December 2015 Vaulter Magazine

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Illinois Connection

VAULTER

MAGAZINE

The

Flying Dragons Pole Vault Club

Mark Hollis& Melissa Gergel

December 12th-13th

All ages and skill levels!

Register online at www.FlyingDragonsPV.c om Questions?

MAGAZINE 2015 Call Mike Cockerham at (309) 267-3973 2 VAULTER

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CONTENTS

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FROM THE EDITOR

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GIVING BACK

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THE STANFORD JUMPS CREW

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OPEN MINDED TO MULTIPLE COACHES

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Cover photo by David Kiefer/Stanford Athletics

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FROM THE EDITOR ‘Tis the season—the season to be with family, to be thankful, to play in the snow, to bake Christmas cookies with the family, the season of counting down the days to Christmas!

Hang in there, Christmas Break is almost here! Just kick back and relax next to a warm fire with a cup of hot chocolate, because we have a fun Christmas issue for you!

Vaulter Magazine focused on Christmas Break this issue.

Christmas season is about being thankful and giving. Giving back to your pole-vault community is something you can do to show how grateful you are for the club and high school that has taught you so much. Without your club or high school, you would not be where you are today in the world of pole vault. Check out the article “Giving Back” to see how you can show your appreciation by helping the new vaulters or the little vaultlings this season.

Jake Blankenship - Texas Relays

coach and high school coach.

Sometimes it is hard to listen to several coaches especially when the coaching style is not the same. This month, we have an article telling you how you can be open minded to multiple coaches. Do not shut anyone out, accept the help you can get, that is how you can improve as a pole vaulter.

Stevenson’s alma mater is not a school you want to miss. This school has so much to offer its students and its athletes. You will see this successful team in the future—check them out!

Enjoy our Christmas issue!

There are some Christmas pole vault fun facts as well as some fun ideas to try. We hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and On our cover this month is a nice relaxing Christmas Break.

Another thing that happens the Stanford Elves with their We look forward to starting the over Christmas Break is going two coaches, Santa and the New Year by seeing you all at to your club or high school to Abominable Snowman! Coach the Reno Pole Vault Summit next train. It is then that you will Michael Eskind has a great month! Until then, fly high! have multiple coaches—your lineup of Stanford vaulters this Editor Sadie Lovett club/high school coach and season with some new faces and Sadie@vaultermagazine.com your college coach, or your club some successful returners. Toby

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GIVING BACK By: Vaulter Magazine

During the Christmas season, there is so much to be thankful for: the time off school, being home with your family, Christmas cookies, no homework, home-cooked meals, the list goes on.

Something else to be thankful for is the club or high school that has helped you pole vault. Those in college, you have learned so much from your club and/or high school and is one of the main reasons why you are pole vaulting in college—you could not have done it without your club

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and/or high school. Those in high school, you are learning so much and pole vaulting in college is possible because of what your club coach and/or high school coach has taught you.

How can you show your thanks? Christmas is the season of giving, where you give back and show your thanks. Why not give back to your club or high school team?

Those in college, you’re alumni now and have learned a few things in your first

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Girl Jumpers Vauletr Club Travle Team 2015

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CHRISTMAS FUN FACT Growing up next to a church, Mark Hollis had a parking lot as a driveway. This parking lot would have huge snow piles for them to build giant snow igloos!

Now, every year he and his family will build some kind of fort and have snowball fights.

Mark is always sure to keep up the workouts, and playing in the snow can definitely be a fun workout!

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semester at college or the several years you have been in college. You need to keep your training up, so you are already going to be at your old club or training with your high school team, help with some coaching. Remember when you were young, and the college kids would come back to train, and they would give you some pointers?

Remember how nice it was to have one of the “big kids” help you? You’re a “big kid” now.

The little vaultlings look up to you now. To the young, 5ft jumper, you are a superstar in their eyes and they would soak up any help from you— they want to be just like you.

If you come from a larger club or high school team, it is hard for your coach to watch and help everyone at the same time. If you pitch in and help a few kids, not only will you be a new person to help the little ones, but you will also be a big help to your coach.

