About the Club
Our Philosophy and Goals
The main goals of our club are to promote and teach the pole vault as well as providing supplemental instruction to athletes and coaches in a way that allows for safety and success to go hand-in-hand. Our year-round training allows us to let athletes progress naturally at their own comfort level without having to hastily prepare them for meets. We stress step by step skill progressions with a safety first motto. Our vaulters are not allowed to advance to more difficult skills, higher handgrips or longer poles without first mastering the basic fundamental techniques and movements. It is our hope that in exposing athletes and coaches to the proper progressions in a low-stress environment that the vaulter can maximize their potential without feeling the pressure of meet-based performances. Our competitions are with gravity and crossbars – not with other vaulters.
We are proud of the fact that we have numerous coaches and mentors on our staff to help teach at each session. While we all share the same general training philosophy, there are always different ways of explaining the same idea. Sometimes all it requires is a slightly different wording from a different voice for a concept to ‘click’.
Another one of the best things about the club is the atmosphere. Because we have athletes and coaches from so many different towns and schools, the club provides unique opportunities to create friendships that transcend the usual school and team boundaries. Those friendships help to create a positive, cooperative experience for everybody.
With that in mind our club and our athletes have several goals.
As a club we hope to:
- Promote the pole vault in a positive manner
- Introduce the pole vault to new athletes, coaches, and schools
- Supplement high school programs and coaches
- Provide opportunities for athletes whose schools do not offer the pole vault
- Provide access to poles to programs that cannot afford to provide them for their athletes
- Mentor new pole vault coaches
- Have our experienced athletes mentor younger athletes
- Support all athletes in their quest to become better vaulters and better people
- Help all athletes translate their success on the runway into success in other areas of their lives
- Make the pole vault a fun and challenging experience
And it is our hope for each athlete to:
- Learn about the physics and mechanics of the pole vault
- Master fundamental drills and movements
- Master basic and advanced drill progressions for themselves and to teach others
- Improve their physical and mental fitness
- Challenge themselves to the utmost of their abilities
- Be willing to try new things
- Eliminate “can’t” and other negative words from their vocabulary
- Vault up to their goals and capabilities
- Become a knowledgeable fan of the sport
- Ask questions and communicate with the other athletes, mentors and coaches
- Foster a sense of camaraderie amongst ourselves and others
- Have fun vaulting and interacting with an awesome group of people
