How pro vaulters overcome issues we all face!

Running Through During Warm-ups

Many vaulters, both beginners and experienced, struggle with run throughs at some point of their career, often due to nerves, lack of focus, or overthinking. Just because some vaulters have made it to the big leagues, doesn’t mean they don’t have practices where they get frustrated with their performance.

How Pros Overcome It: Pro vaulters also run through at times, but they handle it by staying calm and treating these moments as part of the process. They understand that sometimes taking a step back and moving to a shorter run, for example, doesn’t mean they are losing progress, they use it as an opportunity to work on other aspects of the vault that they might have overlooked before and therefore grow as an athlete. They don’t see this challenge as failure, they approach the issue tactically and keep their head cool. Maybe you should do the same :D

Fear of Going Up a Bigger Pole

The Issue: Moving up to a bigger pole is often intimidating. Many vaulters hesitate, seeing it as a challenge they’re not ready for or feeling unsure about how to manage it.

How Pros Overcome It: Pros approach going up a pole with a mindset of opportunity rather than fear. They see it as a tool to help them jump higher and break records, not just as a hurdle to overcome. Their positive perception allows them to embrace the change with confidence. There are so many aspects of the vault to worry about so pole choice shouldn’t be one of them. They move up a pole when it is absolutely necessary meaning they’ve squeezed everything out of the previous pole. They see the decision of pole change as a logical option, not something they are on the fence on. If your coach tells you to go up a pole, it is most likely an educated decision, so trust that the jump on the previous pole is sufficient and focus on your cues instead of worrying what could happen if everything doesn’t go perfect. You most likely don’t even have to do the perfect jump to make the next pole work. If it helps, try to tape all your poles the same so it almost feels like you’re not even going up a pole.

Plateauing in Performance

The Issue: Hitting a plateau where no progress is being made is frustrating for any vaulter. It can feel like no matter how hard you try, improvement is impossible.

How Pros Overcome It: Pro vaulters deal with plateaus by trusting the process. Pole vault is a very objective sport so your value as an athlete is determined by how high you jump. Instead of worrying about hitting PRs, you need to build confidence by celebrating small wins, which will eventually compound into greater confidence and actually make a huge difference in your career.

Hope this was somewhat eye-opening haha!

– Eerik 🔨

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