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CONTENTS e n u J FROM THE EDITOR
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THE VAULT BARN:A BACKYARD FAMILY AFFAIR TURNED RENOWNED POLE VAULT COMMUNITY
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CORNELIUS WARMERDAM: POLE VAULT’S GREATEST ATHLETE
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MASTERS VAULTER JOHN CLARK
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Cover photo by Kevin Hall
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FROM THE EDITOR June is here and many of you are out of school or very close to it. Soon you will be getting ready for a full summer of pole vaulting. Many will go to camp, some will find the nearest street or beach vault, many will choose the route of USATF and AAU Nationals to keep them busy all summer long. Best of all you have the options out there to get the job done.
With that said, John Clark is back, and he’s been working hard as usual. One of the hardest working Master’s Vaulter around. “A week after torrential thunderstorms washed out the Texas Senior Games track and field competition in San Antonio, it was back to work at Jack Chapman’s Texas Elite Pole Vaulting club in Killeen.” Kreager Taber has hit the ball out of the park with this article about Cornelius Warmerdam. The worlds greatest pole vaulter is a story that can’t be missed. “Growing
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up on a farm close to Hanford, California, Warmerdam and his brothers created a makeshift pole vaulting pit after becoming interested in the sport. In an interview with Track and Field News, Warmerdam stated, “I don’t know why one of us wasn’t killed”. The story goes on from there and should not be missed.
On the cover, we have the Vault Barn out of Texas. Part of our coaches series, we highlight some of the best coaches around the United States. Club and school coaches are a highlight and should be recognized. It takes a lot to start an athlete off with no knowledge of pole vault and send them off to college after jumping 17’. “As a head high school track coach for 22 years, a football offensive and defensive coordinator for 20 years, a strength and conditioning coach for 11 years, and an Athletic Director for 9 years, Hall has had his fair share of public school
coaching.” There is a lot to be learned from this coach and you can read it all here.
We will catch up again in July and hopefully, everyone will have that summer vibe under control. We would like to thank all of our supporters and our team here at Vaulter Magazine that makes this happen each month. We have social media personal, writers, design staff, editors and more, that work tirelessly to make all of this happen! Thank you! Doug Bouma Editor, Vaulter Magazine Vaulter Club Inc. editor@thevaultermag.com
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WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Morgan Flynn after qualifying for California State
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THE VAULT BARN: A BACKYARD FAMILY AFFAIR TURNED RENOWNED POLE VAULT COMMUNITY By Sam Kaplan
Instagram: @eat_sleep_pv_repeat A father will do just about anything to see his daughter succeed, and when Kevin Hall installed a pole vault pit into an old barn so his daughter Sky could get in more practice than the average high school freshman, he proved he was no exception. What he didn’t know was that just four years later, his little set up in nowheresville Bonnie View, Tex-
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as would escalate to stardom as the place Woodsboro High School vaulters go to achieve greatness; the Vault Barn.
As a former high school athlete himself, Kevin Hall knows the value strong coaching can have on the confidence and success of young athletes. Inspired by his own high school experience, Hall became a foot-
ball and track coach. As a head high school track coach for 22 years, a football offensive and defensive coordinator for 20 years, a strength and conditioning coach for 11 years, and an Athletic Director for 9 years, Hall has had his fair share of public school coaching. However, as the Vault Barn’s popularity grew, he made the decision to focus full time on pole
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Anthony Meacham, Coach Kevin Hall, Sky Hall
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Coach Kevin and Daughter Sky
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vault. “I had no time to work with all of the vaulters in the area and still be a public school football and track coach,” explains Hall. “I made the decision to change my field from coaching to teaching, and the Vault Barn was born.”
