Vaulting in the Big Leagues

So this week is insane due to tests, presentations, projects, etc. so i thought i would give an update as i procrastinate from studying for my calc test that is tomorrow, while sitting in chem lecture. my last final is may 13th, and i am both excited and sad to see my freshman year come to an end. When people told me college goes by so fast, i did not believe them, but having experienced it, i can’t believe its 1/4 over already!

Although track wise my year has pretty much sucked, i am kind of glad i got my injuries out of the way now, and hopefully the next few years will be injury free! i do come out of this year with the indoor school record, but i jumped it with unknown stress fractures the plus side is that my coach is trying to get my indoor season back so that i still have four full indoor and outdoor seasons of competing left. this is kind of up in the air though because i jumped in 4 meets this winter, and also jumped at Empire 8′s, which is just about half way through our season. So hopefully with a letter from the athletic doctor saying he prohibited me from competing is enough to get me my season back. and if i do the 5 year masters program at Stevens, then i will be here for another 4 track seasons!

As of Monday i have been cleared to start running again. Although i feel healed, i am somewhat afraid to start training again. If i am not totally healed and start running too early, the stress fractures could return right away and i will be out for another 3 months. I have been going to physical therapy to keep up my leg strength while not being able to run and jump, but that is now over and now it is time to start lightly running, biking, and slowly working myself up to be able to sprint down the runway again. Hopefully this fear of re injury will go away as i start training and i will be able to jump all summer in preparation of next indoor season.

As for my summer, I am applying to be a counselor for the summer program ECOES at Stevens, that i did as a junior in high school, and if i get that position, it is approximately 5 weeks that i will be at school counseling high school students. I hear from them either later this week or early next week, and i really hope i get the job. The rest of my summer will be spent at Patriot Pole Vault! I can’t wait to see you guys again and can’t wait to practice with the club again. it has been too long!

Well kids, near the end of the semester here at UML. You know when you’re tired when you turn down the volume on your laptop and expect your iPod volume to go down. Yep, it’s that time of year.  So I’m spitting this entry out real quick before my Education & Multicultural Diversity class @ 9:30.

I competed at the Brown Invitational yesterday indoors.  With the weather being so awful, slippery runways, and puddles in front of pits, they moved the pole vault & high jump into their indoor facility a couple miles away.  Being told this on the way down (because I told them there was no way I was competing in the pouring rain and getting hurt…what a diva ) they also told me that there would be a shuttle available to bring us over.  Well, when I got there I found out they didn’t have one.  So myself & the two high jumpers scrambled to get ourselves over there.  Tensions were very high because we were worried that they started the events early.  Luckily they didn’t, and the competition in the women’s vault was just myself and another girl from Brown.

I felt REALLY GOOD though.  I only jumped 10’6″ but I even surprised myself on how well I was doing.  I was really moving the 12′ 140 that I usually jump on and might want to look into moving up a pole this week.  I felt really quick and aggressive on the runway.  I was at least a foot over 10′ & 10’6″, but of course when the bar gets up to 11′, I freak out and started plowing through the thing. HAHAHAHA.  I get so worked up and excited.  I really need to learn to calm myself down. That’s when everything started getting sloppy.

I can’t believe NE-10s is this Saturday! WHAT?! Where did the season go?!  I want to win this one! I want to go out with a bang.

Speaking of going out with a bang, I feel so much better about my decision to transfer.  I had a visit to one of the schools and I had a blast! I had so much fun and was really impressed with their program and school.  I definitely want to go there, hands down–now all I have to do is get accepted.  I still have two other schools I applied to, because who knows what could happen, but I can really see myself at this school.

Oh, and by the way. I’m not saying schools until I’m accepted and enrolled. Hehehe.  If you want, you can talk to me personally.

BUT HEY! It’s championship time! So stay healthy everyone and I’ll see most of you very soon

Well this past weekend was a blast. Vaulted at Springfield college on a perfect vaulting day: 60 degrees out with a tailwind. PR’d in the 200 with a 22.8 and vaulted my old PR of 15’6″ with one attempt (easy right?). I was over 16′ twice, once with an actual swing and the second with a cannonball technique (go figure) but I couldn’t get the bar to stay up. SO who’s going to challenge me? Someone’s got to step it up… c’mon who wants it?

