A fear of 15 footers

[rainbowgirl28]

Or you could just grab a smaller pole and drop your grip...

i see where your coming from, and so does my coach, i do that all the time, but i find when i do that, and i try to move back to my bigger pole, my timing is a little messed up, i will plant and almost immediately swing onto my back, usually getting rejected, it doesn't happen as often now, but i thought that maybe other people have experienced this. it was a big concern before meets, because almost every indoor meet i went to this year i had one, or maybe two warm up jumps before they started the competition so i would have no room for error, i had one run to make sure my steps are on, and then one jump if i was lucky, as i said, it hasn't happened in a long time, because i have come more consistent, but i think this could be a cause for why he said that he taps before meets also

It sounds like you are either not ready for the next pole (moving up too soon or too big of a gap between poles) or you are raising your grip but not moving your takeoff back and getting caught under.

[rainbowgirl28]

Or you could just grab a smaller pole and drop your grip...

i see where your coming from, and so does my coach, i do that all the time, but i find when i do that, and i try to move back to my bigger pole, my timing is a little messed up

That was the main reason for using the same pole in practice as the meet. While the stiffness may be the same on a smaller pole and lower grip, timing is a whole different issue. We've got a motto at work "Test like you fly." I think that applies to vaulting as well.

If you have a good pole series and are making good decisions about when to move up poles and grips, timing should not be a major issue.

[fchipr]

My kid last year who was a 5-10 135 lbr got to 15 ft poles thanks to one and one half seasons of jumping on 14-6" poles. It made the transition possible. He went from two 14 ft poles (a 150 and a 155) to a 14-6 150 and 155. We transistion from there to a `15-150. I strongly recommend the use of 14-6 or 14-7 poles for moving up between 14 and 15 footers.

and if you cant get a 14-6 or 14-7 pole. Listen to the other smart coaches, and when your having a great vault day, got a nice tail wind, then grab that 15 and go for it. trust yourself.

Oh by the way my kid went over 15 ft on both the 14-6 and 15 ft, as should be the case.