The View From the Finish Line has an interesting interview with former Balco founder Trevor Graham. He details his idea for a National Track & Field League and how the newly-formed league could further the sport.

Here is a little snippet of the interview:

Graham – I have a full plan that I intend to send to Track and Field News and also Mr. Logan. But the general idea is to create an eight team National Track and Field League (NTFL) to start with, that could be expanded to sixteen teams. There would be a Western Region and an Eastern Region with teams in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Oregon, New York, and two teams in California. There would be a regular season, regional championships and an annual National championship. It’s set up to run during the Spring before USATF’s Nationals and before the European season, so it would be a supplement to what currently exists.

It would function like other leagues with full teams that have owners, general managers, coaches, and athletes. Each team would have its own name, mascot, colors, logo and uniforms. There would be an NTFL Commissioner to oversee the league just like David Stern (NBA) or Roger Goodell (NFL). My plan includes a Conduct Policy as well as a Doping Policy.

Cway – Why do you think that a “league” is necessary? We have track meets going on all the time from March to September without a league and track has functioned that way for well over a hundred years. Why the change?

Graham - The NTFL is necessary because the sport has grown so large that is beyond what it was even 10 years ago. The sport has been in a soup bowl but has expanded beyond that. Ten years ago you couldn’t find athletes making the kind of money that they are making today. The athletes are getting bigger, the sport is getting bigger but the current structure is keeping it small. The league is to try and help the expansion of the sport – to try to take it somewhere new. The sport has been the same way for decades without any expansion out of the framework you mentioned. It’s time now to take the sport to a real professional level.

The athletes consider themselves professionals but are running in the same old amateur mold. The league would be set up to actually treat them as professional athletes. There have been so many groups – Santa Monica, HSI, Sprint Capitol -that called themselves a team and tried to function as a team, but the sport is set up for individuals and not teams. Now if you take these elite coaches and surround them with a general manager, athletes, give them a name, an owner, assistants, etc now the coach can call himself a coach and feel like a part of a team.

Click Here to Read the Entire Interview

By Alan Launder

“In no circumstances should the pole be put into the box before the end of the takeoff.”
“And only on concluding the takeoff should the pole smoothly transfer into support…”
“The coach need not watch to vaulter’s action in the takeoff but he can hear the correct takeoff…”
“The plant is a key element in transferring from the runup to the vault and the plant ends in a swift body extension which must take place before the pole touches the back wall of the box.”

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Click here to read the whole manifesto and discussion.

Pole Vault Manifesto
Future world record holders
Be aware

It has happened already. The 6.40 (21 ft.) horizon for men and 5.50 (18 ft.) horizon for women are open.

When Scott Huffman told me in 1997 that after observing Ockert Britz’s performance in Europe he was convinced that Ockert will set a WR that year. By the way, Ockert is one of the noted pillars of modern pole vaulting. I told Scott that in order for Ockert to set WR he would need to drastically amend his vaulting model or start running at 10.2 m/s at the take-off point. We actually bet on it. However, I would like the uncollected winnings of the bet to go towards our good memories and our friendship.

When Tim Lobinger, by the way another noted pillar of modern pole vaulting, first vaulted 6m setting German National Record, Bubka created a controversy by saying that 6m mark was a historic achievement for the previous decade.

Bubka and Petrov opened the new horizon in modern pole vaulting, however like most pioneers, without the full realization of their remarkable achievement.

The 6.40 Model so far has produced 6.15, however most experts at the time agreed that 6.30 and even 6.40 was a real possibility. It is possible, that Bubka’s comment regarding Tim Lobinger’s achievement was a result of his awareness of possibilities and past expectations realized by Bubka 10 years earlier. Unfortunately, Bubka did not pursue aggressive record setting beyond early 90s, perhaps due to his preoccupation with PR and business projects. But even at 36 years of age, far away from his top physical performance he showed potential of the new model by a stellar win of his 6th in a row World Title in Athens 1997.

The current 6.05 Model has consistently produced 5.90 and on special occasions 6.00-6.05.