For those in high school, you can still help in the same way. You may see all these vaultlings at every practice or the new pole vaulter at every high school practice, but you can still help them. You are older than the vaultlings, you

have been vaulting longer than the new vaulter at school, there is something in pole vault you have overcome and can help them with. Sometimes, when you are frustrated with yourself, it is nice to get some ideas from a teammate or older club member. You are not being bossy, you are giving them ideas from another pole vaulter’s prospective. Also, if you’re one of the older kids, the vaultlings look up to you.

Whether you jump 8 feet higher than them or 2 feet higher, the younglings look up to you and want to be jumping just as high as you are.

Your coaches will appreciate your help. The vaultlings and new vaulters will welcome another vaulter’s perspective.

The vaultlings will love help from one of the big kids, and their parents will be happy you were willing to help their kid improve.

When you are encouraging, and positive they will want to try anything you tell them.

Then, when you watch them improve with each jump, it won’t just be for your club or high school, it will be for you too.

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Flying Dragons Pole Vault Family

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Boy Jumpers Vauletr Club Travle Team 2015

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Jenny Wartinbee Vaulter Club

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VAULTERGreek Yogurt, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:

MAGAZINE

A Healthy Sweet from Mary Saxer Ingredients: - 1½ cups all-purpose flour - 1 teaspoon baking soda - ½ teaspoon baking powder - ½ teaspoon salt - ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon - ½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt - 1/3 cup honey - 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed - ¼ cup ( ½ stick) butter, melted - ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce - 2 large eggs - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - 4 small ripe bananas, mashed (or 3 large) - 1 cup chocolate chips - Add Christmas colored chocolate chips to make the bread more festive!

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2 In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, honey, brown sugar, butter, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk in the mashed bananas. Then add the dry ingredients and whisk those in until everything is well combined.

4. Once everything is well blended, add chocolate chips.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 minutes, or until bread is golden and tests done with a toothpick inserted into the center come out clean.

6. Cool at least for 20 minutes, then turn the bread out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

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This yummy bread is not only fun to make and festive, but it will also fool your sweet tooth into thinking you’re splurging on the holiday treats!

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THE STANFORD JUMPS CREW By: Sadie Lovett

In the heart of Silicon Valley, just south of San Francisco, is the Stanford University Cardinals.

This season, Stanford will have four women and four men vaulters, one decathlete, and one post-collegiate decathlete. “I couldn’t be more excited for the year ahead as we have a veteran group of men returning along with an exciting group of young women joining the group!,” says Coach Michael Eskind.

• • • •

Dylan Duvio © Mike McCarthy

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• • • • •

The Stanford jumps crew includes: Dalton Duvio (5th year senior) Garrett Starkey (redshirt junior) Dan Emery (redshirt junior) Dylan Duvio (sophomore indoors, junior outdoors) Harrison Williams (sophomore decathlete) Taylore Jaques (sophomore) Kaitlyn Merritt (freshman) Nicole Summersett (freshman) Jackie McNulty (freshman)

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The vaulters train with all of the jumpers on the team. “We have a great group of athletes and people in our group,” says Coach Eskind. Some leaders of the jumps crew include Dylan Duvio, Garrett Starkey, Dalton Duvio, and Harrison Williams.

Dylan has a PR of 18’1 ¾ (5.53m), which makes him #2 in Stanford School History. He was 3rd at the NCAA Championships and he tied for 9th at the USATF Championships as the youngest athlete on the field. Garrett Starkey is another leader on the team. He has a PR of 17’3 (5.26m), which is #5 on Stanford’s all-time list.

Garrett has been a multiple time conference scorer. He also had a tremendous sophomore season after missing the previous year due to injury according to Coach Eskind. “Garrett is poised for a breakout junior season,” he said. Senior Dalton Duvio is the quiet leader of the group. He is #10 on the Stanford school history list with a PR of 17’ (5.18m). He is a multiple time conference scorer as well as a regional qualifier.

