The Apex Vaulting Podcast

In this episode Head Coach Jessi Juarez joins the podcast to discuss the realities of coaching Track and Field. Often in Track a Field coaches get thrust into the role of coaching events they didn't compete in. This is just the reality of what happens in the real world of high school and college track. What are the resources and what approach should you take? Jessi and I go over the perspective you need and advice on how to approach what seems like an impossible task. If you don't come from a vault background it can seem very intimidating to work with vaulters, but if you search out for people willing to help and learn to sift through all the minutia you too can help the vaulters on your team! Please share this podcast with someone who can find it helpful and subscribe, review, and comment! And as always if you need help or would like to comment or ask a questions directly, email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

We have the great honor of hosting Scott Kendricks, coach and father, of Olympic Silver medalist Sam Kedricks on the podcast today! I made a recent post about Sam's exceptional push off, how high above your grip you jump, and Scott joined us to discuss their philosophy of jumping and how Sam continues to produce 19' plus jumps on only a 16' pole. Technique and tracking date are definitely important, and this is definitely a must listen! Thanks for joining us Scott! Please share, subscribe, and comment!

In this episode two high school athletes at the club, Bella and Alex, join the podcast and discuss how the strength app helped add the speed and strength they needed to get higher grips, bigger poles, further out mids, and new personal records! Can the strength app help you? Make sure to subscribe to the podcast and share the episode with a friend! And your comments also help promote the podcast and email us with any comments or questions! apexvaulting@gmail.com

In this episode Branko is joined by Lilly Brown and Calvin Gould. They discuss what it is like to jump as adults. Lilly is currently in law school and Calvin is an Engineer. They discuss the shift in perspective from being highly driven and competitive athletes at the high school and collegiate level to now using the vault as an outlet and way of staying in shape. They share their insights and of course the importance of community and culture of positivity and growth being one of the major reasons for continuing to vault. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and leave a comment! And if you have any questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

In this episode Branko covers recent videos posted on the invert and getting "stuck in the bucket." As explained in those videos working on developing the needed strength and speed for each skill in the vault is needed, and doing the drills required to work on aspects of the vault has to be done to master skill. Doing full jumps from longer approaches and trying hard will get you no where fast. On that note Branko also discusses what really causes run throughs and what to expect if you want to solve your run through issues. If you enjoyed this episode it would mean the world to us if you subscribed and shared this episode on your own social media! Thanks for listening and email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com with any of your comments or questions.

If you have never pole vaulted before going to your first practice session might seem intimidating, but it doesn't have to be! In today's podcast episode we go over what beginners should expect at their first practice. And if you are a coach or club owner and don't have a pole vault structured warm up, make sure to take notes and email us if you need help designing your warm up structure to not only help onboard new athletes but help current ones continue to refine the foundational skills of the vault at every practice session! If you enjoyed the episode please share with a friend and subscribe! If you have any comments or questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

I think if you're anything like me you want to know that you are doing your absolute best. And maybe that's what draws us to the vault. With all the technique there is to master, physical improvements we can make through training, there really are so many different variables we can continually work on to improve. The journey never really ends. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 you're only scratching the surface, 10 you are squeezing every inch out of your jump, how do you rate your jump? Are you really trying your best? What are the metrics you use to rate yourself. Check out this episode for more context and perspective on this question, and discover what you should be considering when you try and rate your jump! If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share it with a friend that you think will find it helpful! Thanks for listening!

Strength and Conditioning coach at Defranco's Gym Calvin Hartman, former Apex Vauliting athlete and coach, joins the podcast to share an amazing new service we are providing at Apex Vaulting. As a former athlete and coach at the club he has experienced first hand what a strength and conditioning program can do for a pole vaulter. In college he went from being a 14' HS jumper to hitting 15'9” in college! At Defranco's Calvin has expanded his knowledge and experience by working with NFL athletes, adult clients, and high school athletes of all sports. He is now bringing this knowdge and experience to Apex by offering Virtual Training options through the Bridge App. And the best part, even if you aren't an Apex member you can now virtually do our strength and conditioning programs. Hope you enjoy this episode! Please subscribe and share it with a friend! And if you want to take you pole vaulting to the next level you need to sign up for our Programming. Get all your workouts, an exercise library of videos and cues and even virtual feedback from a coach all on your phone! Email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com for more information.

Did you just have an awesome practice? Did you finally get the grip up, master one of the skills of the vault and it felt like everything just clicked? What should you expect for your next practice? What comes next may be suprising. Often athletes and even young coaches expect a never ending string of excellent practices and meets, but that's just not reality. In fact we must learn and expect that often those excellent practices and performances at meets are a product of many average, some may even call them boring practices. If you expect this it will be easier to get through the grind! As always if you value the podcast please subscribe, review, leave a comment and share with a friend! If you have any comments, questions, or you need help with your pole vault training email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com.

Have you ever plateaued three quarters of the way through a season? Are you sick of the same practice routine season after season? Maybe what you need is drill variation! In this episode Branko discusses how you can use drill variation to avoid practices getting stale and keep improving your technique and keep pr'ing! As always if you enjoyed this podcast episode please subscribe and share this episode with a friend! If you have any comments or questions or would like us to help you with your pole vault training email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

You can't wait for indoor track and want to have a big year! So what should you be doing right now to give yourself the best shot at having a great season? And what happens if you wait until December to start training? You might be surprised to find out it may be too late to make some of those technical and physical improvements you were hoping to make for this year. Don't wait, start training now! And if you need any help setting up your training reach out, we can help! Contact us at apexvaulting@gmail.com.

