Sunday, July 24, 2016

Milwaukee Vaultfest

            This past weekend a student-athlete of mine traveled down to Milwaukee with me to partake in the Vaultfest.  Set along the waterfront of Lake Michigan at a Rugby Park, two pits were set up for a full day of vault competition.  Being along the Lake could have provided an amazing backdrop, but instead the high heat and humidity mixing with the cold water created a fog so thick it was like being surrounded by clouds.  It kept the temperature lower and also provided some relief from the intense sun further in land from shore.  We couldn’t even hardly see the Lake!
Daisy and I were both in the 2nd of 3 flights of females.  Our flight consisted of 17 females, so our warm-up time felt rushed with so much wasted time spent in line.  Daisy started at 9 feet, and ended with making 10 feet for the day, which was only her second time in competition clearing that height, so that was exciting!  I came in at 10 feet.  The majority of the day just felt “off” and it was tough trying to coach myself and remove emotions from it.  I made a very ugly 10’ and 10’6”.  Nothing felt right, and I kept trying to adjust the standards to match my inconsistency and it was just rough.  I doubted my decisions.
After 3 misses at 11 feet, I bought a 4th attempt and squeaked my way over it.  I told myself to get my act together.  I now had 3 attempts at 11’6”.  The first 2 attempts were worthless.  The third could have potentially been a make if I had set the standards deeper.  Looking back through videos, I can see that nothing was going well with my vaults that day, and that’s frustrating.  I was also vaulting on brand new poles for the first time, and I think I would have been better off if I had just moved down a pole for competition.  Again, these decisions would have been more easily made with the help of a coach. 
It is definitely a learning process trying to coach myself with something so technical, and something that I am so passionate about (which makes it tough to remove emotion from it).  A tough day out vaulting is still better than a day of no vaulting at all!  Count every blessing.

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