married; Kayla (Friesen) Coffee married a former USF vaulter, Caleb Coffee. This past summer we had two more weddings that consisted of current vaulters in our program. Chelsey (Pflipsen) Schenavar was married to fellow teammate Brian Schenavar and Kristin (Killough) Majerus was married to one of our multi-eventers on our team, Taylor Majerus. Just this past weekend, Samantha Koch was engaged as well. So amongst our seventeen vaulters, we have one married couple and a total of five married or engaged vaulters.” It definitely is about more than just vaulting for the University of Sioux Falls. Their unique and wonderful atmosphere has created a talented and focused team. Good luck to the Cougars this season. May their faith and dedication keep them going strong.
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VAULTER
Front, left to right: Coach Chad Aurich, Coach Gene Brooks, Samantha Koch, Kat Sawtelle, Brigitte Gross, Sophie Harano, Kayla Coffee, Kristin Majerus, Mikenzie Nordeen, Katie Rutcosky, Courtney Crandall, Chelsey Schenavar, Coach Reid Ehrisman Back, left to right: Andrew Ellsworth, Jake Zebedee, Scott Greenman, Jagger Gran, Brandon Rogers, Jeremy Gorder
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December 2012 issue
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Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is a Must Read for Any Athlete By: Michelle Walthall
We just had to take time this month to feature, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, a novel that is creating quite a buzz andfrom receiving manyto high positive teele as she leaps personal tragedy ack and field! reviews. The novel, of course, has to do with the passion of our t novel chronicles the epic journey of a brave readers, which is pole vaulting, vaults herself but over big trouble all the way to this story is about much ggest track and field meet, the Kansas State more than that. It deals with many other aspects of life that can relate especially a rief and angrymany over the tragic andtopainful loss young athlete. ther and her boyfriend in the same accident,
ery Wears a Braid!”
or should - attempt to soar, alone. Maggie, is forced
umph Over Gravity!” Here are just a few of the
positive reviews Maggie is bringing in:
ISBN 9781478296874
A
reader’s
review on says, “Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is the
9 781478 296874 Amazon.com
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GRANT OVERSTAKE
to deal with incredible loss and she finds truggle to keep the family farm, Maggie must herself confronted with a future and purpose. While seeking deliverance, wonderful, yet unbelievable n amazing secret, a secret that, if she really opportunity. Maggie’s triumph unch her up-up and over her most difficult and over tragedy will make readers tances. feel that anything is possible portrayal of a teenager’s grief and thrilling to overcome. Maggiein its Vaults e awesome sport of pole vaulting, this is a Over the Moon is novel succeeding al, and totally uplifting read. in winning over the hearts of many.
Maggie Vaults Ov er the Moon
er broken heart into pole vaulting, an unlikely
Theto the main character rm girl. Maggie takes runway with bold in pushing herself higher athan others think thewaynovel, teenager named
Maggie Vaults Ov er the Moon
GRANT OVERSTAKE
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Shocker coaches Steve Rainbolt and Pat Wilson even make an appearance in Maggie Vaults Over the Moon. The two of them recruit Maggie to join the Missouri Valley Conference’s powerhouse women’s track team which winds up working out phenomenally. Overstake’s real life experience with the Shocker program helps to paint a very realistic picture of Maggie’s vaulting experience. 3-time Olympian, and founder of Bell Athletics, Earl Bell is the voice of the coach throughout the story and
really believes in the novel. Overstake says, “Earl told me at Doctoberfest that he thinks Maggie, the first novel ever written about the sport, will have a tremendous impact on the sport of pole-vaulting.”
“He is not a publicity seeker,” Overstake continues. “All he wanted from me was to be sure he received a signed copy of the book. That’s it. I’m forever in his debt. The fundamentals of his coaching technique and motivational philosophy are embedded in the book.”
The aspect of overcoming loss and grief is a huge theme in Maggie. Overstake takes this very seriously and did a lot of research to bring this very real human experience to life. Here is what he has to say about portraying what Maggie must overcome in a relatable way to the readers: “I sat down with a hospital chaplain and leader of a local spiritual community and he played the role of Grandma, collaborating with me, giving me the exact words to say to help Maggie deal with her grief and begin her healing process. I took what he said in our role Grant Plant Sunflower State Games
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The Small, but Mighty Wapanucka Indians Shock the Competition By: Michelle Walthall
Wapanucka High School, in Wapanucka, Oklahoma, is small, but certainly not forgettable. It’s not only their unique name that makes them stand out, but their ability to stay so dedicated. Their one and only coach, Robert McDonald succeeds in making success happen with very little. He gives his athletes a model of dedication to follow
so this team, with the Indian as their mascot, knows what it takes to do well. Coach McDonald tells us, “I have been coaching at Wapanucka for the past five years. Before that I coached at different schools in the area, helping with the pole vaulting only just as a part-time job. Five
years ago our school started a track program for the first time in history and I was lucky enough to be hired as the head track coach. My coaching career started off about 25 years ago at a Joe Dial Summer Camp. Since then, I have coached at several schools (with no pay, just doing it for the love of the sport) and
Wapanucka Vaulters. L-R Tyler Roe, Morgann Wilson, Coach McDonald, Brittany McDonald, and Charles Russell
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future, I am proud to have been able to start this program from the ground up. We have a small team, but we have exceeded expectations, and continue to wow others at meets, from our school and from the community.”
