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Realignment and the phases preceding it By: David Butler Originally Published in Techniques Magazine, Provided by: USTFCCCA
In the early 1900s, a man named James Weldon Johnson composed a "spiritual song" called "Dem Dry Bones". Some of you older readers may remember it... it goes like this: Toe Bone connected to the foot bone, foot bone connected to the leg bone, leg bone connected to the knee bone.... you get the idea! Between three steps out from takeoff and the initiation of the swing, there are four crucial aspects of technique that prescribe a successful vault. They are all connected and one affects the other, resulting in a pole that is accelerated to vertical. Thus we have the Fantastic Four Connections that create acceleration in the rotation of the pole. Yes, the Fantastic Four! Like the Marvel Comic Superheroes we read, studied, drew and collected in the 1960s. The Fantastic Four Connections of the Pole Vault. First 4,3,2,1 and then 1,2,3,4. Coaches, hang with me now, I'm only taking about four things! 4TH CONNECTION: REALIGNMENT Realignment keeps the vaulter behind and under the pole and makes the body as long as possible in its swing to vertical. The vertical part of realignment is the re-extension of the bottom arm, pointing totally vertical at the moment the takeoff toe is pointing towards the box. The vaulter's body is totally straight and the left arm (right handed vaulter) is straight. In the old straight pole vaulting, with steel or bamboo, the realignment is the moment the vaulter hyper-extends both arms as both legs accelerate a long sweeping pendulum. The body will be in a straight line and one with the pole. Realignment is not a pull! Pulling in any manner or direction decelerates the rotation of the pole. Realignment is connected to and can only be performed if the Fantastic Connection No.3 is executed correctly! THIRD CONNECTION: ELASTIC EXPANSION At the very moment the tip of the pole strikes the box, the vaulter must connect with the pole, becoming part of the pole in its pathway to vertical. The arms, elbow and shoulders must become elastic, stretching up and above the vaulter's head. The bottom arm should bend at the elbow, so that the body of the vaulter can jump through the outward bend of the elbow. The left hand (right handed vaulter) should move to a vertical line through the hips of the vaulter. This is the exact same effect the old bamboo and steel vaulters did for 60 years. These sawdust veterans would shift the bottom hand together with the top hand as they flipped the pole up during the plant. Both hands would elastically move up and back to full extension off the ground - creating the same connection, left hand in a vertical line through the body. This elastic attack of the hands and shoulders allows the body to connect to the pole's movement towards the vertical. Planting with blocking shoulders and arms that stop and are tense will successfully bend the pole, but NOT MOVE THE POLE! The only way to try to get upside down from a blocking plant is to row forward or break the pressure with the left, causing the vaulter to slide beside the pole in a "shortcut" to vertical. The inversion of this type of vault is out in front of the bend, not on it. The Fantastic Elastic connection cannot move at its optimum without connection No.2 : Space. SECOND CONNECTION: MAKE SPACE As the plant of the pole is accelerated, both arms must reach full extension, pulling the shoulders to that "hollow" position we talked about in the realignment phase. Hollow means that the head is framed by both arms, creating a hollow roundness from one shoulder around and under the chin and back to the other shoulder. This hollow shape is like a narrow "U" and pushes the pole to its highest point just before the tip strikes the box. This full extension moves the pole to a higher angle and makes it begin to accelerate towards vertical, BEFORE IT BENDS! The hollow extension can only be executed if the vaulter's step is ON. Taking off ON (vertical line from the top of the top hand to the toe of the takeoff foot) is really connected to the first connection—the one that starts it all—the tip of the pole! FIRST CONNECTION: THE ACTION OF THE POLE DURING THE APPROACH The verticality of the pole tip during the first steps out of the back and the action of the pole tip as it drops in rhythm with the vaulter's acceleration down the runway sets up the next three connections. The first Connection is the pole tip up and falling through the eyesight of the vaulter the moment he or she initiates the plant three steps out. The tip must vaulter the moment he or she initiates the plant three steps out. The tip must be up and not horizontal to the runway. This "teeter-totter" effect of the tip falling and the top of the pole being picked up, creates a "weightlessness" that makes the plant extend into space; making that spatial connection from the takeoff toe through the body to the hollow arms. An active pole drop enhances posture, takeoff angle and extension off the ground. If the pole tip is static or still, it becomes a dead weight suspended out in front of the vaulter's center, creating imbalance in posture, deceleration of approach and tension in the vaulter. This can cause a lower, later and tense plant and a takeoff that will surely be under. *One of my Rice University vaulters recently calculated the weights of a few poles as they dropped into the vaulters hand. A 13 foot 140 = 16 pounds In the words of the great American vaulter Pat Manson, "It doesn't matter if you are carrying a telephone pole or a toothpick, if you drop it correctly, it becomes weightless in your hands." Like dominoes set up to break a record, one out of place, oddly spaced or off line, and they will "stop the flow of the fall". It's the same in the pole vault. Drop the tip too early, too late or carry the pole still and static and the flow of the jump dissipates and breaks. If the pole slows in its rotation and the vaulter breaks at the hips, unable to get inverted, then there are "disconnections" somewhere along the line. Coaches, look for these Fantastic Four Connections: Remember, each one is connected to the other. These four connections stay connected, and the vault will be a beautiful thing- free, flowing and fast. Disconnect any of these verticals and things go horizontal and the vertical slows and stops. The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone connected to the knee bone. Make these connections move as one, and VERTICAL is what you will get; bigger poles, higher grips, faster runs, higher heights! A few points to ponder: REALIGNMENT can only be accomplished by the success of the previous three connections. You can't realign if you don't use the "elastic properties" of the plant. You can't realign if you do not create hollow space and full extended arms the moment before the tip strikes the box. This "hollow space" creates a powerful, elastic, active plant. You will struggle with the plant if the tip of the pole drops too early or too late! The Fantastic Four Connections: Pole Drop, Make Space (Push Pole to vertical), Elastic Plant and Realignment are four crucial connections that can make a vaulter fly!
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The intricate phases of the pole vault are intertwined and connected together, each one will affect, negatively or positively, the one that follows. In this article, I will begin with "Realignment" and work backwards. I hope to show the cause and effect of four important aspects of the pole vault.