Harrison Williams has a PR of 16’8 (5.08m) and has a Decathlon PR of 7,806. He is the school record holder in the decathlon after breaking twotime Olympic Gold medalist Bob Mathias’ record. Harrison is the American Junior Record Holder in the decathlon. He

Taylore Jaques © David Kiefer

also won the Pan Am Junior decathlon in Edmonton, Canada.

Stanford itself is hard to get into. For the class of 2018, out

of 40,000 applicants, only 5% were accepted. Stanford’s acceptance rate is the lowest of any University in the country, and that makes the recruit-

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Demi Payne - Texas Relays 2015

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CHRISTMAS FUN FACT A fun Christmas tradition Demi Payne and her family have is on Christmas day, she, her two sisters, and little brother have a “family vault sesh” in their back yard.

The family also has a 40yard dash where their dad thinks he can beat everyone. On occasion, he does win, but that could have something to do with all the kids laughing so hard while running!

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ing process very challenging.

Stanford looks for the best of the best—students with nearly perfect GPAs, a long list of AP courses, and excellent ACT or SAT scores. “Stanford places a huge emphasis on reading the applicant’s essays and letters of recommendation. This is often where a student who might not have the best test scores or the highest GPA can shine and show our admissions office that they truly want to be at Stanford and that they have the academic fortitude to not only handle the academic work here, but they can thrive here as well,” Coach Eskind tells us.

Along with excelling academically, athletes must be ready to handle one of the toughest pole vault conferences in the nation—the Pac

12 conference. “If an athlete is competing for All Pac 12 honors (top 3), then they are most likely competing to qualify for the NCAA championships, which is of the utmost importance to our program,” Coach Eskind says, “I need to see women jumping 12’9 – 13’6 and I need to see men jumping 16’ – 17’6. I always want to see athletes who are consistent over the course of a season. I also want to see athletes compete at the most competitive meets that they can compete in as I feel that this is great preparation for stepping into collegiate vaulting.”

Stanford being on a quarter system, Coach Eskind started his 10th year as a collegiate coach this September. In 2012, Coach Eskind took the jumps, Michael Eskind © David Kiefer

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Pole Vault Clinics & Camps

“The Unfair Advantage!”

803.315.5998

www.ShealyAthletics.com

85 SCHS State Champions, 11 National Champions, and 3 “Team USA” (World Team) since 1998.

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multi events, and pole vault coach position when the legend Toby Stevenson moved to Sweden. Moving from a volunteer coach, to assistant coach, to full-time coach, Coach Eskind learned from some amazing coaches before he found his way to Stanford. Now, Coach Eskind and volunteer assistant coach, Todd Duvio work together to get all the jumpers ready for the competition season. For summer workouts, after 3-4 weeks of rest, the jumpers start training for the upcoming year. “Once Dylan Duvio © David Kiefer

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they resume training they are on a pretty traditional summer training plan including running, some light jumping exercises, multiple throws, medicine ball circuits, as well as a lifting program that I have fine-tuned with our strength coach, Allison Ledesma,” says Coach.

Once the vault crew is back at school, Stanford has a lot to offer the team by providing the necessary equipment. “We have three UCS 2200 pits going in three different directions

so we always try to vault with the best wind direction if at all possible,” Coach Eskind tells us. The vault crew also has all the poles they need ranging from 13’ 130s to a 16’8 12.5 flex. Coach Eskind thinks the school may even have some of Toby Stevenson’s old poles. For traveling, the team has three Rockback pole bags: a 15’, 16’, 17’, and soon to have one more.

Last season, Dylan Duvio and Harrison Williams were very successful. Dylan finished third at the NCAA Outdoor

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Harrison Williams © David Kiefer

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Championships. “He was jumping really well all day long; he just had one miss at each of the earlier bars. He came down and cleared 5.50 clean on his first attempt to move into sole possession of third place. This was his first All-America finish and a huge breakthrough for a sophomore,” Coach Eskind says. Harrison placed second in the decathlon at the Pan Am Junior Championships. After two failed attempts at his opening height of 15’1 (4.60m), Harrison cleared the bar with plenty of room to spare. At this meet, Harrison ended up breaking the American Junior Record in the Decathlon.