Not only does Coach McDonald dedicate his time to his own school, he spends his summers working with other vaulters from his community s well. “We jump year round,” says Coach McDonald. “The kids jump independently during the summer, but I still coach them. I also coach athletes from Sulpher and Marlow, Oklahoma during the summer.” Admittedly, Coach McDonald tells us he does not work alone. He readily tells us he has some much appreciated help. “I am the only coach, but get a lot of help from my unofficial assistant, my wife, Christy,” Coach McDonald continues. “She is there to make sure paper work gets done, entry fees get paid and photos get taken and coordinates with the athletes and parents.” And the work does not stop there. Yet more evidence that Coach McDonald is dedicated to his team is the fact that he opens up his home as the practice facility for his vaulters all year.
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He also goes further aboveand-beyond and takes the team to work with his own former coach so they have additional training. “Our school has no track facilities at all,” he says. “All vaulting is done at my home facility. We have both indoor and outdoor facilities, so we vault year round. We also travel to Oral Roberts University
(sophomore) and Morgann Wilson (freshman). Charles Russell graduated last year, but continues to train with us from time to time.” Coach McDonald is expecting these three to continue to do well for him. “This will be our first year to compete indoors and we are looking forward to a great season,” he says. “We
Brittany and Coach McDonald at the ORU Vaultober 2012 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at least once a month to train with Joe Dial, my former coach.” The opportunity to train with Jack Whitt is also another reason Coach McDonald takes his team to Oral Roberts University.
The vaulting team at WHS consists of three vaulters. Coach McDonald says this of his team: “We have three vaulters at the present time: Brittany McDonald (junior), Tyler Roe
had a successful 2012 season. Brittany and Charlie placed at every meet last season.”
Brittany McDonald happens to be Coach McDonald’s daughter and best female vaulter. She is also his first female vaulter on the team. “She started vaulting at about age 10,” he says of her. “She has had a great career thus far. She placed 4th at the State Meet her freshman year and 3rd
VAULTER
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The University of Akron Pole Vault Convention December 2012 issue www.thevaultermag.com “A Trade Show of Pole Vault Ideas and Products” January 4-5, 2013 » Competitions « » Elite Athletes & Coaches « » Classroom Sessions « » Pole Vault Equipment Vendors « » Learn by Doing Sessions «
Register online at GoZips.com/ZipsTFCC
Stile Athletics Field House Registration Fees Athletes: $50 ($60 after December 1st) Coaches: $25 Parents: $10 Tentative Schedule Friday, January 4 Vendors Available 10am-10pm 10am Check In 1pm Opening Meeting 2-5pm Clinics 5-7pm Dinner Break 7pm Competition Saturday, January 5 Vendors Available 9am-6pm 9am-12pm Clinics 12-2pm Lunch Break 2pm Competition A detailed schedule will be provided to convention attendees at check in
Confirmed Vendors Altius Essx Gill MF Athletic UCS More coming soon!
Hotel Quaker Square Inn 135 S. Broadway Akron, OH 44325 330-253-5970 Ask for the “Pole Vault Convention” Rate!
For more information, contact Andrea Tepe in the UA Track & Field Office at 330-634-6813 or via email at alt39@uakron.edu
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Last Call – Gotta Run + An Athlete’s Story!
By: Bubba Sparks
OK, this will be my last article about running and training, but first a personal story and a lesson. I will have tons of new stuff coming up like what types of bar work teaches you to get vertical, pole drop/plant/ takeoff drills, and technical tricks that have worked for me and vaulters I have worked with. But for now, let’s tie together all we have discussed and how it applies to running and vaulting better. I’ll start with a quick story about how we stumbled across a great training tool. I met Borya Celentano the summer after his sophomore
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year in high school. He had just cleared 13’ (3.96m) and he started coming out to UC Irvine to work with me. He was maybe 5’ 6”, and not very
fast but he was fearless and professed his absolute desire to be the best. After he began to show some progress, my friend, Simon Arkell (two time Aussie
Olympian – 5.80m) got Greg Duplantis on the phone for us. Greg wasn’t very big either but had had had phenomenal success at 5.80m. After the call Borya said he was told to Bubba Sparks basically tie a sled on himself and wear it to the shower and the cafeteria because he must become dependent on power. That and the fact that at his short stature, he was already taller than both parents, we knew he would have to be technically perfect to ever come close to any big jumps. Like me, Borya was a human guinea pig and would try any training method that might help. He thought nothing of 4-5 hour workouts. Over the next six
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years we worked together and I can honestly say that I probably learned far more from him that he did from me. He’s nice enough to say we learned it together. Two years later, his senior year of high school he vaulted 16’ 6 ¾” (5.05m) to get 2nd at the California State Meet. The next year as a freshman at UC Irvine he won Jr. Nationals and got to go to the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. He ended his career with a 2nd and 3rd at the NCAAs, and an Olympic Trials appearance in 2000 with a PR of 18’ 6 1/5” (5.65m), six years after we met. I don’t say this
to impress you but to impress upon you the importance of an open mind and the willingness to break the rules and make your own. As my good friend Bob Baker always says, “the mind is like a parachute and works best when open”. I say this because one Fall day after our break, Borya came to me and said he had been doing a lot of studying and had come to believe that everything we do technically is wrong, and that if I wanted to remain his coach, I would need to let him catch me up and go with that
model. My response? SURE – if it works like you say then I will switch to it and so will all of the other vaulters. This was really pretty absurd to those outside of our little circle because he had just won Jr. Nationals and as a freshman had a PR of 17’ 41/2” (5.30m), but we did it and he was right. This will be in a technical article later.