Well, this was certainly an experience.

I am blogging, sitting here, relaxing, in beautiful Old Orchard Beach, Maine enjoying the rest of the long weekend that both the states of Massachusetts and Maine celebrate—thank you, Paul Revere. And marathon runners.

Yesterday I competed in the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton University.  Yes, they did decide to bring me to this meet, and I was very excited but since this was my first time traveling with the team I felt like I was led into this thing blind.  I had no idea what to expect.  After a six hour ride from Lowell to Princeton, with plenty of DVDs in tow, car/bus-sick vomiting teammates, truck stops, and stretching across two seats to get some shut eye, we finally arrived at the hotel.  Our 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite was home for the night for myself and 3 other girls.  Not gonna lie, it was kind of weird sharing a bed with a teammate I barely knew (KEEP YOUR COMMENTS TO YOURSELF ). Even for one night we had a bit of drama trying to agree on making the suite as comfortable for all four of us, e.g.: the temperature of the room.  *Sigh* Women…

The meet was over the span of two days, I wasn’t competing until day 2.  My roommate raved about this upcoming meet and how every year she has gone it was beautiful weather–well, not this year.  Both days we shivered and bundled up under blankets and sweatshirts with the wind whipping at our faces.

The first night while watching the men’s steeplechase, I found myself shoulder to shoulder with the head coaches of a team that I will be on a recruit visit next week.  Not sure if they knew who I was, because I’ve been in contact with the jumps coach, I didn’t say anything to them.  They certainly had plenty to say about me, UMass Lowell, and my interest in transferring–and let’s just say it wasn’t inviting AT ALL.  I’m not sure whether they knew it was me standing next to them that started the conversation about me, or they were completely oblivious to the fact that I was RIGHT THERE and they were saying terrible things…but it was definitely a wake up call.  Or for all I know, the knew it was me and decided they were going to say these things anyway!  It was along the lines of “I don’t know what Coach _______ sees in her.” “If she’s been in Lowell so long, why doesn’t she just stay there.” “We don’t need her.”  I understand that I may not look like the best recruit on a sheet of paper, after three years with another school (which both academically and athletically, I’m still a sophomore). I understand that you’re not going to have everyone like you, but the fact that what these two coaches were saying didn’t match up with the coach that I have been in contact with AT ALL.  I don’t want to be duped.  I don’t want to be made a fool of.  It took my legs out from me for a bit, and I had to excuse myself from the rest of the team and take some time to regain focus for the next day. [Can you tell I'm being extremely careful not to reveal the school? ]

Competing at the meet the next day the weather was better with the few moments of sunshine that came through, but the wind could not make up its mind on which direction it wanted to go.  Opening height was 10’4″, and I cleared it third attempt.  That’s all I cleared for the day, but I was just happy I wasn’t sitting around for three hours waiting for my height.

I spoke to the jumps coach again about my visit, he then praised me again for all the potential I have and how he couldn’t wait for me to come out for my visit next week…still confusing to me.  He met my father (who drove down for the meet, only to show up right as I finished my 3rd attempt at 10’10″), expressed his excitement to have me come visit.  I just hope I’m not getting fed bullsh–ehh…crap.

Coming up this Thursday is an overnight at one of the schools I’m looking to transfer to, the one with the “mixed reviews” we’ll say.  So we’ll see how that goes.  Next Sunday we’ll be competing at Brown. Crossing my fingers for some good weather to get some heights!

Just got back from a rather wet meet. Brenner gave me the option of jumping or not. I figured, why not? I only jumped 10’6″ but given the weather I’m okay with it. Next up is our conference championships in two weeks! Hopefully I’ll get some good practices in before then!