self coaching, John will get a video and a phone call.” Along with teaching Hall the basics, John Rhodes, along with other legendary inspirations Gerald Hesseltine, Don Hood, and Carl Erickson, have all helped Hall develop his coaching style and thus, his club. “I know I must With little pole vault related form a positive relationship experience, embarking upon with any athlete I coach,” exthe mission to coach his daugh- plains Hall. “I must also figure ter through high school may out what motivates each athnot have seemed like an entire- lete. It is up to the athletes to ly logical choice, but Hall knew push themselves, but it is up to who to ask for help. Back in the coach to find a positive way 1988, Hall was in his first year for the athletes to do so.” as head track coach at a school without pole vault pits. But as Not just any athlete is wora coach focused on developing thy of their coach’s respect. his team and his knowledge Only those who are hardworkof track and field, he set out ing and dedicated to improvto learn everything he could ing will be successful in doing about pole vault. With a single so. For Hall, the 2-3 times per pole to his name and one am- week his athletes are at the bitious athlete looking to give Vault Barn is not the key to sucthe event a try, Hall introduced cess. “You must tie together himself to John Rhodes, the Ale- what you learn each day,” Hall do High School pole vault coach tells his athletes. “Become a to this day. “It was obvious after student of the event. Make time watching him at one meet that to watch and compare video at John knew what he was doing,” home. No coach in any sport has recalls Hall. “After the competi- a magic wand.” Hall will work tion was over, I introduced my- with any athlete who shows self and asked if he had some that they are willing to commit time to teach me some basics. to the event outside of pracFast forward 30 years and we tice. He takes sprinters with have attended countless meets big verticals whose main focus together and talk on phone at will become technique, notoleast twice a week year round. riously coachable and strong Anytime I second guess my- gymnasts whose main priority
will become developing speed and running form, or even average all around athletes who, through year round strength and agility training can become fantastic vaulters. Hall believes any type of athlete, no matter their background, can become a great pole vaulter, as long as they become a student of the event and make it a huge focus of their life.
No matter the background of the athlete, when it comes time to focus on jumping, Hall is an advocate of ‘The Big 4.’ A dynamic run, a tall plant, a huge jump off the ground at take off, and an aggressive swing are the keys to success. Hall believes that cementing this foundation of the vault is already quite difficult for young vaulters to do, so there is “no need to spend a tremendous amount of time with when to turn, when to pike, etc.” if the vaulter doesn’t have a strong base to work off of. Anyone who follows high school pole vault knows there’s something to these methods. If ‘Vault Barn’ or ‘Woodsboro’ have sounded familiar thus far, it may be due to Bella Coscetti, the Indoor Freshman National Record Holder at 12’10” who began making waves in the pole vault world back in middle school. But Bella isn’t the only vaulter to excel out
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of the Vault Barn. In fact, her first year wearing Woodsboro colors was Skylar Hall’s last. Sky, Kevin Hall’s daughter for whom the club was formed, owns three regional titles, the 2017 Texas 2A State silver medal, the 2018 State gold medal, and as of May, the 2019 State gold for repeat honors in the event at 12’6”, a new 2A record. Sky, who came up alongside her club, finishes a dominant career in Texas high school pole vault, passing the baton on to the new generation of Vault Barn freshmen as she moves on to vault for Stephen F. Austin in the fall. Along with Bella, Anthony Meacham also had a standout first year at Woodsboro. As one of the only freshmen in the nation to have ever vaulted 16 feet, Anthony recently gained his first State gold with a 15’ vault, completing the Woodsboro/Vault Barn sweep of the girls and boys 2A pole vault.
