Vaulting in the Big Leagues

Before settling into writing an essay I forgot to pass in last week (oops), I decided it was time to update a bit.

The semester is starting to wind down and I can’t believe how quickly it has passed.  I thought it was the spring semesters that seemed to fly by, but fall is certainly proving that wrong.  I already feel quite at home with my new life as a UMass Minuteman (woman? gender confusion).  Thinking about the semester so far, one overwhelming feeling of achievement has stayed with me the entire time: I feel like an athlete again.

The first couple of weeks of training were difficult. I was extremely sore. Practices were everyday, and even at 6:45am a couple times a week, and I’ve never done so many lunges in my life.  Those first two weeks my quads and butt were so sore I wished that toilet seats were higher.  The biggest hurdle I’ve had to overcome (get it? it’s a track and field reference) in my training is running.  Injuries have prevented me from doing a lot of running workouts and my tarsal tunnel syndrome in my left foot is always on my mind.  I haven’t actually done a running workout since my freshman year (the first one. the real one).  I’m happy to say my foot has given me no problems at all!  I’m the strongest I’ve ever been in my life and loving every minute of it.  I look forward to going to practice everyday and actually feel weird on days off.  I feel the need to do SOMETHING!  It’s a great feeling.  I don’t feel as useless or inhibited. I’m not sure whether my foot is actually doing better or I’ve just gotten over the fear of something happening and being out of the season completely.  Either way, I’m extremely happy in my training and can’t wait to see what happens this season.

I love our team–especially our squad of female vaulters and it feels amazing to not be the only female vaulter for once!  I guess I love the guys too.  Within the team I have been somewhat appropriately named “Mama Silvar” thanks to Mr. Stephen (Stevie) Volk.  The freshmen certainly like to joke about my age and I guess I am always looking out for them.  It feels amazing to be a part of such a great family and working hard at what I love.

Classes are going okay.  Coach Jackson likes to remind me, “Junior year is tough” and I smirk and add: “again.”  This is sort of my junior year all over again and I’m excited to say that I only have 6 more required classes to graduate….WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!  The rest of my time here I just need to take classes to fill with UMass Amherst credits instead of Lowell and take enough classes each semester to remain eligible for track.  I registered for classes in my first semester of my first senior year on Friday–which is hilarious to tell people.  Sorry guys, you’re stuck with me for another year after this.

Hey everyone!

Although I’m technically still in preseason, we’ve finally taken poles out! So far we’ve had two vault specific days where we just do pole runs and some plant drills. Unfortunately I don’t get to actually jump until December 1st, the first day we have time reserved at Wheaton College. And then right after that, I have my first meet on the 4th! That’s going to be interesting. For now I’m doing a lot of sprint workouts, long recovery runs, and plyos at the end of the week. Remember how plyos were fun in high school? Yeah not anymore, they hurt. But theyre getting better each time, so I can’t complain.

So, with three vault practices completed so far, i thought i would give a quick update on how the training with Apex has been going, and the differences i have noticed in practice.

The first day, Branko noticed I was kind of disappointed with practice. it was the first practice so i was expecting to get back into it and just jump, but Branko is completely breaking us all down to build us back up. So, we do baby hurdle drills at the beginning of practice, and some walking and running pole plants. All using different techniques than what i’m used to. Then, we do several zero step runs which i actually like a lot. It is helping me push out my left hand, like i have never been good at before. Then, we do one step drills, holding the pole above our heads, and emphasizing our left arms. Then, we go to 2 step runs, with a plant. These are all without swinging. Then, we finally move on to 3 step runs. We start with not swinging, and after we get it right, we move on to the swing.

There are so many drills and techniques that i am basically relearning, or learning for the first time than what i am used to from Patriot, but i think it is good to have a different perspective on coaching the vault. It is definitely working so far!

So the ride to the place we practice takes anywhere from 45 min to 75 min depending on traffic, which is not fun when we dont leave campus until 7. By the time we get there, i am lazy from sitting on the bus. But today i had a great practice. Because I have been vaulting a lot longer than the other vaulters we have on the team, Branko has been accelerating me through the zero, one, and two steps, while the 5 other people from Stevens work more on the very short runs. Today, I got to 3 steps pretty quickly. I started off holding at 9’9″, and was doing everything well so Branko kept moving my grip up. He decided to put up bungees, at 7′, 10′ and 12′. So by the end of practice i was wrapping 10′ while holding at 10’6″ on a 12′ 130 from a 3 step! it was exciting, especially since i have only jumped 3 times since august. I was doing so well, but we had to leave to drive back to school. I could have jumped all night! that is the one thing i dont like so far, is that by the time we get to the facility and warm up, there is only about an hour and 15 min left to vault.

But overall, Branko is great. I can’t wait to start taking longer runs, and holding higher. He said he would love to see me go 11′ this year, but by the way i felt at todays practice, i see bigger goals! ECAC qualifying this year is 10’6″, but nationals is only 12′!!

I’ll keep you posted. My first meet is a month from today, CTC relays in connecticut. I cant wait!