July 2018 West London Track and Field

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CONTENTS y l u J FROM THE EDITOR

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THE RISE OF WEST LONDON TRACK & FIELD

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RAMPING UP SUMMER TRAINING

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Cover photo by Ellie Kormis

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FROM THE EDITOR Summers in full swing and the kids are reaching out to jump at their local camps and clubs. Letting their hair down and having some fun is the name of the game and hopefully, you will find the balance between the two. This month we travel across the pond to see what England has to offer for the pole vault world as we cover pole vault clubs around the world.

Pole Vault news, “Oxford’s Kendricks defends U.S. pole vault title” DES MOINES, Iowa – The reigning king of American pole vault wasn’t about to let anyone grab his crown. (2018). (https:// www.reuters.com/article/usathletics-diamond-eugene/ kendricks-tops-pole-vault-asgermans-dominate-javelin-inoregon-idUSKCN1IR05W) “Greenville’s Sandi Morris repeats as U.S. outdoor pole vault champion” (Greenville’s Sandi Morris won her second consecutive title at the USATF Outdoor Championships, but inclement weather cut short her opportunity to reach the top of the world’s pole vault rankings.

(2018). Retrieved from (http://

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www.djournal.com/sports/ oxford-s-kendricks-defendsu-s-pole-vault-title/article_ a8679cfe-9900-5802-ba8baff41f697eec.html) On the cover, West London Track & Field. We talk with Ellie Spain about her knowledge of the sport and what they do to achieve their jumping goals as a team. “Over the years, Ellie has coached athletes from five countries, some reaching the national and even international levels.” It’s a fresh breath of air to read about another country and what they do to inspire, motivate and propel their athletes to the next level. Samantha writes one heck of an article about this team and we’re sure you will like what you read.

Kreager Taber writes about Ramping up Summer Training.

“While summer breaks from school present a perfect time for vaulters to chase higher personal records, get faster, or work on their strength, it also provides an ideal time for athletes to take a step back from full vaults and focus on correcting problems in their technique.” Rest is the

Jacqueline Otchere

name of the game and fixing those problem spots that you may have in your form. Taking the time to add to your pole vault bank account of knowledge is always a must. Good job Kreager and keep up the good work.

Check us out next month when we talk to Utah Pole Vault Academy about their new street vault and club out of Utah. We will get to know this team and see what they have going on within their state. Stay safe and jump high!

Doug Bouma Editor, Vaulter Magazine Vaulter Club Inc. editor@thevaultermag.com

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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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Emma Andersson on training camp

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THE RISE OF WEST LONDON TRACK & FIELD

By Sam Kaplan

Instagram: @eat_sleep_pv_repeat

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With a 21-year career split nearly 50/50 between vaulting and coaching, Ellie Spain knows the elite pole vault world from every perspective.

Throughout her 11 years as an athlete, Ellie represented Great Britain at the junior and professional levels, most notably as a World Junior Championship finalist in 2000 and both as the British Champion and a Commonwealth Games finalist in 2006. In 2008, Ellie

transitioned into the world of coaching, but she did not give up representing the best. Over the years, Ellie has coached athletes from five countries, some reaching the national and even international levels.

In recent years, Ellie had the honor of serving several times as Team Coach for Great Britain and England at various European Championships and as National Coach Mentor for England Athletics. She works

well with athletes of all ages at the elite level, coaching British vaulters at both the European Youth and Senior Championships. Today, Ellie works full time with ALTIS, a track and field training program, as the Digital Education Manager.

This stems from her former career in teaching, as a physical education instructor and Head of Athletic Development at Woking College.

Gold squad Training Camp San Cugat 2018

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Assistant Coach Tom Farres with the Bronze Squad

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Because of her abundance of experience in both pole vault and teaching, Ellie could see that up and coming British vaulters did not have access to a system that would help them succeed.

After a few years coaching as a volunteer, Ellie realized that the volunteer based coaching system used in the UK was not an adequate set up for coaches or athletes. Since coaches didn’t charge money for their services, they couldn’t spend much time coaching, and since there were no funds to build any indoor facilities, practice seasons had to be much shorter. Ellie decided the best way to solve this problem was to open up a new club with new principles, and in 2012, with the support of Brunel University facilities, she founded West London Pole Vault. One of the first and biggest bureaucratic updates Ellie decided upon was to implement a professional pricing model. “The goal was to provide a very transparent, clear model for people,” explains Ellie. “With a professional model, parents and athletes know exactly what service they can expect, both parties are accountable to agreed terms, and our coaches are paid for their efforts meaning it doesn’t cost us to coach.” With a pricing system in place, Ellie had room to focus how to structure her new club.

Continuing her trend of being unlike any other British pole

vault club, Ellie implemented a professionally tiered system to group her athletes for training.