Freshman Bella Coscetti National Record holder 12’10”
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It may be easy to assume that, with such amazing achievements and high PRs, the Vault Barn jumpers spend all of their time focused on pole vault. However, as many of them come from small high schools with few students, they end up playing key roles as point scorers in track as multi event competitors. Most
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of them are even multi sport athletes, competing as star members of their high school’s fall sports teams. Hall, a multi sport athlete himself back in high school, knows the importance of contributing time and talent to the school sports community, so he makes sure to accommodate the pre-season and off-season needs of athletes competing in other sports. “My fall training,” explains Hall, “always has a Sunday session for football and volleyball players, as it is the only session they can attend all week.” Hall’s respect for multi sport athletes doesn’t end at resolving scheduling conflicts. Hall designs his training program to compliment the training his athletes have going on for other sports. Hall offers 8-10 vault sessions throughout the week, but multi sport athletes are only to attend up to four, as not to be overworked or have their focus diverted from their current sport. “They will spend far less time on the runway with a pole in their hand,” says Hall. “Instead, we work on the run, the core, basic strength, and short run pole work.” As a club coach, Hall is extremely aware of the training regiments his athletes are getting at their high schools, and works alongside them rather than against them.
Hall is respectful of his athletes’ passions for other sports, but when track season comes around, he expects his athletes to fully commit to vault training. In order to train successfully, Hall provides his vaulters with a diverse set of training equipment including an 80’ runway with a pit indoors, a full length runway with a pit outdoors, rings, ropes, a four foot elevated short runway, a three step slide box runway, a collection of resistance bands, mini hurdles, and approximately 90 Altius brand poles. Hall believes that by providing “just the basics” in terms of equipment, his vaulters can focus on developing ‘The Big 4’ and becoming the most consistent jumpers they can be.
Invite, 500 to Texas Tech, and people I have never met came up and introduced themselves.” Hall likes to say that he never intended to start a club, but couldn’t be happier with the big picture. “Because Sky decided to try pole vault and we put a pit in a barn, dozens of young athletes lives have been affected in a positive way.”
Over the past four years, the Vault Barn has grown from a backyard endeavor to help one Sky Hall grow as a vaulter, to a full blown club known around the country for producing some of the most successful high school vaulters in Texas. “Over the last two years I’ve noticed coaches and vaulters all know where the Vault Barn is, and know the names of several of the vaulters,” recounts Hall. “Being such a small and new club, that was a big deal to me. We travelled 700 miles to the Arkansas High School
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Anthony Meacham becomes the first Freshman over 16’ in the Nation in 2019
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CORNELIUS WARMERDAM: POLE VAULT’S GREATEST ATHLETE By Kreager Taber The sport of pole vault has evolved immensely since its conception in the 1850’s, when poles were created from solid ash or hickory with iron spikes at the end. The adoption of bamboo poles later that decade, and then steel poles nearly a century later, inspired new waves of vaulting technique and allowed vaulters to reach new heights. Flexible poles made of fiberglass, and then carbon fiber, were not used until the 1950’s. With each change
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in material and stiffness, athletes had to adapt and develop new techniques to train for the sport. Advances with new materials allowed vaulters to jump higher, but some athletes forged during the straight-pole era are still widely regarded to be the sport’s greatest.
In the history of pole vault, very few athletes have distinguished themselves more than Cornelius Warmerdam. Warmerdam became the first
man to jump 15 feet on April 13th, 1940, while working as a mathematics teacher. He was only 24 years old, and jumped on a taped-up bamboo pole. He continued to clear 15 feet 43 times before any other vaulter managed to surpass the height, and also to break his own outdoor world record six times. He ended his career with a mark of 15’7.75”. This record lasted 15 years before Bob Gutowski broke it while jumping on an aluminum pole. Bob Richards,
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Warmerdam
a two-time Olympic champion and the second man to jump 15 feet, broke Warmerdam’s indoor record a year later. Warmerdam used only two bamboo poles throughout his entire record breaking spree. He described that he only had two handgrips on the pole because the bamboo had a knot in it; therefore, he held right below the knot or right above it for a difference of approximately four inches. His top grip was only 13’4”.
