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RIGHT NOW N O T H I N G E L S E VAULTER
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MATTERS TIME TO FLY
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CONTENTS
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FROM THE EDITOR
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TO THE NOT-SO-POLE-VAULT-SAVVY PARENTS
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FIND YOUR FUN
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ON HER ROAD TO RIO
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FROM THE GROUND UP
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8 Cover photo by Jeff Jacobsen
Cover photo by Tom Williams
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FROM THE EDITOR May: the month where the sun decides to shine more consistently, after-school meets aren’t as cold, and summer break is so close that you can practically smell pool chlorine. Being the Olympic Year, we have been filling all the issues leading up to the Olympic Games with as many elites as we can. 2016 will be the year of the Pole Vault, and we have a great lineup for you this month! First, we have the next article to Michael Soule’s Master Pole Vault Series. He has been writing articles to help anyone who is interested in starting pole vault again, get started. This month, he writes about how to effectively warmup. He covers how your running posture should be and how to wake up your fast-twitch muscles. This is another great article for anyone working on their comeback to pole vault—don’t miss his great advice.
We have two elites in this issue. First is Mary Saxer. Like all the other elites, Mary is training hard as she begins her outdoor season and prepares for
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the Olympic Trials in July. She has come a long way since her Junior year of high school as a pole vaulter. But it’s clear that she and pole vault were meant to be. This is not a story you want to miss. What better way to improve your own pole vaulting than to read about the tricks that elites have come up with. Mary has a lot of great advice, so check it out!
Next is an article I started thinking that I could cover everything in one go. I scroll through social media and see everyone bundled up for their freezing spring meets. Having experienced the 40-degree weather and doing warm-ups in my Carhartt coat, I know what it’s like for everyone to tell you how crazy you are for being able to compete in such weather. But how often do the parents get commended for enduring the weather? So here is the start to my “To The Parents” series high-fiving all the crazy parents for braving the weather. The first article is To The NotSo-Pole-Vault-Savvy parents out there who have no idea what this sport is and are try-
ing to learn—this one’s for you. Keep on keepin’ on, because our sport needs parents like you, and your vaulter needs you too.
Jordan Scott is our second elite this month. He too is on his Road to Rio. Jordan is on a mission to make his Olympic dream come true. Just like Mary, Jordan has awesome advice about how to keep moving forward and to never give up. Thinking that pole vault would be the fun, relaxing sport when he saw his pole vault teammates sunbathing on the pits, Jordan’s decision to try pole vault jumpstarted his pole vault journey. Let his story encourage you to work hard and to find your fun—enjoy! That is all for this month! We’re excited to see how you all improve as the weather gets even warmer! Keep making memories as the school year comes to an end, and be excited to start the next chapter— whether that be going into high school or going into college! Until next month, keep flying high! Editor Sadie Lovett Sadie@vaultermagazine.com
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WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Zoe Casteel
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WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Renaud Lavillenie
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TO THE NOT-SOPOLE-VAULTSAVVY PARENTS By: Sadie Lovett
To all the new pole-vault parents out there, here’s to you.
To the parents who don’t understand the sport that much, just the very basics, highfive to you for going to every meet to support your child in a sport that makes you nervous. High-five to you for sitting in the rainy, cold weather watching this crazy sport your child decided to try because their
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coach thought they would be good at it. Your toes are numb, but you don’t care because your child appears to be having a good meet.
You want to encourage your son or daughter when they only have one more attempt left, but all that comes to mind is “just jump over it!” but you know that won’t work. You end up saying nothing because
you are still learning the terminology of the sport, and the other track mom is not at this meet to ask what to say. You just cross all your fingers and toes, and hold your breath as your child runs down the runway hoping they know what they are doing and clear the bar. You think that your child doesn’t want you there: they don’t
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Lilliana Ifft watching with a warm blanket
want to explain why they had a bad practice, which is hard on you because you are trying to learn the sport too and you don’t know how to make their bad practice better. They don’t talk at meets because they are focused. You’ve learned that when it’s a good meet, they will acknowledge you. And when it’s a bad meet, they won’t even make eye-contact. It may seem like they don’t
want you around constantly asking what things mean or what just happened, but they do want you there.
