Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #63: Gill1918 Presents Coach Dave Emeott “Finding Great Pole Vaulters” Powered by Coach O

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#63: Gill1918 Presents Coach Dave Emeott “Finding Great Pole Vaulters” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
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  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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  With that in mind, let's grow. Are you looking for a pole
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  vaulter? Someone who can score in your
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  conference meet? Here's the truth.
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  Pole vault is the most technical event in track and field.
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  It requires the most coaching. But that also means it's often
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  overlooked. And that's where the opportunity
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  is. I'm Dave Amiot, head track and
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  field coach, head boys track and field coach at East Kentwood
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  High School near Grand Rapids, MI Track is my obsession, but
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  pole vault, That's my hobby. I coach for free.
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  Don't tell my bosses that and I pretty much have.
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  Most of my career. I coach both boys and girls and
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  take the most pride in starting from scratch.
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  At Ek we've we've had girls, we've had 7 girls over 12 feet
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  and seven boys over 15 feet in the past 28 years.
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  We've had a lot of success in the Club World as well with kids
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  that have been pole vaulters and we've shown them things.
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  But we do take the most pride in just those E Kentwood kids
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  who've never jumped before. When I'm searching for a
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  potential pole vaulter, I start with a few basics.
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  Speed. The faster pole vaulter usually
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  wins. I look for those kids who just
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  are on the outside of the Sprint relays usually.
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  So if they didn't make the four by one, I'm usually trying to
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  grab them over into the pole vault.
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  Strength, You know, pull ups and push ups are a great indicator
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  to figure out who's who's strong for their body size.
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  Height is always a good skill to have.
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  I haven't always had the tallest pole vaulters, but certainly I
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  will take tall kids, you know, in certainly in, you know,
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  anytime high jump pole vault, you're looking for kids that are
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  just a little bit closer to the bar.
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  But most importantly, mindset. I want kids with a growth
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  mindset, kids who won't get discouraged.
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  Pole vault will break your heart on a regular basis.
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  Pole vault is is always difficult and there's always
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  something to change and there's always something to get better
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  at, so a growth mindset is essential.
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  One of my best pickups I ever had in recruiting a pole vaulter
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  was Gabby Lyon. Gabby Lyon is the NCAA champion
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  and now a professional pole vaulter.
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  She went to Louisville, but when she was in 10th grade she was in
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  my Algebra 2 class. She had never heard of the sport
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  of pole vault before. She was a smoky kid in my class
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  who probably talked too much and got in a lot of trouble for, for
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  not paying attention. But I was able to build a great
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  relationship with her. I invited her out to, to try
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  pole vaulting and I didn't know when I looked at her, she's 5
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  foot nothing and, and maybe weighed, you know, 98 lbs or
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  something at the time, probably less and didn't look very
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  strong, didn't look very fast. But I knew she had a great
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  attitude and, and it was a kind of kid that I want to hang out
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  with. So I invited her to pole vault
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  practice. And what I found out that day
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  was she's really fast and she's really strong for her size.
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  About two weeks later, we went to our first meet at Michigan
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  State University. It was an indoor meet and she
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  had made a couple bars, which was cool.
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  And then she she went up to jump and she started bending the pole
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  for the first time and she let go when it vent and it flew
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  across the track. And I was really nervous, you
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  know, that feeling as a coach that oh boy, you know, she's
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  only been doing this for a couple weeks and I might lose
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  her. And she popped up and she ran
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  across the track and grabbed the pole and, and came back and
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  said, boy, that was weird. And what, what can I do
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  differently? And you know, all, all coaches
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  know the answer, what you could do differently.
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  Just hang on to the poll. But that moment told me
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  everything. She wasn't rattled.
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  She was ready to learn. And so, so, you know, just
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  finding some kid out of my math classroom was, was an exciting
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  time. Each year I at the beginning of
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  the season, the first week of the year, I try to bring around
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  30 to 35 pole vaulters to our team.
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  We're a pretty big team combined between boys and girls.
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  We have over 300 athletes each year.
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  So bringing 10% over the team to try it isn't, isn't that
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  outrageous. We really try to get about 10
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  kids to stick each year out of our group.
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  That gives us a vault crew around 25 or so by the time we
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  have some, some kids that by the time we're senior year decide
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  to, to not do it anymore. So, so we line them up, we walk
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  them through a few basic drills and, and we get them.
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  We, we line up all these new pole vaulters that we have.
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  OK, hold as high as you can with your left hand, put it on your
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  right shoulder, grab the pole with your right hand, put it
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  over your head. Make sure your right arm's tall.
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  We go through some basic drills, 5 to 10 minutes of basic drills.
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  Then we throw them in line with the rest of the pole vaulters.
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  And so they sit in the back of the line and they kind of get to
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  watch the kids in front of them. Often times they're way better
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  than them, but they're they're going to be in their first time.
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  So as soon as they get to the front of the line, I put the
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  boys at 32 feet, I put the girls at 30 feet.
