Vaulting in the Big Leagues

So I would just like to start of that after my suboptimal year last year, I kind of forgot that this blog existed…whoops!

Well If you haven’t heard already, I PRed for the first time in 3 and a half years at the beginning of the month. May 27th, 2009 I cleared 10′ for the first time. I then proceeded to do silly things like sprain my ankle and pull my hamstring (most likely a result of having to compensate for my ankle) consecutive years resulting in hitting a stand still in my vault. Then, I went off to college, but the UMass track team had tome budget issues so I didnt have an indoor season and then who ever heard of nice weather in New England in the spring? Nonetheless, I still almost PRed last spring, so by this year, I knew it was bound to happen. I wasn’t expecting it so soon though.

At the beginning of the month, there was the Smith meet. A bunch of us decided to show up and compete unattached for fun since our first real meet isn’t until January 11th. However, since we weren’t competing for UMass, Jackson isn’t allowed to be there so we were left coaching each other and unsurprisingly none of us really have a coach’s eye. Anyways, I won the meet at 10′ so I decided to put the bar to 10’3″ since I had more confidence in that. After 10’3, I went to 10’6, but at that point i was too amped up from already PRing and tired from already having taken a bunch of jumps so they weren’t the best of attempts. I have since cleanly cleared a 10’6 bungee, not that that counts though. I am quite pumped for the way that this season is looking.

Anyways, feel good story so I’m not just talking about my PR. Last year we had Chrissy (the princess of pole vault) jumping 11+ feet and budget issues, so as a result Chrissy was the only female pole vaulter to make the indoor travel roster. Outdoors though, I was given a chance to jump and compete on the travel roster. Sure I did decent last spring considering I was a freshman and freshmen rarely jump right in and get considerably better right away since there soo many differences between high school track and college track and high school and college in general. But yet, at the same time I really wasn’t happy because I knew that that wasn’t really good enough to be able to stay on the team. This fall I came back and had no intentions of giving up though, Even though I had to show up to practice an hour late 3 days a week, I gave the workouts everything I had. As a result and probably combined with the fact that the season hasn’t even started and I have already PRed, I have earned myself a spot on the intersession list, and as long as I keep performing well, I will get to have a full indoor season.

Sooo yeah… we’ll see how this goes!

I’m not super sure if this is legal/kosher, but I’m writing in the college section even though I’m out of college. I’m back in the vault and that’s all that matters, right?

The last time I attended a pole vault practice was in 2010 under my coach at the time, Patrick Swett. At that point, being a full time graphic design student (6 hour day of classes M-F), A student athlete, and playing in a band out in Boston twice a week chalked up to not sleeping or being able to afford rent. I had to let one of them go, and track had to be it. It was really difficult for me, but I had to do it and stopped during winter break 2010-2011. Since then, I hadn’t been near a pole.

But then….

Ingrid and I found out we were neighbors in Somerville/Arlington and went out for ice cream one day. She let me know about all the vault opportunities in the area and I was too interested to not attend at least one this month.

It’s been almost two years since my track resignation, but I’ve stayed in shape and have even been doing hurdles in the meantime. You can’t keep me away.

So yesterday, I took a road trip with Ingrid and Dan Conti out to Shirley for some 360 Gymnastic PV training. IT WAS THE BOMB.COM.

It felt so great to get off the stupid earth again and up where only few dare to go on a stick. After the first couple of shaky jumps and 4 pole-switches, I felt like I hadn’t stopped. Just like riding a bike! Turns out two years is nothing if you keep up a healthy lifestyle and exercise regularly. If you were ever a vaulter and can still run somewhat in control, it’s not too late!

A big thanks to Doug and Patriot PV for making this wonderful opportunity more readily available to athletes in New England. It felt great to be back after all this time but truthfully, if it weren’t for Patriot, I never would have left the ground. It’s an amazing privilege.

I’ll try to stay this time

-Sambo