It is absolutely surprising, that the 6.40 Model is a complete mystery for the vaulters despite of its debut in the mid 80s of the past century, more than 20 years ago.

We observed in the mid 80s all vaulters slowly change to a vertical pole carry “introduced” by Bubka. In the late 80s early 90s we observed several vaulters switching to “Free Take off” (Tarasov, Gataulin, Trandenkov followed by many). In the late 90s we have attempted to switch to the 6.40 Model with Lawrence Johnson, however due to different obstacles it was only partially successful. In 2004 the current Olympic Champion Tim Mack and Silver Medal Winner Toby Stevenson both showed glimpses of the 6.40 Model, however no one since Bubka completely realized or took full advantage of the 6.40 Model.

Understanding of the 6.40 Model requires some unconventional thinking, where conventional views are questioned, analyzed dismissed or reassessed.

Click here to read the rest of this manifesto and discussion.

Mark Stewart convened this round table discussion on pole vault. Although all except one of the participants in this discussion is now Australian, from the background of the coaches it can be seen that as a group they have been exposed to ideas from all three of the great pole vault schools, American, Frenchand Russian.

Gerald Baudouin is the head pole vault coach at Institut National du Sport et de l’Education Physique (INSEP2) in France and is a former pole vaulter with a personal best of 5.80 metres in 1994.

John Gormley’s professional background was as an academic specializing in the interpretation and practical application of biomechanics in physical education and coaching. He has been coaching pole vault for many years, and coached the women’s gold medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Serge Miroshnichenko was a professional athletics coach in the USSR/Russia from 1979 to 1998 and coached many international pole vaulters during this time. Since moving to Australia he has coached elite pole vaulters in South Australia and Queensland and again has produced a number of pole vaulters, including 2003 World Youth bronze medalist Charmaine Lucock.

Alex Parnov. Before moving to Australia in 1996 Alex was a pole vaulter (personal best 5.82 metres in 1985) and a coach in Russia. In Australia, Alex has worked in Adelaide and Perth coaching numerous international pole vaulters including the 2001 World Champion Dimitri Markov.

Steve Rippon is currently a professional athletics coach in the United Kingdom, but has previously coached in Australia and in the United States. He has produced many world class pole vaulters, including Paul Burgess whom he coached to the 1996 World Junior Championship gold medal.

Mark Stewart was Athletics Australia’s national event coordinator (pole vault) from 1999 to 2002, and has coached many international pole vaulters, including Emma George. Mark coached Emma from the middle of 1994 (at which time she had never pole vaulted) until the end of 1997, by which time she had set 10 World Records.

Click Here to read the entire Round Table Discussion

By Michael Young

Pole vaulting is perhaps the most technical event in track and field. It requires the speed and sprint mechanics of a sprinter, the explosive jumping ability of a long jumper, and the kinesthetic awareness and upper-body strength of a gymnast. The event demands many skills that are completely independent of one another yet must be combined seamlessly to achieve success.

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By Warren Young

Plyometric exercises have been used by sprinters for many years to develop leg power. One popular exercise is bounding, a multiple jumping exercise for maximum distance using a one-foot takeoff, much like the stop phase of the triple jump event. Although this is a useful exercise, it is not as specific to sprint as may be expected.

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By Jim Van Hootengem

It is encouraged for the coach and athlete to begin with a video review session. The coach should prepare video clips featuring performances of a variety of elite athletes. The coach should help the athlete identify commonalities between elite performers within events and between performers in different events. Discussions should feature mechanics of the %%%approach run%%%, %%%penultimate step%%%, takeoff, flight and landing. The coach athlete should be disciplined to look for common features versus stylistic differences.

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By Brent McFarlane

Sprinting is a faultless, perfected series of finely tuned technical and motor coordinated skills. Speed begins and must be perfected in the motor unit. It involves the selective recruitment of motor unit pathways to improve the efficiency and firing of the correct motor units. This in turn improves the development of force in the muscle.

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