The following article is a summary of the "USATF POLE VAULT EDUCATION MANUAL" which was compiled by: USATF pole vault education committee and was written by: RICK ATTIG of the University of Kansas
The Manual can be purchased from USATF for nearly the cost of printing. I highly recommend the manual to all Highschool vault coaches. The manual describes a method of teaching the vault whereby an athlete is taught to achieve the progressive mastery of skills needed to become a good vaulter and it de-emphasises height as the only measure of the vaulters success. I have seen this "Task Progression Method of teaching beginners" help men and women learn to vault in a matter of hours.
We start at the long jump pit with a pole rated at or above your body weight
1. Place the bottom of the pole about 6 inches directly in front of the left foot (for right handers/ left footers) The tip of the pole should be positioned firmly into the sand at the front edge of the long jump pit.
2. Right handers grip the pole as you see in the DIAGRAM make sure that the little finger of your left hand is positioned just above your head.
3. Repeat this task several times until it becomes comfortable.
1b. Using the grip and position learned earlier we will now perform the STEP AND DRIVE which is not yet a jump.
2b. Start from one step back and both feet together
3b. Then step forward quickly with the left foot placing it six inches from the pole tip
4b. Swing the right knee up and forward as if to jump BUT DON'T JUMP YET! We are simulating a quick step to takeoff.
5b. Again repeat until very comfortable with this (it's easy to skip ahead without practising this enough because it seems so easy but don't)
1c. Now we can add the jumping part to the last skill we learned. This is the ONE STEP VAULT WITHOUT A TURN
2c. The vaulter must perform the previous skills and this time actually jump into the sand pit and land with both feet side by side with the pole alongside the vaulters body.
3c. Stress a springy jumping type of takeoff.
1d. The next obvious progression is to perform the one step vault again but this time perform a TURN so that you land facing the runway.
2d. It is important to learn to turn just before landing so we get the proper timing (turning too early is the most common mistake in this drill)
1e. Now we start to encourage a more confident and powerful step and drive.
2e. We now need to VAULT FOR DISTANCE into the sand pit.
At this point when the athlete is confidently vaulting far into the long jump pit with good technique we can add the element of a crossbar into the drills which should encourage the athlete to naturally allow their hips to swing upward smoothly.
1f. We start by putting a crossbar or bungee bar on the sand out about at the farthest point reached by the vaulter.
2f. VAULT FOR DISTANCE over the bar which is lying on the ground.
Now for the fun part!!!!!
Raise the bar ONE FOOT HIGH AND ONE FOOT CLOSER to the athlete
1g. Vault over the crossbar without touching it. Make the athlete perform this correctly several times until confidence is high.
2g. Now raise it again 1 foot and 1 foot closer.
3g. Keep moving the bar until it is no closer than about 3 feet from the athlete and as high as he or she can keep clearing the bar without touching it.
NOTICE THAT WE ARE POLE VAULTING AT THIS POINT!!!!
We may not be bending the pole or jumping onto the PV pads but we are VAULTING!
SAFELY and CORRECTLY.
Good luck.
The drawings are printed here with the permission of Rick Attig.
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