So back to our running games. Again I will be referring to Dave Johnston’s (DJs) physics of vaulting chart - http://www. bubbapv.com/Pages/dj.htm. As discussed, many vaulters
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run too fast too early or slow down to plant the pole. So we decided to test this by laying out markers at each stride length on the runway that matched DJ’s chart. YEP, we could hit them all except the one that mattered, the last two steps. So be got on a mission to fix our speed there. We soon found out it was our pole drop/ plant mechanics causing the deceleration but that didn’t stop the lab rats from trying to get faster over the last six steps. I will also discuss this technical fix later. On the grass we laid out six markers for the last 6 strides of the run (12 steps). We put a towel at the take-off mark. I stood at the six stride marker and Borya grabbed a 17’ (5.20m) HUGE Nordic pole that weighed a ton. With an elastic speed belt around his waist, he
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backed up until it was so taught it almost jerked him forward. He took a step forward and ran with the massive speed assist. As he hit the first marker his goal was to put his left foot down on each marker. By the time he hit marker #3 (6 steps out) the speed belt was now tightening up and actually pulling him back toward the start mark. NOW he still had to hit these markers even though he was being pulled the opposite direction. After the plant he would allow the belt to pull him backward and he would sprint backward with the aid of the pulling elastic force.
After about a month of this, I noticed that when he vaulted, that six steps out his body would suddenly tilt forward and he would attack and accelerate toward the box. Our
little exercise had conditioned him to expect tension pulling him back at that point so he automatically switched gears to accelerate. For more tools and ideas to create your own speed games, please try this link. http:// www.bubbapv.com/Pages/ speedassist.htm Thanks for being here and don’t be afraid to experiment! Bubba
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www.thevaultermag.com Susanne Meier
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½ Century of Vaulting x 1,000,000 Minutes of Pleasure
= Happy Life for Joe Johnston By: Michelle Walthall Joe Johnston tells us he was born and raised in Elaine, Arkansas and graduated Elaine High School. He also says he discovered pole vaulting with a couple school mates at age 15 and has loved it ever since. He even went on to graduate Arkansas A&M College, in Monticello, Arkansas, in 1966 with a PR of 4.56m. Over the years Johnston has managed to help many young vaulters as a coach and trainer. Right now he and his wife, Janet Johnston, are retired educators living in central Florida North of Orlando. However, Johnston coached high school track and field for several years in the ‘70s. The coach in Johnston never left because he still continues to enjoy working with any young vaulter willing to learn at his facility. “In approximately 1989 I built a pole barn in the back yard and found used pit materials, along with ideas for apparatus gathered from pole vaulters from all over, to set up a training facility,” he says. “The daughters nicknamed it ‘The Joe Dome’. We enjoy playing there almost every day.” His passion for coaching continues to stay strong, and is evident in his open door policy. Johnston says, “Occasionally, local kids come to train with us. Anyone interested in pole vaulting is always welcome.”
In addition to his coaching, Johnston has also continued to enjoy his personal pole vaulting experiences. “We participate in the USATF Masters, NSGA Senior Games and all-comer street vault/beach vault events year round,” he says.
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“In the past 3 to 4 years we’ve enjoyed a ‘Johnny Appleseed’ of pole vaulting experience, traveling the country and meeting and visiting friends and pole vaulting with them.”
Johnston’s happiness with his career and life can’t be more evident when he says, “A half century of pole vaulting times one million minutes of pleasure equals a very happy life.” And he still has more he would like to accomplish. “My immediate goal is to vault above my grip. And my long term goal is to hold the world record for age 105. Which I expect will be held by my idol, Dr. William Bell,” Johnston says hopefully of his future plans. Thankfully Joe Johnston is not shy about sharing advice with other vaulters out there, young and old. Here are some words of wisdom he leaves us with: To older vaulters who need to get back in the game he says, “Facilities are the primary challenge for ‘masters’ vaulters. The best tip is to talk to local coaches and offer
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