These two are not the only successful athletes at Stanford: there are several alumni who have had their memorable moments. The most famous former Stanford vaulter is the great Toby Stevenson. Toby still holds the outdoor school record with 18’9 ½ (5.72m).

Toby won the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 1998 and was a six-time All American.

He is also one of 15 men to have cleared 6.00m (19’8 ¼).

Toby is best known for have winning the silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games. The two female Stanford vaulters, Katerina Stefanidi and Leila Ben Youssef, both went on to rep-

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resent their home countries in the Olympics. Katerina Stefanidi was a 2012 NCAA Outdoor Champion and she represented her home country of Greece in the Olympics. Leila Ben Youssef represented her home country of Tunisia in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Always looking out for his jumps crew, Coach Eskind tries to get his team to the best meets to give his jumpers the best opportunity to have a good day. Having a tight knit group, Coach Eskind and his crew mostly stay in the West region for meets. This team

does ride skateboards through campus while wearing elf costumes on occasion, and that is a fun team activity not to mention quite the site to see!

Good luck to the Stanford jumps crew as they begin their indoor season!

Taylore Jaques Š David Kiefer

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Garrett Starkey © Mike McCarthy

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Hergie Official Vaulter Club

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OPEN MINDED TO MULTIPLE COACHES By: Sadie Lovett

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Coming home for Christmas break is always wonderful. You have several weeks to recover from first semester and time to prepare yourself for the spring semester. What also comes with second semester is traveling season. You have to stay in shape over the holiday season to keep yourself ready for the indoor meets that will greet you once you are back at school.

To stay in shape there are great workouts you can do that are quick and can be done at home, but some of you have the opportunity to return to your club—the club and coach that prepared you for your college career. It is always nice to return to what feels like your second home. But now, you have a college coach. Your high school and club coaches will always be ‘coach’ to you, but your college coach is now the one who trains you.

Now you follow a different coaching style. Your technique is different. The way you train is different to how your club coach coaches. There is even going to be a difference in coaching between club coaches and high school coaches, for those in high school.

Neither coach is wrong.

But you feel torn between continuing to train the way your college coach wants you to, and not offending your club coach when you want to continue the new things you have learned.

Do not shut out your club coach, or high school coach, or fight the way your college coach wants you to train.

They are all trying to help you improve, whether they coach the same way or not—they all have a common goal.

So how can you be open minded to all forms of coaching?

Do not fight any of it: that will get you nowhere and just lead you into a bad practice and give your coach the impression that you do not want their help. All coaches choose that job because they love to coach athletes and love to help the athletes succeed in the sport they love. When you deny their help, especially when you are one of their alumni, there is a greater feeling of rejection than if you were new to the

club or new to the high school team.

What you need to do is be open to what they have to say.

Communicate with your coach about how your new coach is training you. Do not argue with them on which way is better or right—there is no right or wrong way to coach, there is only different ways.

If the coaching styles are very different, then pick one thing to work on at each practice and tell your club coach what you are working on. If you do something like that, then they know you only want help with the one thing. Try doing drills for a practice, have a straightpole practice, work on just

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take-off, work on hitting your invert, something that your coach can help you with.

CHRISTMAS FUN FACT Every year on Christmas day, Katie Nageotte and her family’s tradition is to watch White Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life.

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Your club coach could also be another set of eyes. Going back to your club over break can be really good for you because your club coach may see something that has been negatively effecting the rest of your vault—something that you have been trying to fix and no one else could put their finger on what is wrong. You could also be having trouble with a certain part of your

vault or your run, and your club coach may be able to give you some ideas on how to fix your problem.

If you shut out your club or high school coach, you could be shutting out some muchneeded help or ideas. Just because they have a different way of coaching, does not mean they are wrong and you should not let them help you. It is very beneficial to go home to a new set of eyes, you just have to figure out the best way for them to help you.

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RIGHT NOW N O T H I N G E L S E VAULTER

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MATTERS TIME TO FLY

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