They will remember their first year of pole vaulting and all the meets where their overly enthusiastic mom cheered like crazy and embarrassed them when they only cleared their opening height, or how their dad put his chair too close to
the runway to be sure he didn’t miss anything. Their first year of pole vault is also your first year of pole vault. Don’t be sorry for learning it slower, because you are not actually doing the pole vaulting. Stick close to the other track moms and dads—they are the ones who will teach you what is going on when you can’t ask your child.
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FUN FACT DID YOU KNOW? Stacy Dragila attended Idaho State University on a scholarship for the heptathlon. In 1994, Stacy’s coach, recently retired Dave Nielsen, got her to try pole vault. Stacy was the first woman to pole vault 15 feet.
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Learn when to cheer and when not to. When your child has a bad meet, wait for them to come to you before you try to comfort them. Never stop saying how proud of them you are, even if they no heighted. Help them find the positives in every meet, even though you may not understand anything they list off. Encourage them to be humble, and encourage them to never give up. Understand that this sport is frustrating, fun, discouraging, scary, and exciting all at the same time, and that it’s easy for your vaulter to let fear take over— don’t let that happen. You may not understand everything yet, but you know what your child is capable of, and sometimes they need to be reminded to believe in themselves. Help them set goals, and hug them so tight they can’t breathe when they achieve them. Never stop enduring the cold, spring weather, just grab a couple more blankets, sit in your usual spot, and become more familiar with being a pole-vault parent.
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Flying Dragon Parents watching the fun and reading books
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MAGAZINE Vaulter Club Kids doing a back flip
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FIND YOUR FUN By: Sadie Lovett
University of Kansas alumni pole vaulter, Jordan Scott, is geared up for this 2016 outdoor season with hopes to make the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team. Jordan started pole vaulting when he was a young freshman in high school. He and a couple of his friends decided to go out for the track team instead of soccer that year. Being unsuccessful with each event he tried, Jordan decided to try pole vault when he saw the other vaulters sunbathing on the pits: “I knew that was an event I could handle!” Since that day, Jordan hasn’t put the poles down.
His family was there for him from day one. “My family has supported my career from the very start, both financially and morally,” Jordan tells us. If it were not for his family’s support, Jordan may have given up pole vault a long time ago. Now married, Jordan’s wife
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Julia is the one who keeps him going and she never lets Jordan doubt himself: “Whenever I don’t feel like I can get through my next workout or need a motivational pick-me-up, Julia’s always there for me.”
Because of his dedication in high school, Jordan found himself on his way to UK on a pole vault scholarship. During his time as a Jayhawk, Jordan was very successful. Jordan took home 7 Big 12 Championship gold medals and one silver medal over a five year period. He was a three-time All-American at the NCAA Championships for the 2010 outdoor season. He also got to experience competing for the USA National Teams in Brazil, Mexico, and Florida. As a pole vaulter, Jordan has faced many difficult times that he has had to overcome. Fear is a major difficulty any
pole vaulter must learn to overcome, and fear of getting injured is another. Jordan never had an injury that could have potentially ended his pole vault career, but fear of an injury like that never goes away. “It’s very easy for our minds to trick us into thinking we could have a bad plant or take-off and slip off the pole and get hurt. It’s a strange phenomenon, but trust me—it can hit you like a truck when you least expect it,” Jordan says. Staying mentally tough, and not letting your fear take over, is something Jordan is still learning to do. He is constantly training mentally. Being guided by his sports psychologist, coaches, and other athletes, Jordan has many helpful ways to overcome fear and increase his confidence. Jordan’s training week varies based on the time of year, but he vaults, lifts, does
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gymnastics drills, sprint workouts, and several recovery sessions. His favorite drills to do are anything on the high bar. “I love moving my body up to, around, and over high bars—whether it be pull-ups, muscle-ups, swing overs, or bubka’s,” Jordan says. As an elite pole vaulter, Jordan had to learn how to travel and compete without a coach. “When you start traveling all over the world to compete, but don’t make enough money to pay for a coach’s travel, it becomes very unlikely to have your coach go with you to meets. After college, nearly every athlete gets a big wake-up call about what the professional athlete’s life is like and how to cope with all the ever-changing adversities you face,” Jordan tells us. What Jordan and his coach have done is they came up with a game plan, cues, and goals for each competition so Jordan can efficiently compete with or without his coach.