The vast majority of today’s vaulters would reel at the lack of safety precautions in the sport’s early ages. Growing up on a farm close to Hanford, California, Warmerdam and his brothers created a makeshift pole vaulting pit after becoming interested in the sport. In an interview with Track and Field News, Warmerdam stated, “I don’t know why one of us wasn’t killed”. He went on to explain that the pit they had made was nothing more than “turned
over dirt”, and when the poles they fashioned from the limbs of peach trees split, “the fragments were like a sword”. His willingness to embrace the dangers common to pole vaulting served him well, as he reported that the bend in the bamboo poles was “almost imperceptible” and that the athletes landed in patches of sawdust.
Warmerdam’s peers showered him with praise during his time as a competitor, but also
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in his retirement. He is widely heralded as a “champion” on and off the track, but was also incredibly humble about his accomplishments. Richards, the man who ultimately broke Warmerdam’s indoor world record, described him as “part sprinter, part shock-absorber, part acrobat, and part strongman. He wasn’t human”. Additionally, Payton Jordan, renowned former coach of the Stanford Track and Field Team Warmerdam
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and 1968 United States Olympic Track and Field Team, described him as the “truest and purest champion I’ve ever met”. Bob Mathias, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, saw Warmerdam for the first time in high school and remembers thinking that he “was standing near someone who was larger than life”. Warmerdam retired from competitive vaulting in 1944 in
order to serve his country as a naval officer, and later became the assistant and later head coach and athletic director at Fresno State after World War II. He retired in 1980. Warmerdam remained remarkably humble throughout his vault career, and this was particularly exemplified after his retirement from competition. If his supporters called him the best pole vaulter in the world, he would meekly reply, “well, maybe in
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Warmerdam
my era”. He went on to explain that he believed his records did warrant some merit, “but there’s not that much good to dwell on it” because the sport’s current athletes train much more seriously than he did, and push their bodies to limits that people did not even fathom in his time. While he originally opposed the use of novel fiberglass poles in competition due to the lack of regulation of their flexibility, he came around to the idea after watching Christos Papanicolaou of Greece become the first man to vault 18 feet. Warmerdam then reported that Papanicolaou’s success could be attributed to “the man more than the equipment”.
Cornelius Warmerdam passed away at 86 years old after fighting with Alzheimer’s
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disease. Upon hearing of his death, former IAAF President Lamine Diack stated that in pole vault’s history, Warmerdam’s contributions to the sport could only be compared with Sergey Bubka’s. While reminiscing on his career, Warmerdam stated that his only regret was that he never got to compete in the Olympic Games. As the 1940 and 1944 games were not held due to the war, Warmerdam merely lacked the opportunity and would have been heavily favored for the gold. He is survived not only by his family, but also in Warmerdam Field, the Fresno State home track constructed in 1976. In 2000, Warmerdam was named the vaulter of the century by U.S. Track and Field, and was declared the Fresno State Athlete of the Century in 2001.
Warmerdam’s records may have been broken and his name pushed down the world’s all time best lists, but the success he found during his vault career is only rivaled by Sergey Bubka. Warmerdam was truly decades ahead of his time and one can only hypothesize how high he could have jumped with modern vaulting technology and training techniques. He was one of the first athletes to break out of the sport’s niche and into the public eye, and his journey from humble beginnings to the national stage captivated America and inspired the next generation of great athletes. Every vaulter should aim to emulate Warmerdam’s hardworking nature, humility even after phenomenal success, tenacity, and fearlessness.
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MASTERS VAULTER
JOHN CLARK By John Clark
A week after torrential thunderstorms washed out the Texas Senior Games track and field competition in San Antonio, it was back to work at Jack Chapman’s Texas Elite Pole Vaulting club in Killeen.
After I got myself good and loosened up on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, I grabbed a pole and headed over to the runway where three of Jack’s premier high school vaulters were getting started with some warm-up jumps. I watched one kid soar up toward the 15-foot-high bungee cord, spin gracefully, and drop back down onto the pit. “That sure looks like fun,” I said to Jack, who looked at me
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and smiled real big. He knew what I meant – that flying that high is something dreams are made of for me, a 61-year-old Masters vaulter who first took up this incredible sport back in October 2017. I worked my way into the rotation, and after three twoleft jumps, and a few three-left jumps, I moved back another stride, and Jack had the boys add another bungee for me at somewhere around 8-feet, and I spent the next hour or so mixing in with the young highflyers and working on my takeoff and swing. The most recent move I’ve been focusing on is finding the timing to swing my trail leg up harder and quicker, get at least a little inverted,
and then rotate over the bar.