I apologize this isn’t a full fledged blog post or journal entry… I just wanted to say that from here on in I’ve decided that motivation truly does come from within. For any of you out there questioning whether you should run anymore… …do it for your teammates, do it for the highschool or college or club you vault for, do it for all those times in the future when you won’t be able to do it anymore, heck do it for me and all of the coaches that’ve ever taught you anything, but most importantly, DO IT FOR YOURSELF. You are the star of your life. You write your story and don’t let anyone else influence you otherwise. YOU ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER(!) and how your life unfolds is ultimately on you. Do it for yourself and for that fire and passion we’ve all come to know as competitive athletes. The only thing that matters when everything is said and done is whether or not you are happy with the life you’ve lived. Therefore, now is the time to take advantage of the opportunities you may not have when you’re older. So please, as a fellow athlete I urge everyone not to let the bad times get you down, or the unmotivated teammates discourage you from being your best, for when you look back it will all be insignificant and all that will matter is whether you tried your hardest or not, regardless of circumstances. Do it for YOU and show people you have what it takes to be an elite track athlete (that is why we’re here is it not?) I want to really thank everyone who’s helped me out of the funk I was in. Every response I got was much appreciated. I love you all and you guys really are the best; I couldn’t ask for a better vaulting family Finally, I’ll end with a quote that’s always been at the core of my track experience: RUN FAST and JUMP HIGH!!!

Well it’s most certainly been awhile since I’ve posted Miss me? hahaha just kidding. But seriously now, I bet everyone’s thinking oh jeeze here comes another philosophical vaulting post about who knows what and the olympics and cereal boxes… well sort of. Things have most certainly changed since then. Priorities have shifted, people have come and gone, and reasons for being competitive have changed. I’ll get right to the point in saying that I’ve sort of lost my step as far as wanting to compete is being concerned. Well I LOST my step, past tense and currently I’m in the process of getting it back. For those who don’t know I cleared 15’9″ at the Indoors All New England competition and split 49.0 in the 4 by 4 at the same meet. Personally it’s not something I expected to happen but I had had the goals of going sub 50 and getting a new PR for awhile and it was nice to finally have achieved those goals. However, this came with its vices as well. So as it turns out, most people compete in track for two reasons: 1. Being competitive for themselves due to an innate competitive spirit and 2. competing for their team that’s depending on them and also looking to them to do better. Obviously 2. has priority over 1. in most cases. This however, is where I’m having trouble. After meeting my goals indoor, I found a lack of motivation to continue to compete… due mostly to the fact that the WPI team this year has been everything but aka everyone’s competing for themselves under one team name. Obviously that’s something that I’m currently working on getting back with the help of Coach Chabot and the captains (who haven’t seemed to show much interest in leading lately aside from one). Needless to say though, this lack of team spirit was very discouraging and it got to the point where (just last week) I had to take a week off because I wasn’t competing at a level of competitiveness that I myself was happy with. Now as said before there are things being done as far as the team is concerned to fix the reasons why this happened team-side but for myself it’s proving to be a bit more difficult. I’ve always had a team to fall back on and keep pushing me forward and now they just aren’t there. Granted this’ll be getting better over the next few weekends and I’ll be working on helping myself out a bit more as well, but my reasons for posting all this is because I had a question for anyone who’s read this far into my post. Actually it’s more of a request… I’d like anyone reading this to give me a reason to be the best I can be when I compete in Track no matter what obstacles I may face in the future. Why do you think I should continue to compete to the best of my ability? And it can be anything personal to the most general answers. For example something as simple as “Compete for me” all the way to the meaning of life

P.S. Totally just spilled water all over myself… don’t you just hate those wide top water bottles that you go to drink out of and put it up just a little too much and it spills all over your shirt… it’s annoying… maybe it’s just me

Well my meet in TN didn’t go exactly as I had hoped. I only cleared my opening height of 11’. I was on the 13’ 155 for that jump. For my attempts at 11’6” I went on my brand new 13’7” 145. I think it’ll be a good pole for me once I get used to it. I’m trying to stay positive, but I’m beginning to get really frustrated again. I feel like everyone including myself had expected me to be going higher by now. I was 1 of only 5 people that the coaches chose to go to this meet because it was so competitive and I feel like I let them down. Hopefully things will start looking up soon.

