4-11-11 Monday night practice summary

Calvin & Marcelo - Great practice session on Monday, much improve for not jumping at all the week before due to the prep-up for Arcadia Invitational. I see big improvement on the runway, great speed, acceleration, and lots of power at take-off, which is exactly what I need to see during every practices. Calvin, those take-offs were much better by pressing the left arm out. It's nice to see you blew through those 13-ft/165#/170# during the warm-up jumps then immediately went for the 14-ft/140#/145#/150# poles, respectively, so keep it up! Marcelo, same with you, great intensity on the runway, which helped you move up poles quickly, 13-ft/145#/150#/155#. However, after watching the videos over and over again, here are a few things that you need to put focus to:

1. Take-off: don't give in on the left arm, keep pressing both arms up simultaneously! You can improve your take-off by doing the following: be active on those arms starting on those last 4-left, take-off step needs to be right on or better if is a few inches outside (Marcelo-your take-off are often inside, let's fix it). Let's improve the take-off angle a bit, which means arms should be up early and take-off should be execute before the tip of the pole hits the back of the box.
2. Trail-leg: maintain that trail-leg at take-off so you can build that momentum for the swing. Calvin, good job for trying to keep that trail-leg straight for as long as you can but definitely can do better on transferring that strong trail-leg into the swing. Marcelo, video showed how quickly you pick-up that trail-leg and start swinging up right from take off. We got to try harder on this. (http://vimeo.com/22379359)
3. Swing: get to vertical as quickly as possible. Both of you are sitting in a fish bowl, you can take a look at the video yourself. Can everyone put more effort on abs workout? Let's improve lower body mechanics and try to incorporate overall abs sessions during your weight sessions. (http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9366)

The rest of you girls and guys, great job jumping Monday night! I'm impressed with all the improvements on the runway. I need all you guys to continue with pole drills off the runway before start jumping during each practice. It's no need to rush onto the runway. Pole runs are must and it is the only way you can be more efficient accelerating with the pole in hands. It's simple, the faster you can run with high knee & tall form, the higher you can grip-up on the pole, which allow you to jump higher. Of course, there are many other components to it but let's take one step at a time. Btw, do your abs workout after your daily workout or just do it on your own at home, like that "rockback drill" some of you tried the other night!