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  We're looking for a three left approach on that very first day.
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  Sometimes it's 4 lefts or five lefts, but, but we, we, we get
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  them there, we show them, remind them how to hold it.
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  We put their hands on it. And then that's where the fun
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  begins. We, we yell out to the entire
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  field house and we might have, you know, 150 kids, you know,
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  doing various things in the field house.
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  Hey, everybody, I got John Smith here and John Smith, this is
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  going to be his first time ever pole vaulting.
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  Let's put our hands together. And so John's there at 32 feet
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  and I'm whispering in his ear. OK, buddy, he got ready to go.
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  He got your hands here and they're all clapping.
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  The whole, the whole crew is clapping.
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  I got everybody with a, a rhythmic clap going, getting
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  ready for John Smith. And John's nervous and his hands
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  are sweaty, and then he takes off and he goes and he jumps and
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  he and he lands in the pit. Sometimes he's on the wrong side
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  of the pole. Sometimes he let go of the pole
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  altogether. And we have everybody clap.
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  Yeah, way to go, John. And then we do it again for
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  every one of my beginners. And essentially the, the, the
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  point is, we want to get to that place, that stage where we're at
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  someday in the pole vault, where everybody's clapping for us.
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  Maybe it's the state finals, maybe it's wherever, but that
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  rhythmic clap is coming. Maybe it's the Olympics and that
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  rhythmic clap is coming and, and they get to start their career
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  that way and they have a lot of fun.
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  And on that day, those days are always really exciting.
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  At Ek, we're building more than just a vault squad.
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  We're building a vault culture like it's a, it's a, it's a real
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  team. So we want to make them feel
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  like they're part of something. We call it the best fraternity
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  in sports. We carry usually around 2025
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  kids by the by the end of the season and some kids walk away
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  and that's OK. But, but if they stay, we coach
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  them up. You know, with the, with the
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  beginners, we jump a lot from three steps.
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  We get a lot of reps in and we and we try to get them over that
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  initial fear. And if and if you're not fearful
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  a little bit when you first start pole vaulting, you're
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  probably some sort of a sociopath.
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  You be probably should be checked out.
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  It, it is, it will make you nervous.
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  And so we're trying to get that initial just fear to go away a
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  little bit so we can do some teaching.
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  So a lot of three-step approaches on our beginners.
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  Not everyone needs to start the pole vault.
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  This is always a thing. Not everyone needs to start in
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  middle school. These days, the pole vault seems
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  like earlier and earlier people are pole vaulting.
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  It's, you know, I'm not afraid to take a sophomore or a junior
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  even sometimes we've taken seniors on.
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  Not all kids are ready for it. When they're younger, they're
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  not strong enough. They're not developed enough.
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  And so sometimes it's, it's good to wait, you know, and, and The
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  thing is, if they're fast and strong and tough enough, they'll
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  catch up. I, I believe I can really get
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  most girls over 9 feet and most boys over 12 feet if they just
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  stick with it from their freshman year to their senior
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  year. I have, I really feel
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  comfortable in, in saying that. And, and those, those will score
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  in most conference meets. It takes time, it takes
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  patience, but if they buy in, the rewards are huge.
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  My final advice for coaches, if you want to build a vault crew
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  at your school, first start short and safe. 3 left
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  approaches. Make sure they're comfortable
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  landing into the pit a lot before you move their grip up
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  the pole or before you move back steps.
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  Make sure that you're you're doing things in a safe, safe
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  manner. Make it fun, keep the mood
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  light, celebrate the effort. You know, keep that growth
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  mindset going in those kids. Every single vault that's ever
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  come down the runway has something wrong with it.
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  Yes, even Mono Duplantis is working on something every time
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  he comes down the runway. It's OK to to give them one good
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  teaching cue each time and and focus on on keeping it fun.
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  Use the downtime. Teach athletes how to be
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  students of the sport. Listen to podcasts, watch
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  videos, go to clinics. Don't just pole vault.
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  Become a pole vaulter. Pobo is a cruel lover.
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  Every meet ends on a mess and every vault can be better.
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  It's it will tear your heart out.
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  But the real win is building something bigger than the bars
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  being cleared. It's watching shy kids grow into
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  fearless athletes. It's the culture around the pit
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  of, of camaraderie and and friendship and those those last
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  forever. It's the bonds between team
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  mates. It's it's hearing the crowd clap
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  for someone trying it for the very first time.
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  So I'll ask you, are you looking for a pole vaulter or Are you
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  ready to build a vault culture? Because if you are, you're not
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  just coaching an event, you're changing lives.
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  If you enjoyed this podcast, I've been writing a book called
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  Beyond the Finish Line, The Art of Transformational Coaching.
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  It's filled with stories like this about growth, failure,
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  leadership, and legacy. When the time is right, I'd love
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  to share more. Thanks for listening and go out
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  and grab yourself a pole of altar.
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  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Thanks for joining us for this
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  episode in the Youth and beginner series Powered by Coach
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