POLE POSITION
Six months ago they were inspired by athletes in the world – some of the best here’s a look inside Somerset College’s new pole vaulting program.
When Somerset College hosted Canadian Games athlete Alysha Newman, it started a journey on the road to a fully-fledged pole vaulting program THE Commonwealth Games might have finished but it seems they’ve left their mark on Gold Coast schools.
Somerset College in Mudgeeraba first hosted Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman in their training facilities six months ago, and now launch their very own pole vaulting program.
Ms Newman took out a gold medal at the Games, just one of several visiting teams hosted by the college throughout the event and its lead-up.
The school says students have experienced rapid success in the few short months since the team first began training, with many setting their sights on possible state team selection.
Coach Howard Arbuthnot has more than 30 years experience both as an athlete and coach, and described the sport as one of the most technically complicated event in track and field.
“Like all athletic events, it’s about efficient transfer of energy,” he said.
“Unlike other events, we have the complication of a double pendulum – the vaulter moves around the pole, all while the pole is also moving around the … point of contact between the pole tip and the planting box.
“It is to other events what surfing is to skiing down a mountain. That can be challenging fun too, but the mountain isn’t moving.”
Pole vaulters use a long, flexible pole to launch themselves over a bar, with many athletes having backgrounds in gymnastics or athletics prior to starting their career.
In each round, the athlete has three chances to clear the height – once they miss three times, the highest height they’ve managed to clear is their score.
It’s not a sport for the faint of heart either, as the current men’s world record has stood at 6.16m since 2014.
Thirteen-year-old Kade Reynoldson, who started pole vaulting with his brother Kye, said he jumped at the chance to try a new sport and experience the thrill.
“The school was offering coaching around the middle of the year, and I just thought ‘why not’ and starting loving it. I’d seen it on TV and it looked pretty cool,” he said.
“It’s a lot different to things that I’ve done before, but once you get into it, it’s not as challenging as it might seem at the start.
“We start off learning different hand movements as you’re running, then once we get better we start doing a bit of running with it, jumping just before the pole hits the ground on to some grass.
“I think doing it more and more you start to get more comfortable with it. At the start you’re a lot more nervous and it just becomes second nature.”
Though Kade said it was unlike any of the Australian football or athletics training he’s done before, both brothers have now made it through to the state competition.
Looking at how the sport has already grown at the school, Mr Arbuthnot has high hopes for its future among the students.
“We started with some old, borrowed poles, and since then the school has invested in purchasing the first instalment of what will hopefully be range,” he said.
“Beginner vaulters start by jumping with a pole that doesn’t bend, but as their proficiency develops and they grip higher, the smaller poles start to bend and they progress to stiffer and longer poles.
“A range of poles … is required so that the athlete can move from one to the other without the difference being too large.
“An intermediate vaulter may use four to five poles in any one competition, according to environmental conditions and their ability on the day.”
The pole vaulting program will look to relaunch in 2019, hoping to get more students involved and provide students with even more training.
As the summer athletics season kicks off this month only time will tell just how far these young pole vaulters can go.