Information Needed When Setting Up A Good Pole Vault Program

Program leader should know and be able to explain the following topic in order to have a successful pole vault program:

1. What is the correct pole vault model that should be followed?

• Jeff Hartwig

• Tim Mack

• Brad Walker

• Sergey Bubka

• Yelena Isinbayeva

• Others?

2. What are the correct positions a vaulter should try to get to as they jump the model?

• Pole Carry

• Run, Take-off

• Swing, Rotation

• Extension and Release

3. What is a Free Take-off and how do you teach it?

4. What is blocking out?  When does it start and when does it end?  Can you jump without blocking out?

5. What are the correct warm up drills to teach each position and phase in the model which emphasizes the correct bending and loading of the pole, swing, and rotation, extension up the pole and off the top without losing energy from the previous positions?

6. What are the correct gymnastic and exercise drills to teach the positions and phases in the model?

7. How should coaches find the stride length for a vaulter so they can determine if the approach run and take-off is correct and on?

8. How does a coach find the correct grip width for each individual vaulter?

9. What factors determine what pole a vaulter should be on and which poles they will need to go to next?