16-Apr-2021      By Travis Geopfert

Determining An Athletes Pole Vault Approach: 8 Step Approach Development

This video teaches you how to determine the distance of your 8 step short approach run for the pole vault. The athlete is going to pick a starting point on the pole vault runway. At that point, you're going to take the zero end of the tape measure and extend the tape measure out. After that the coach is going to mark the athletes eighth step, their take off step, numerous times. From there, we're trying to find a consistent take-off point where the athlete likes the rhythm of the approach, and the coach feels that the rhythm and the pole drop and take off are all in the proper position. From there, the athlete is going to stand on that marked point and extend their top hand directly above their head. Then the coach is going mark where the pole tip is on the track. Where that pole tip is, you're going to take that distance directly over to the tape measure. This is the full distance of an 8 step, short approach measured from the back of the pole vault box back down the runway to the starting point of the approach.

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