To mentally prepare for a meet, Jordan uses a lot of imagery and visualization, and he is sure to warm up thoroughly the day before as well as the day of his competitions. Jordan has a flexible pre-meet warmup where he can adapt it to wherever his is. It is a structured warm-up, but one
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that he can do on the track, in a hotel parking lot, or down hotel hallways.
To keep everyday positive, Jordan always focuses on having fun. “Negativity can hit you so fast and fierce that
there simply isn’t a way to avoid them,” he says. But there is always an opportunity for improvement. Jordan could be at a meet where it starts raining after warmups. The officials don’t call the meet, and Jordan must vault in the
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Jordan Scott jumping at the Pole Vault Summit
rain. Instead of letting the rain, something he can’t control, get him down, he chooses to accept the challenge: “try to get a new ‘Rainy Personal Record’! “Turning negatives into positives or challenges is a skill that needs to be practiced,
but you’ll be a contagious, positive polly before you know it!” Jordan says. Having fun is a very important factor in the success of Jordan’s career. “My number 1 mission in every practice and competition is to find a way to make it fun.
It is not always easy, but it’s contagious and can easily snowball into an unbelievable experience,” he says.
Another mental skill Joran has had to learn is not letting other vaulters affect how he jumps. “The goal is to have your own goals and your own game plan, and realize that in order to jump high, you must stick with them! Concerning yourself with how other jumpers’ warmups are going, or how high they are jumping, or what their personal record is can debilitate you. You must accept the fact that you can only control what you can control. You cannot control how others jump, you cannot control the weather, and you cannot control how smoothly the competition is run,” he says. Jordan has learned how to focus on what he can control, and not let what is uncontrollable affect his focus. “You can control how well you hit your cues, you can control how focused you are on your objectives, and you can control how you react to the changing weather. You must remember that there is always a way to adjust to the changing circumstances,” he tells us. Staying positive when something out of your control happens can be hard, but when something you can control
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MAY 2016Summit ISSUE Jordan Scott Pole Vault
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Jordan clearing a bar
goes south, it is easy to be discouraged. “It’s impossible to PR every time, and this is something we must accept. When I have poor meet, I look at what I did poorly, what external influences affected me negatively, and most importantly, what I did well. Simply evaluate the meet and move forward,” says Jordan.
The 2016 outdoor season has just begun. There are many meets to come for Jordan before the Olympic Trials in July. Jordan has several goals
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for this season. The plan is for this season to be the best one yet. “I’d like to take a year off soon to let my body recover from over 13 years of non-stop pole vaulting, but I’m not sure if that will be next year or not,” Jordan tells us. Jordan has five goals: 1) Jump 5.65m to qualify for the Trails, 2) jump 5.70m to qualify for the Olympic Games, 3) make the final round of the Olympic Trials for the 3rd time, 4) make the Olympic Team, and 5) the ultimate goal, earn a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
While Jordan is working hard to achieve his goals, he leaves advice for all the young pole vaulters: “Always remember that everyone is different— Everyone trains differently. Everyone competes differently. Everyone eats differently. And everyone has different goals. Search within yourself each season to determine what your goals are and chase them with everything you have by sticking with your own methods and practices! Find what works for you and of course, Find Your Fun.”
