Balance Drill

By Alan Roark, Vault Coach, Amherst Steele H.S., Amherst, Ohio

Here’s another “Roark Original” plastic pipe vault drill.

The purpose of this drill is to help the vaulter to learn to control their balance on the way up.  Also, it helps them to learn to stay with the lift of the pole longer and not dump off so soon.

Here’s the set up, use the cart you made for the “vaulter go round” drill or make a cart like the one below.  18” x 24” 3/4” plywood with 4 good quality swivel wheels and a pad.  (The piece on the left side is needed for the other drill and isn’t necessary for this drill.)  The pad is made from an exercise mat from Wal-Mart. 

Next, you need a 10’ piece of schedule 40 1” White PVC pipe from Lowes or Home Depot.   Set up the grip area scale like the other plastic pipe drills and add a dot about 4” below the top handhold on the inside of the bend.  The dot marks the “lifting force” point on the pole and the vaulter should try to keep the dot in the center of their body during the drill.

Here’s how the drill works:  

Have your vaulter sit on the cart so that when they lay back they are still balanced on the cart.

While in a sitting position, have them hold the pipe like a pole.  You hold the “bottom” end of the pole behind them causing the pole to bend. (You, the cart, them, and their feet should all be in line with one of the long lines of the gym floor or a lane line on the track.) 

Now, push your end of the pole along the line causing the cart to move.  As you start to push, you will need to get the bend started by pulling the pole to the left with your left hand.  (This only gets the pole bend started.  After it starts, just push forward on the bottom of the pole to keep it moving.) 

As you push them down the track, they will get farther ahead of you and the pole will start to straighten just like in the vault. See how Molly lays back and keeps herself in line with the pole.  This is really good stuff.

As you push faster and faster, the vaulter tries to stay balanced and stay in line with the lifting force of the pole.  Staying in line can be accomplished by keeping the dot in line with the centerline of their body.

See the two videos below to watch how the drill works.

                                              

Notes:

---Make sure there’s lots of room so they don’t run into anything hard.

---Use medium pressure to get things moving.  If you push too hard too fast, you might cause the plastic pipe to break.  Play with it some to find out how much push is enough to get the cart moving and to have a good size bend in the pole.

---Make sure their “top” arm is straight and the bottom arm is bent inside of the pole.

---Have them lay back smoothly as the drill progresses. You don’t want them to lay back too soon and miss controlling that part of the vault.

---They get a great ab workout as a bonus

---When doing the drill on a gym floor, the cart will roll much easier and will be more difficult to balance.