Just fishing for information.

My grandson has been trying to find his niche in sports. He has always been on of the smallest kids in his class (now 7th grad) is not particularily fast so hasn't been a starter in football and is down the list in track, even though he has been doing both since the third grade.

This year he decide to do something different and he picked pole vaulting. He has been in gymnastics frequently and I think that it has helped him in pole vaulting. He has been practicing and he has won 1st place in the last three Jr. Hi track meets beating all the 7th and 8th graders at 8 feet (he is only 4'10"). He is really pleased that he is doing something well. Is there something that we could do to help him improve, like send him to summer camp for pole vaulters (saw on advertised in San Antonio), or what? He is already signed up for summer track season.

I know nothing about pole vaulting but I suspect that there is a lot of special skills that he needs to learn. Any suggestions?

Never sent a kid here but have heard nothing but great things about it:

http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/company?companyId=23003976&targetid=profile

Here is a better website:

http://lonestarpv.com/

Thanks for the help. I had in interesting experience this weekend.

My grandson competed in the district Track and Field meet. He had been sick and at home prior to the meet and didn't do as well as he wanted...only came in 3rd place. He was VERY disappointed. One of the high school coaches that was at the meet and coaches high school pole vaulting came over and complemented him. He invited him to come over after school and practice with his daughter who is a high school pole vaulter. (my grandson will go to a high school that is one of his competitors.) I went with him for a while yesterday and that coach is a class act. What a great guy! I was a high school principal for many years and still remember what a great impact a good coach has on kids.

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He invited him to come over after school and practice with his daughter who is a high school pole vaulter

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way to go, sounds like your grandson is going to get some action!

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Sometimes I forget, then am reminded that this is "TexAgs"

Congrats, Valleyrat- that is cool! So summer track, I assume you know all about TAAF. State meet is in Corpus, but not sure they have pole vault, at least at that age.

Sounds like you need to get your kid to move to that coach's school district. For academic purposes, of course.

by the way, my 8th grader is a very good athlete. Does football, basketball, baseball, Xcountry, track and field; he's slightly above average height, and he was never able to clear the 8' mark.

[This message has been edited by AnalogyAg (edited 4/26/2013 1:02a).]

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For academic purposes, of course.

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:-)

He has already talking about going to that HS. The coach has two kids one at West Point, who already texted grandson and will help him when he comes home for the summer for summer track, and daughter who is in HS and is vaulting 12 feet. I think those folks are going to adopt him or something!

First, your gonna need to start by buying a Pit. They are reasonable these days.

Then, poles in his correct weight and bend ranging in 6 inch increments from 10ft - 13'6.

Don't forget the runway padding and pallets to go under it for extra spring.

Pole vaulters get all the girls.

Follow these steps and you should be successful.

Pole vaulting is something that takes a lot of time and effort.
1. Take care of your poles for sure. Make sure the end caps are secure and not damaged. Make sure that the 6-8 inch mark of your pole is protected on the bottom with tape or a strip of figerglass. A lot of young pole vaulters don't do this. However, this can damage the fiberglass over time.
If you want me to review some video just shoot me a message and I can give you my information. I jumped with Coach Garza (Chico) at A&M. Just remember, being a good vaulter takes a lot of time and patience. I mean a lot of time. In some cases it takes years for kids to get good at vaulting. It's very techincal.
Best of luck!

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Pole vaulters get all the girls.

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:-)

Thanks for all the info guys. I have never paid much attention to pole vaulting and all the info has been very helpful. His dad is a gymnastics instructor and so he has had a lot of free help in that area over the years. I see that gymnastics seems to be a definite plus from some stuff that I have read.