Sometimes I get it right; sometimes I don’t. Too often, my feet get up nice and high as I go over, but my hips and rear end are still down “in the bucket,” so to speak. I’ve been working on my core strength, too, but there’s still a way to go on that. When I make the move correctly – and also get my hands nice and high at take-off – my hips get a lot more height, and the jump is a lot more smooth and rhythmical. I can feel it when I do it, but the problem is, I can’t always do it. Yet.
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After a pretty decent jump from five lefts on my biggest pole, I looked at my watch and saw that it was getting close to the two-hour mark, which is about a half-hour longer than I’m used to practicing, so I called it a day. It had been at least a couple weeks since I’d jumped at all, and even though I’d been sitting on the couch all
day, watching Tiger Woods win his 15th major golf tournament at the Masters, I was itching to get back on the runway. Part of me didn’t want to get up, get dressed, pack up my poles, get my other gear together, and go practice, but I knew from experience that I’d be glad I did when it was over. Sure enough.
Since recovering from that nasty adductor (groin) injury, followed by a little nagging quadriceps tweak that lasted from the Expo Explosion back in December through the January Summit in Reno, I’ve been blissfully healthy and pain-free. Maybe I’m finally getting this ol’ body in condition. Bubba, Jennifer, John III
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Never mind that by about 10 o’clock Sunday night, I was sore all over, tossed and turned much of the night in bed, and was still sore the next day. It was a good sore, though. Just a little sunburn that would soon go away. A couple of weeks later, I took a weekend road trip down to my hometown Houston, to visit my dad and stepmom, and to get in a long-overdue jumping Jennifer Hedges II jump
session with my friend, Bubba Sparks, who got me started on this pole vaulting journey in the first place.
Bubba and I grew up a few miles apart, played Little League at the same place, graduated from the same high school, took completely different paths in life, and then re-connected via Facebook a couple years ago, after he won
a world championship at the Masters games in New Zealand.
One thing Bubba’s had me doing for a while now is sprint drills using a weighted sled. He first prescribed sleds as a way to help rehabilitate that groin injury, and help prevent a future reoccurrence, and then as a way to help increase my speed.
As a pretty good athlete when I was a kid, it was shocking when I first started watching video of me learning to pole vault. Good grief – who is that extra-large, old grayhaired dude lumbering down the runway? Even when I felt like I was running fairly hard, it looked like the video was in slow-motion or something. So, with the National Senior Games coming up this month, I’ve been working quite a bit on speed and core strength.
At that warm and muggy Sunday morning practice with Bubba, the first thing I was working on was catching my breath, as we were joined at The Woodlands High School by their girls’ track coach, Jennifer Hedges, a champion Masters decathlete who was there to work on her pole vault skills.
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Bubba coaches Jennifer
Once I got adjusted a little to the heat and humidity, it was a great practice, highlighted by two things:
One, a series of attempts by me at clearing 8-feet for the first time ever. I nearly made it when the bar bounced up and down off the pegs a couple of times, and looked like it was going to stay up, before unfairly succumbing to gravity and
landing beside me in the pit. Second, the quote of the day, as Jennifer launched a nice jump and swing, but came up just a little short and knocked the bar down at, I think, 8-6. “When you get on the elevator,” Bubba said, “you wanna get off at the penthouse, not at the fitness club.” Words to live by from a world
champion Masters athlete and coach. Coming up next month, a full report from Nationals.
John Clark is a freelance writer and author in central Texas who started learning to pole vault at the age of 60. For more information on him and his work, go to: https://www.johnhenryiii.com.
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