“Our system is based around the gymnastics model with a bronze, silver and gold squad, “ says Ellie. “This gives athletes the opportunity to work through the squads as they progress. It also allows us to better tailor coaching for the athlete’s level of development.” With her innovative pricing and coaching systems, Ellie had an exceptional vault club on her hands.

So in 2014, when her former elite teammate and Olympic sprinter Laura Turner-Alleyne began a coaching career of her own, the two joined forces and West London Pole Vault became West London Track & Field, a hub for all things sprinting, hurdling, and vaulting.

Today, West London Track & Field is still based at Brunel University on Ellie’s original core principles. “We are lucky to have the support of Brunel University,” says Ellie. “At their Indoor Athletics Centre, there is a 110 meter straight, one pole vault pit, a really well equipped gym, and two rigs we use for vault specific gymnastics.” Vaulters have the ability to cross train with sprinting, weight lifting, and gymnastics, and have access to over 100 USC poles ranging in length from 10’6” to 16’. But no matter how great a facility is, it’s useless without a staff of

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coaches who know how to put it to use. The pole vaulters at West London Track & Field are coached by, along with Head Coach Ellie Spain, Senior Coach James MacDonald, Assistant Coaches Tom Farres, Courtney MacGuire, and Conrad Kalinowski, and Strength and Conditioning Intern Connor Stuart, who each have unique experiences as both athletes and coaches to bring all different perspectives to the table. The more diversity in staff the better, so West London Track & Field is always recruiting for new coaches. All of the athletes also have access to the in house physical therapy team that provides services usually only offered in the UK to funded athletes. Many track and field clubs begin to feel like a family away from home to their athletes, but at West London Track & Field, athletes’ parents are encouraged to take part in events and support their children at practice in order to merge the home and track families.

With a forward thinking training plan, a top-notch collegiate facility, and a knowledgeable fleet of coaches, West London vaulters have everything they need to make the most out of their practices. To best prepare for the indoor season while simultaneously staying well rested and uninjured, West London Track &

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Bronze squad warm up

Field athletes train in cycles.

“Beginning in October, we work in four week cycles,” says Ellie. The indoor competition season starts in early January, so until then, every three weeks of training is followed

by one recovery week. Once indoor meets come to a close at the end of February, the four week cycles start up again in preparation for outdoor which comes around in early May. The outdoor season, which is in full

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regimented year round training for club members, West London Track & Field host a very popular summer camp, as well as two half term workshops in October and February.

swing until the first weekend of September, is followed by a few weeks of rest before starting indoor preseason once again. London weather can be uncooperative for such a long outdoor season, so Ellie likes

to make sure her vaulters get to kick off their season in the warmth. “Every April for the past four years,” explains Ellie, “we’ve been warm weather training in Spain. It’s a great opportunity.” Along with their

Another unique aspect of the West London Track & Field club is their focus on youth development. Because of the fact that practice squads are separated into three tiers by ability, athletes have the opportunity to join at an early age. Vaulters can try out for the bronze squad at age 12, and after that can move through silver and up to gold based on their ability progression rather than age.

“The majority of the athletes in our club are U15, U17, or U20,” explains Ellie. “Some of the athletes who joined us as U15 are really progressing on nicely through our system.” Currently there are 25 vaulters who jump for West London Track & Field spread out into the three separate squads. 18-year-old Jess Robinson, with her 4.05 meter PR, is the highest female jumper in the club. She joined the bronze squad as a U15 and has drastically improved over the past few years, recently finishing 2nd at U20 Nationals, with teammate Sophie Dowson (3.91m) right behind in 3rd. U17 star Jade SpencerSmith (3.73m) was also runner-up in both her indoor and outdoor National competitions

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this past year. Alexa Eichelmann (3.60m), Emma Andersson (3.95m), Shaye Emmett (3.70m) and Emily Macdonald (3.40m) round out the gold squad. As of today the club all time records are Max Eaves’ 5.62 meters for the men and Scottish guest Hen Paxton’s 4.35 meters for the women.

However, judging by the way West London Track & Field advances vaulters so effectively, those records are soon to fall.

Of course Ellie takes pride in her vaulters’ athletic achieve-

ments and the accolades her club has gained over the years, but what she values more than any medal her vaulters have earned, are the lessons they’ve learned about confidence and independence. “I think the biggest message this year has been accountability, and taking responsibility for what needs to be done,” says Ellie. “Complete reliance on the coach is not our way.” Along with training them physically, Ellie trains her vaulters’ minds, teaching them to become students of the sport. “We teach athletes

Gold squad at Birmingham WIC Warm up track with Stefanidi

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to take ownership for learning about the event, asking questions, and building an understanding of what they should be doing. That way they become confident, capable athletes who are able to handle the pressures of competition.”