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Renaud Lavillenie
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ON HER ROAD TO RIO By: Sadie Lovett
Beginning her high school track and field career as a sprinter and long jumper, Mary Saxer never thought about trying pole vault until the pole vault coach insisted she try it. Not given much of a choice, Mary found herself standing on the pole vault runway with a pole in her hands. Now, pole vault is her career. From day one, Mary’s family has done whatever she needed to put her in the best possible position to succeed. Lending her their car and traveling to meets, Mary’s family knew that pole vault could get her through college. They did anything to ensure she was where
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she needed to be. After high school, Mary’s family became the cheerleaders in the stands giving her the encouragement she needed: “They believe in me regardless the result. They know what I’m capable of and they want my dreams to come true just as much as I do.” Now, hats off to Mary’s biggest supporter: her husband. He never ceases to encourage Mary to pursue her dream, even when it requires her to travel all over the world half of the year while he stays home. Mary says, “He encourages me to leave home and travel the world competing, because he recognizes that my career has
a limited window of time and he believes I can truly be the best in the world.”
As a professional pole vaulter, you will find many bumps in the road. Mary has had her fair share of bumps. It’s one thing to maneuver hundreds of people in an airport with a suitcase, backpack, and duffle bag in a foreign country. It’s another to do all that with a giant, heavy pole bag on your shoulder—trying not to turn too fast, hoping no one will run into you, hoping you won’t run into anyone, watching thousands of dollars go through the luggage drop-off—your career is in that bag. Try doing all that
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and then find your way to lost luggage when the airline not only lost your entire series of poles, but has no clue where they are at all. Mary travels all summer and had the pleasure of dealing with an airline that lost her poles. Lucky for her, the airline found her poles, but there are many things that could go wrong traveling with poles, even if they’re in a 16-foot-long pole bag.
Mary Saxer Stretching before the pole vault Summit
Like every other pole vaulter, Mary’s biggest challenge with pole vault is not letting fear control her. It’s natural to be scared, but it takes a lot of mental practice to not let fear take over. Mary says, “I’ve learned how to curb the fear and let my drive and goals win out. It’s not easy though.” Our minds play tricks. They tell us we can’t do it, make us question what we are about to do when we step on the runway with a new, bigger pole. Mary has her doubts too, but Coach Danny Wilkerson is there to keep her going. “My husband and coach are both my rocks when it comes to vaulting. Their belief in me, regardless of results, gets me through my toughest days.” Mary has several ways to stay motivated. Since she has begun her professional career, every year but one, Mary has PR’d: “That alone builds confi-
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dence and assures me that I’m doing something right.” Mary is also encouraged by the fact that her coach believes in her and believes in what he’s telling her to do. Something else that keeps her motivated is that fact that she was the pole vault alternate for the London Olympics. “It doesn’t get much closer to becoming an Olympian than missing the team based on a tie-breaker. On days I’m struggling to get motivated, I think about being the alternate and how I never want to feel that again,” Mary tells us.
During fall training, Mary does harder workouts, longer sessions, and heavier weight lifting to prepare her for the competition season. During season, her weeks are full of vault sessions, short sprint workouts, weight lifting, plyometrics, gymnastics, and core. During the summer, Mary spends most her time in Europe competing. It can be hard to get a good workout in while flying from city to city, so Mary focuses on recovering from one meet to be ready for the next. Some of Mary’s favorite drills are ones that work your core, and ones that involve you being in a similar position to what you would feel while you are in the air. “I like drills on high bar or rings that are like bubkas because they work
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Mary Talking with fellow competitor
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your core and shoulders, and help me figure out what muscles to use when,” she says.
Before each meet, Mary does a pre-meet shakeout at the facility where she will compete. The shakeout is followed by some sightseeing of the city she is in: “Walking around the city we are in helps get my mind off the competition the next day, which helps me relax,” Mary says. Her evening is then filled with laying with her legs up and a lot of visualization. “I like to visualize myself clearing the bars that I plan to clear the following day, and envision how the next day will play out by picturing the facilities, the runway setup, etc,” she tells us.
