Corkscrew Drill

By Alan Roark, Vault Coach, Amherst Steele HS, Amherst, Oh

This is a great drill that I got from Clay Taft.  Clay is a vault coach in California and he said he got the drill from Scott Slover, vault coach at Cal Berkley.

(If you have a great drill you’d like to submit, let me know about it and we might use it later this year. aroark1@yahoo.com)

One of the trickiest parts of the vault to teach is rotating around the pole during the inversion and pull-turn phases of the vault.  If you’re getting inverted but stay on the pit side of the pole, you’re no longer in line with the “drive line” of the pole and not much happens. You look great, but don’t go very high.  You have to rotate partially around the pole to continue to be driven upward by the pole. The Accelerator Drill helps with the basic movement and strength to get around the pole. The Corkscrew is an “on the pole” drill to practice getting around the pole.

The following pictures show Molly getting stuck on the backside of the pole in one jump and getting around the pole in another jump.

                                                      On the pit side                                      On the runway side

Here’s the drill:

You’ll need a short pole that you can vault on from 3-4 lefts and easily make it into the pit while still getting good lift.  Too soft isn’t good.  (Lee picked a pole 12” shorter and 10lb lighter than his normal pole.)  You run, plant, take-off, swing up to inversion, and pull turn off of the end of the pole, then rotate all the way around and land on your back. Since the pole is short and soft, you’ll land deep in the pit. Keep your feet high and your body straight as you rotate.  You’ll just have to watch the videos to understand. I’ve gotten dramatic same-day results with 5 of my vaulters.  This is a great drill.

Clay says, “This drill teaches body awareness and that it’s OK to say with, and on top of the pole.  It focuses them on the vault process, not the outcome (going over the bar).  It also gets rid of the dreaded “looking at the bar” syndrome”

Note -- When you pull turn off of the end of the pole, you’ll need to rotate slower than you’d expect.  At first, Lee thought he had to get around really fast.  Then, he slowed it down to a smooth controlled rotation and it worked really well.

Note-- Keep your feet high through the whole rotation.  Be careful when you land so you don’t get your feet caught in the pit.

Note—You’ll want to try to land in the back of the pit to get enough time to rotate. 

Note – If you’re nervous about missing the pit, put a section of the high jump pit behind your vault pit. It hasn’t been a problem for us.  Just KEEP THE RUN SHORT.  This is a slower, controlled drill.

Note-- When you get the corkscrew figured out and working well, set the standards back at 31” and try vaulting for height with a stiffer pole.  You’ll be shocked at how much better you get around the pole through inversion and the pull-turn.  Lee hadn’t been getting inverted as well as he wanted and after one practice session of corkscrews, he got totally on top of the “drive line” of the pole and got “tossed” and just couldn’t stop smiling.

Note – Make sure the pole you’re using gives you plenty of lift so you can get good height out the back of the vault.

Note—Keep pressing the pole into the box through the inversion and the first half of the rotation. Good pressure gives you more control to drive off of the end of the pole.

Note – One more time… this is a SHORT RUN, SHORT POLE drill.  If you do this drill with a long run, thinking it would be more fun, you will create too much momentum and you will land on the ground behind the pit. That would not be a good thing. This is a slower, controlled drill. Have fun, but keep it safe.