Yesterday was the George Davis Invitational at UMass Lowell, our one home meet each year.

Once again it turned into another day of waiting.  With starting height at 7ft and I was coming in at 10ft, it was a long wait.  I was very frustrated after feeling great during warm ups and completely losing it during the actual competition.  I only vaulted 10ft on third attempt (which usually is no problem!), and it was a very ugly jump…and so were the rest of my jumps.  I will take any advice/tips on waiting for the higher heights and keeping yourself “in the game”—PLEASE!

During warm ups, one of the female competitors was apparently having a tough time and started throwing a tantrum right on the runway.  From what I could piece together from the tantrum and the fact that I’ve seen her in our conference meets, it was because she was vaulting without her coach there.  At one point she stomped her feet and yelled, “THAT’S IT! I CAN’T POLE VAULT WITHOUT A COACH!”  1.) I shook my head because she was behaving like a child and should have been ashamed to do that in uniform—or in general. 2.) My brother said, “My sister does it almost every meet!”  Kind of made me chuckle.  She completely scratched from the event and didn’t compete.  But more to the point of my story: remember that you are representing yourself and your school when wearing your uniform and to do so in a positive manner—even if you’re having an off day.  We all get frustrated, but please don’t throw a tantrum and throw poles and scream at people.  And that goes for EVERY competitor: college, high school, clubs, unattached, etc.  Sorry, that really struck a nerve with me.  It was completely unnecessary.  I’m sure none of you would do that anyway

Well, the transfer process is underway.  My applications are completed, and I sent one out this morning.  I need a bit more cash to send out the other ones, but I’ve been contacted by a few coaches and already have a scheduled visit.  I guess it’ll be a fun little surprise to figure out where I’ll be headed next fall.  It’s  a big decision and I’m thankful for all the love, support, and advice that has been sent my way. <3

Princeton Invitational next weekend —if they decide to send me.  Last year they didn’t.  But if they do, I’ll be traveling with the team to New Jersey and staying there for two days.  So we’ll see….

Going into my meeting with my head coach yesterday, I knew it would be one out of two outcomes: “Yes, Chrissy, we’re going to do everything we can to keep you here.” or “You’re right, it’s not fair. Let’s set you up with a program that can support you.”

Well, it was the second one.  It was an extremely difficult conversation to have because I didn’t want them to feel like I was turning my back on them completely, but I wanted to create an open dialogue to let them know where I was coming from.  My coach completely agreed that it wasn’t fair to me and it was unexpected for me to turn from a recruited sprinter into an independent vaulter.  I felt like such an idiot sitting in the office crying, and he called and sent out releases from the NCAA Compliance office while I was sitting there.  “Let’s get this process moving, we can probably get you somewhere by next fall.”

To some of you that may not know the NCAA rules with transferring, in Divisons 1 & 2 you need signed releases from your current school to be sent to the other schools your are looking at to give permission to recruit.  There’s a huge handbook of rules and sometimes you may have to sit out for an entire year after making a transfer.  When asked, my coach said that really was only for nationally renowned programs and sports like football and basketball where national tournaments would create drama.  He said he would sign anything so nothing stood in my way of competing next year at another school.  I’m extremely grateful for his understanding.  “I’m not gonna bullsh*t you. You know that. It’s not fair.  I’m gonna tell you exactly where is good and what coaches I trust you with. Keep in contact with me and we’ll get you where you need to be–because if you’re just gonna end up at another school where you’re going to have the same situation, we’re keeping you.”

So, now I guess I’m looking for new schools and programs.  If you had asked me two years ago if this is where I would be, I would have laughed.  I guess I say that a lot.  Life has a funny way of taking really tight turns when you least expect it.  Now I have a long road ahead of me. I feel like a senior in high school again–and this is all if schools actually want me!  Next year is so up in the air right now and it’s scary, but a good scary.

I’m ready for the new road ahead. Stick around, it’s gonna be an interesting trip.