PoleVaultPower.com

Ive read the thread about which is the best college to vault at and the first couple pages talked about what to look for in a college then it started to go to people using stats to try and claim a certain college as a better school. I was wondering what were some good questions for the coaches and things to look for in a visit

Some schools get 17' vaulters by recruiting 17'6" vaulters. Ask them how much their typical athlete improves each year. Then ask them what percentage gets hurt each year.

vaultmd wrote:Some schools get 17' vaulters by recruiting 17'6" vaulters. Ask them how much their typical athlete improves each year. Then ask them what percentage gets hurt each year.

Then do some research online and by talking to the kids on the team and see how those answers match up with the coach's answers.

Yeah I once overheard our head coach say promise them filet migon and give them mac and cheese

Ask how much hands on involvement the coaches will have with the vaulters. A lot of coaches will give you the lifting and running workouts and let you go at it, they barely watch. Look for coaches that recruit potential for improvement as well as vaulters already realizing potential. Have a vault-talk with your coaches to make sure they know more than you do about the vault and in vault preparation. If their athletes aren't improving much each year, sometimes its not from the lack of necessary resources, its vaulters that dont take advantage of it.

vault3rb0y wrote:Ask how much hands on involvement the coaches will have with the vaulters. A lot of coaches will give you the lifting and running workouts and let you go at it, they barely watch.

Dont take this personally, but you're going to be in college. A coach isnt going to hold your hand and baby you along. If they give a running workout they're not always going to be there all the time its your job to hit the time and do it plain and simple. If you want to get better you will run them hard and not slack. As far as lifting goes most of the time you have a strength coach. As far as, Technical aspect goes they def need to be very hands on and there at all time, thats there job! lol

1. Talk to the vaulters about the coach.
2. Ask the coach his ideals and philosphy about the pole vault.
3. What is training going to be like? Running workouts? Speed development? Acceleration develpoment? Top Speed Training?
* Honestly there many vault coaches that have no idea about training besides the pole vault. Meaning they dont know how to get the athlete stronger, fast, explosive, and more athletic.*
4. What does a typical in season workout week consist of.
MONDAY?
TUES.?
WEDN?
THUR?
5. How much of the budget or how much do they typically invest in poles?
6. What type of drills they work on and what does it help for?

GWU, no offense but you hit it head on that your in college, and the coach is getting paid to be there for his athletes. They recruit you to come and work with them, so if they aren't there for your workouts, giving you feedback on running mechanics and how your looking, then i think its pretty worthless. I have spent 4 years in a college system, and my coach was there for 4 out of the 5 days of practice... the only ones he wasn't there for was recovery days when we were just doing cardio. If he's getting paid to be your coach, and actually cares about you as an athlete, your right he wont hold your hand, but he will do everything in his power including watching your workouts to make you better!

I think if you are looking for recruiting, you should ask all the questions GWU said, as well as how much he is around for each practice because thats what a coach is there for! Good luck finding a school corey!

I have to agree with my man GWU, although the situation of the school has alot to do with it as well.

If your coach is a full time coach, then I think he should be there.

In most cases (very few exceptions) where a school has a vault-specific coach, most of the time they are not full-time. Most of the time they are not there for running and lifting. However, when it comes to vaulting, gymnastics, drilling and video review, they are giving 110%.

In those cases, the workouts and times to workout are provided and the team will meet on its own to get the job done.

Good point Slick on the fact that not all coach's are full time. I guess i was blessed with that opportunity

You prolly are one of the lucky ones that do have a coach was there for everything, but....... i know a lot of the schools either hire a volunteer vault coach, or a field event coach that was a decathlete. You have some coaches that coach more than the pole vault like long jump, high jump, triple jumpe, and even throws. So some times they have no choice but to be with other athletes coaching them instead of watching you run your 200's or your top speed endurance or weight lifting. As far as sprint mechanics go i would consider that a technical aspect of the vault and def think they would be there for that. But i do agree that coaches should be there when it comes to vaulting, gymnastics, drilling and video review 100% plus another 30% thats 130% lol

NCSAsports.org

it's worth a look. it's like a professional head hunter for student-athletes looking to be recruited and for scholarship opportunities