During a meet, Mary reminds herself of the cues she’s been working on in her practices. She only focuses on what she needs to do. “I tell myself that every meet, big or small, has a runway and a pit, and to focus on my cues because by doing so helps drown out the surroundings. If I execute my cues I’ll likely jump high,” she says, “I think of nerves as adrenaline, which helps me get excited. Someone once told me nerves and excitement are the same, it’s just how your brain processes the feelings.” Mary
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also uses the other vaulters as motivation. “Regardless what competition I am at, I enter with the mindset that I have the ability to win. In this sport, I feel like you have to have that mindset, truly believe in yourself and your abilities, whether you’re the favorite or not at a given competition,” Mary says.
Like everyone, Mary has off days. Some meets she does really well, and others, like her season opener, she clears her opening height. But rather than being discouraged, Mary has learned to always take away some positives. She may have only cleared her opening height for her season opener, but she jumped on one of her biggest poles—that’s a positive. “I take away the positives, learn from the negatives, and look forward to my next competition. I can’t dwell on a bad result or it’ll get the best of me, and in this sport I have to remember to have a short term memory in some ways in order for the discouraging days to not get the best of me,” Mary says. For the rest of the season, Mary has many meets. Her main focus is on the Olympic Trials in July and the Olympic Games in August. Her ultimate goal is to be on the medal stand
at the Olympics in Rio. But also, Mary has been flirting with 16 feet. She has had many 16 foot bungees set in practice, and has put massive hip-height on bars. It’s only a matter of time before there’s a new member to the 16-Foot Club.
As Mary continues on her Road to Rio, she leaves all you young vaulters with this: “I’ve found that you can learn a lot from watching videos of both yourself and other vaulters. Watch videos of those who have jumped higher than you, and even videos of those who haven’t jumped quite as high, and see what they do better than you. I started watching videos later in my career, but I’ve found it extremely helpful! Most Important Advice: Just remember to keep it fun. The reason we all start pole vaulting is because it is fun. Our sport can be very discouraging so sometimes take a step back and remember why you started, what clearing a new PR feels like, and remind yourself that what we do is pretty cool!”
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Mary and her coach Danny Wilkerson talking during the Summit Meet
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Mary Jumping at the Pole Vault Summit
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FROM THE GROUND UP A guide for the returning Masters Pole Vaulter By “The Vaultin’ Geezer” Mike Soule M60 pole vaulter
In the first two articles, I wrote about two things needed for a master’s comeback to pole vaulting. First being a planned training program to get you in better shape, and the second is options for you to get out on a runway and jump. Much of this article will focus on some of my ideas regarding what to do and what to expect once you get to the track. A good vault-related warm up is mandatory before any full jumps. Think back to your days in gym class where the physical-ed teacher had you doing 25 jumping jacks, 25 sit-ups, some burpies etc at the beginning of the class. Those exercises and that pre physical-ed class routine is an excellent example of a warm up. Keep in mind that you are not trying to train or work out
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during the warm up. You are just trying to, well, warm up.
Seeing that pole vaulting is comprised mostly of short maximum burst activity, so should be most of your warm up routine. I see a lot of masters vaulters arrive to the track and take off around the track for a 400-meter jog. The late Alan Launder pointed out at a seminar I once attended, that pole vaulters don’t run 400-meters before the plant. So why do they insist on doing it as part of their warm up? I totally agree with that sentiment. That distance and run accentuates slow twitch muscles. We really don’t want to wake those muscles up but instead wake up the fast twitch ones. So how about we do some pole runs instead of that 400-meter jog? 15 to 20 yards is plenty. Do 6 to 10 of them— that’s plenty. Just remember to make those pole runs technically sound. What I mean by this is make sure your posture and pole carry are correct, and for a couple of the early ones, exaggerate a high knees approach to your run. I put on a set of 5 pound ankle weights when I warm up. I feel it really wakes up my leg muscles. When I speak of running posture, for those of you who may not be aware, there are three phases to the sprint. Those
phases are the Drive Phase, the Acceleration Phase, and the Deceleration Phase. A great example of what I am talking about is easily seen watching a 100-meter dash performed by Usain Bolt, or any of the elite sprinters. You will notice that for the first 12 to 15 meters the runners’ body is leaning forward a bit: That is the Drive Phase. After that point for the rest of the race they appear to be straight up and down—head and shoulders neutral and aligned over the foot strike: This is the optimum posture for the Acceleration Phase and Deceleration Phase. The only difference between the Acceleration Phase and Deceleration Phase is that point around 80 to 90 meters when the sprinter runs out of ATP and starts to slow down. Otherwise, posture should remain the same during those two phases. In the pole vault, we will assume that most masters vaulters will do a 12 to 14 step run-up before takeoff. What that means is that you will get maybe two steps in the Drive Phase before you will want to be in the Acceleration Phase. Our run is short enough that we won’t get to the Deceleration Phase. We will want to achieve maximum acceleration (and posture which will be “tall”) when we hit the box. Those are the mechanics you will be focusing on with your pole runs.
