Beach Vaulting

Jersey Jumps Beach Vault

By:Samantha Kaplan

On August 1st, I left my house in New Paltz, NY at 9:00 am to drive down to Seaside Heights, NJ for the Jersey Jumps beach vault, so I decided that the meet would be a good topic for my first article. The Jersey Jumps meet started on Friday, the first, with the Women's elite and Men's masters (over 40) categories. Special guests included Jenn Suhr, women's indoor world record holder and Olympic gold medalist and Lawrence Johnson, Olympic silver medalist. Even though Suhr did not end up competing because of an Achilles injury, she did warm up with a 3-step, as seen in the video.

Because I am writing for the women's pole vault department, I am going to talk about day 2 of the meet, specifically the three women's high school divisions and the weather catastrophe that could have ruined the meet if the competitors weren't dedicated vaulters with high spirits and determination. 

The three women's high school divisions were supposed to be novice A, novice B, and championship, with the novice groups competing on separate pits in the morning and the championship in the evening, with college divisions competing the following day. When the novice groups arrived at 8 am to warm up for a 10 am start, it was pouring rain with a 20 mph head wind. Vaulters took shelter in restaurants on the boardwalk. People walking by could barely stand because of the wind, but the troubling forecast did not make anyone lose hope.

A few hours later it was clear the wind would be a head wind all day, so Mike Pascuzzo, meet director, made the decision to turn the pits around. All three boxes, pits, and standards were moved from the left to the right side of the beach. With the help of many coaches and vaulters, what could have been a huge task that could have taken hours was accomplished in about an hour. Warm up finally began around 3:00 and competition around 4:00, but all three women's high school divisions had to share one runway, giving it 60+ vaulters, and the meet only reached 10 feet for us girls before it was too dark. The vaulters were encouraged to stay in a hotel or come back the next day to continue competing, but sadly many could not.

The 2014 Jersey Jumps shows how even after 6 years of everything going right, it can always go wrong. Even after 6 years of a tail wind in one direction, it can turn into a head wind the next. Pole vaulters are some of the most dedicated athletes out there. With the expenses of poles and practice, traveling with giant, inconvenient sticks, and being the highest people at the track meet, the Jersey Jumps dilemma, that may have cancelled any other beach sporting event, adds to the list as to why vaulters are the most dedicated, brave, and just plain awesome people out there. Keep jumping, vaulters, rain or shine!

Eat, Sleep, PV, Repeat,

Samantha Kaplan

Check out these links:

Vertical Adventures Website (they run beach vault): http://www.verticaladventures.org/index.cfm?bhcp=1

Mike Pascuzzo contact info (runs all Vertical Adventures camps including On the Road Track and Field World Tour...which was awesome):http://www.verticaladventures.org/contact.cfm

Pole Vault Spikes Guide

A Beginners Guide to PV Spikes

By Devin Miller

Edited by Peter Chapman

    This "article" is for beginning pole vaulters or really anyone who is curious as to why you have to specifically go out and buy pole vault spikes. Not sprint spikes or mid distance spikes, but pole vault spikes.

 What is arguably the most important aspect to pole vault spikes is the heel to toe cushioning. This thick outer sole you find on pole vault spikes is there because we, as pole vaulters, have to jump in order to propel ourselves over ridiculous heights.

The sole cushions our feet and aids in preventing injury to our legs and feet from repetitive jumping.

Another aspect to many pole vaulting spikes is a strap in order to lock down your mid-foot. The reason for this is because you want every movement to be precise when running down the runway and you want to be locked down into the shoe in order to get the best use out of the spikes in your shoe.

 

Spike Placement:

Almost every single pole vault shoe has a certain spike orientation in the forefoot. This placement allows for us to generate the greatest speed when running down the runway. Avoid high jump spikes that have spikes in the heel. These encourage running more on your heels and slows you down drastically affecting your vault.

Buying Spikes:

When it comes to purchasing pole vault spikes there is a lot of advertising and marketing in your face. The best advice I can give is to find what feels right for you. If the Nike PV line of shoes doesn't feel right on your feet then don’t buy them just because you see most people wearing them at meets. Go to a running store and try on as many options as you can and choose what feels the best for you. Thank you and good luck!