The club’s core values, precision, respect, perseverance, excellence, and dedication, sum up the important ideals that every athlete and every person should embody to reach the levels of success that the West London Track & Field vaulters continue to reach every day.

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Bronze squad warm up

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RAMPING UP SUMMER TRAINING By: Kreager Taber

Emily Westfall Preping for summer

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While summer breaks from school present a perfect time for vaulters to chase higher personal records, get faster, or work on their strength, it also provides an ideal time for athletes to take a step back from full vaults and focus on correcting problems in their technique. If the athlete is trying to rest their legs and take a break from intense training over the summer, measures can still be taken to ensure they make improvements to their form without vaulting from a full approach.

Additionally, specific aspects of the vault can be difficult to monitor while the athlete is trying to jump from their full approach and put a complete vault together, but are easier to correct when extraneous variables are eliminated. For example, the swing, shoulder drop, and push off phases can be corrected more easily when the vaulter is on a small pole, from a short approach, and can concentrate solely on their form during the inversion, rather than worrying about the run and the plant.

Similarly, the same aspects of the vault can be monitored if the vaulter performs a short approach down a sloped ramp or from an elevated platform rather than a full approach on the runway. Incorporating ramps and platforms into the vault approach provides an

Katrina Meir working out for the summer

extra boost for the athlete that allows them to relax and focus on the aspects of their vault that need tweaking.

Sloped ramps allow the vaulter to take powerful, full jumps from their shorter

approaches. They can be constructed soundly out of wood and are simple, cheap, and easy to build, and can also be built in various sizes depending on the needs of the club. Different ramps can be constructed to accommodate

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a one, two, or three step approach, and in addition, they can be built at varying angles to add more or less power to the athlete’s approach. Especially for summer training, when athletes should focus on correcting their form rather than chasing new personal records, giving the vaulter more power during a short run helps them focus on fixing smaller issues and break down the components of the vault.

Vaulting from a ramp, or at least a sloped runway, may help the vaulter focus on their takeoff mechanics, swing, shoulder drop, and push off phases of the vault, and allow them to commit their mental focus during the jump to executing with proper mechanics rather than just making it into the pit.

Giving the athlete less to focus on can help them consciously change certain aspects of their jump, rather than just reverting back to inefficient form due to muscle memory in an attempt to feel more safe. Additionally, practicing from a short approach helps the vaulter control the power they put into the vault from the approach phase, as well as helps them develop running mechanics and leg strength to help with full vaults. It also may help them work on the timing of the pole drop and their

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plant mechanics, and teach them to efficiently transition their speed into vertical height by using the pole correctly.

Incorporating ramps into training for the summer and preseason gives athletes’ legs a break from taking full approaches, while letting them still make improvements to their jump.

Platforms are another inexpensive tool to help vaulters focus on their swing, shoulder drop, and push off rather than their takeoff or run. The platform should be approximately four feet off the ground and stationed a few feet back from the box and the pit. The athlete can plant their pole before starting their approach, and take a few steps before taking off from the platform and bending the pole, or performing a straight pole drill. From the takeoff, the athlete can swing up like a normal straight-pole drill without bending the pole, or even focus on staying close to the pole and the mechanics of the turn by shooting towards the back of the pit as the pole unbends. In the latter drill, the athlete practices turning properly while the pole is recoiling, which provides a more realistic drill and movement than practicing the

turn with straight pole drills.

Furthermore, the additional height that the platform provides during the takeoff eliminates the need for a running approach, making it an ideal training method for athletes who are injured, taking time off from fully vaulting, or those who have trouble controlling the power they put into the takeoff. A walking, or even stationary, approach into the drill helps eliminate extraneous variables that could arise due to improper running form or the plant. Additionally, swinging up from a platform can help to fix hitches in the swing-up phase of the vault by forcing the vaulter to drop their shoulders more quickly than they are used to in order to take attempts at a bungee. Mistakes in the timing of the initiation of the shoulder drop, the final position the vaulter hits while inverted, or the transition from the swing phase into the top of the vault can be isolated and corrected. They can also be used by injured athletes who have been instructed to avoid unnecessary stress on the legs.

Practicing with sloped ramps or platforms provides an interesting alternative to traditional training in the summer and preseason

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months. As the vaulter is placed in a novel situation during the jump, they are forced out of their comfort zone and their vault is more malleable; therefore, a better swing, faster shoulder drop, and better mechanics during the turn can be developed without placing unnecessary stress on the vaulters’ legs. The biomechanical transitions that turn a vaulter’s energy from horizontal speed to vertical height can be scrutinized by their coaches, and the athletes

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can have fun in a lower stress environment than traditional vaulting. Pushing athletes out of their comfort zones during the summer and preseason months helps coaches break down their form, isolate variables that may be causing problems, and put a more effective and technologically sound jump back together.

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Madison Ferguson

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Julia Burda

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Emmie Guinn

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