After you get the legs going a little, I recommend some work on your shoulders and upper body. There are a boatload of things you can do to get your arms and shoulders ready for the impact of hitting the box. In my case I will do 5 to 6 hard wall plants. If there isn’t a wall to plant against there is usually a second box either at the opposite end of the runway or on the other side of the pit that you can do these in. Now you should be ready for some short run pop ups or jump throughs.
Depending on how long it’s been since you have jumped, you will still need a little time and drill-work to get this thing figured out again. I am a proponent of lots of short run, lower grip, stiff pole work. Many examples are shown in video form at www.bubbapv.com. I am a big fan of this type of work for a number of reasons. First, you can get more reps in with the shorter runs. Second is, you will be spending most of your effort with the gymnastic part of the jump and timing all of that up. Next, and probably the most important is it’s just a lot safer. It’s been a while since you have flung yourself into the air at the end of a stick so you need to be ever mindful of safety when pole vaulting. The initial pole you jump on is not that important when
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FUN FACT DID YOU KNOW? Pole vault has existed since the days of the ancient Greeks. It was used to surmount obstacles like enemy walls, or to vault over or onto animals like horses or bulls.
you first start out. I’d recommend the biggest stiffest shortest pole you can get your hands on. Sergey Bubka himself made the observation that a flexible pole covers up a lot of technical flaws. Therefore as you start out, a stiff pole will force you to rely on technique rather than counting on the flaws that a flexible pole might cover up. Once you get the timing figured out and more comfortable, don’t be afraid to stick a bar or a bungee up and see how close you can get to jumping your grip or better from a short run. The height of the bar is not as important as the work you will be doing on your technical jump.
There are a couple of things to consider. If the last time you pole vaulted you were able to manage a bending pole, you will be able to again. If on the other hand your school did what many did back in the day, and bought that 16 foot 190 tree trunk so everybody could use it and it wouldn’t break, well, then you might have a little trouble getting used to a bending pole. Not to worry though, you will have plenty of time to adapt. For now I would recommend working on your technique with a stiff pole.
During these early stages of getting back to pole vaulting, keeping track and working on the weakest part of the
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vault will not only be the most frustrating, but will yield the most benefits down the road. What I find is the biggest issue with most vaulters, young and old, is the transition from pole carry to plant. In my next article I will write about a few things that I have found in my coaching that have worked for different vaulters.
I will also ask that if you have a particular question regarding anything covered in these articles that you contact me at vaultingeezer@yahoo.com and ask. I will be more than happy to answer your question directly and in a timely fashion. With your permission I would also like to cover your question and my answer in future “From the Ground Up” articles.
Your to do list: 1). Do a good vault related fast twitch muscle warm up 2). Short run, short pole technique work 3). Don’t forget the rule of 65 Next, Pointers on transition from pole carry to plant
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Pole Vault Clinics & Camps
“The Unfair Advantage!” 803.315.5998
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85 SCHS State Champions, 11 National Champions, and 3 “Team USA” (World Team) since 1998.
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