When I think back to when I first started coaching, one mistake I made was not using and implemented enough drills. The longer I coach the more drills I use and knowing when to use a drill and what the purpose is becomes more important. Every mistake an athlete makes could use a drill to fix it. I am the first to say full jumps are great and any pole vaulting program should include a high volume of full jumps, but there a couple thing to keep in mind. Full jumps can be done at any approach 0’s all the back to a full approach of 10 lefts. You do not need to be at a full approach every session otherwise you will overwork the central nervous system and lead to run throughs. The other thing is i
Are straight pole drills are the best drills, and the key to jumping high. Maybe? It all depends on context. Are we discussing beginners, experts, what part of the season are we talking about? What weakness in the vault are we trying to address? When is your next meet? What are your personal goals? Knowing the context of a drill or progression is needed before we prescribe them to athletes. We all tend to romanticize whatever we recently did to get a pr and tell the world that everyone should join us and do it too. We see this in the workout world, diet, business and really every facet of life. And here’s the important part, maybe for you, at that point in your development as a vaulter or t