Chris Chappell of UCS joins the podcast to discuss the recent World Championships and Mondo's new World Record! I ask Chris How it feels to be the company that provides the poles for so many record breaking performances. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share! Also if you have any comments or questions please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Have you ever had issues with run throughs? How do you fix the run through problem? In Episode 113 with Robert Plumb we discuss some strategies on how to fix run throughs and how long it will take to fix the issue. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share! Also if you have any comments or questions please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Noah Kaminsky joins the podcast again! Noah discusses his experience coaching large groups at pole vault clinics for the Public School Athletic League in NYC. At times Noah would coach up to 40 plus athletes at a time. How do approach large group training differently? What should the goals be for coaching clinics and camps? Find out in this episode! As always if you enjoy this episode share with a friend and subscribe! If you have any comments or questions please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com.

Ellie Fitzgerald joins the podcast and discusses her last two years of vaulting, including dealing with a stress fracture in her foot during this past indoor season and how she persevered to a PR this outdoor season! Have you ever had to deal with a setback from injury? Did you just sit back and wait for to it heal? Is that the best way to deal with it? What are some other options? Check out this episode to find out! As always if you enjoy this podcast please share with a friend and subscribe! Email us any of your comments and or questions at apexvaulting@gmail.com

You have one practice left before your big meet, (States, Conference, Nationals etc.)what do you do? Well Branko discusses how people answered that question on twitter and how he would approach that final practice. He also discusses some mistakes he made in the past. As always if you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share with a friend! And if you have any questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Vaulting for Life! Why would adults pole vault? Calvin Gould one of the adults that train at Apex goes over his reasons why he trains. Calvin has jumped at Apex for over 10 years, through high school, college, and now as an adult, and he goes over his shift in mindset as a vaulter how that has made all the difference for him. His mindset of skill mastery instead of change pr's has made vaulting way more fruitful and satisfying. If you vaulted when you were in high school or college, or always wanted to try, find a pole vault club and see what pole vaulting can do for you! As always email us with all your comments and questions at apexvaulting@gmail.com, and please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe!

Vaulting for Life! Why would adults pole vault? Joe Lesky one of the adults that train at Apex goes over his reasons why he trains. Physical fitness, chasing goals, and finding a home away from home are just a few reasons why. Too often in the vault community it seems the only reason someone should vault as an adult is to train for the Olympics. But the vault has so much more to offer. If you vaulted when you were in high school or college, or always wanted to try, find a pole vault club and see what pole vaulting can do for you! As always email us with all your comments and questions at apexvaulting@gmail.com, and please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe!

Branko discusses his recent article, How do you program drills into your practices. Branko breaks down three different types of practice, small, medium, and big days. How to structure the practice and how many drills should be done on each type of practice. He also discusses how to choose drills for your athletes depending on deficiencies in their jumps. Finally Branko discusses that often the majority of the pole vault community has the wrong perspective. Their advice is often coming from the perspective of trying to get someone to jump olympic heights and not realizing that most of the community is trying to develop into pole vaulters. They need drills and progressions that will help them develop a complete jump, instead of what it takes to jump 19'. As always if you enjoy the podcast please share it with a friend and subscribe! And if you have any questions or comments please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

This episode Branko discusses how paying attention to small details as a coach helps your athletes have more attention to detail and the dangers of overreaching at meets. Sometimes as coaches we feel that we need to make adjustments after every jump, but do we? As always if you enjoy this episode please subscribe to our podcast on Apple podcasts or our youtube channel Apex Vaulting! Also if you have any questions please feel free to email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Robert Plumb, college junior at NCAA Division 2 East Stroudsburg, joins the podcast to discuss how he chose the school he's at and how he has become an important member of his track team. We discuss what athlete's should be looking for in a school if they intend to compete at the collegiate level. He also discusses what it takes to be a successful member of a college team. You may have thought you were working hard in high school, but you may need to take it to another level in college. If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share with people that may enjoy it as well! Thanks for listening!

Brad Lawrence, owner and operator, of Apex Long Island joins the podcast to discuss the Twitter debate Branko got into with Scott Simpson about specializing in the pole vault. Should people specialize in the pole vault at a young age? Will it cause injury? Should you do multiple sports instead?

Calvin Hatman joins the podcast again, and he never disappoints. We discuss how you can grow your club and provide service that will attract more athletes. We discuss short term and long term goals you should have with your club/business. What actually works when trying to grow? How important is social media? What can you do make your athletes happy? Do you have athletes that struggle with pull ups and upper body strength? Calvin also goes over his bullet proof plan to get athletes from zero to 10 pull ups! Do not miss it. We have the video on our YouTube channel. If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe and share our episodes with friends!

Ethan Senecal, coordinator of Cross Country and Track and Field at Susquehanna University, joins the podcast! Ethan has a wealth of experience from being a decathlete, and coaching at many programs and shares his knowledge with us. Ethan discusses training, recruiting, and even shares his knowledge in hosting successful event. An amazing episode! It may have taken a while to have him on the podcast, but he definitely will be on again.

Baseball has spring training, Football has training camp in the summer, and The Pole Vault has fall training! Fall is the perfect time of year to get back to basics and work on all those drills, skills, and weaknesses you have. It's time to sharpen the blade that has gotten dull from the past year. It's also a great time to focus on strength and conditioning since theirs no meet around the corner. Time to get strong and fast. Fall training may not be sexy, but it is effective!

Eric Bennett long time NCAA Division 3 coach joins the podcast to discuss a belt system for pole vaulting and what that would look like. How would a belt system help athletes and more so coaches? Check out the episode and if you enjoy the episode please share it with a friend and subscribe!

Brad and Tobie, owners of the Apex Vaulting Long Island location, join the podcast and discuss their journey from being pole vaulters, to coaches and now club owners. They discuss what motivated them to coach and why they chose to open an Apex franchise instead of starting from scratch. If you enjoy the podcast please make sure to like, share, subscribe, and review and rate the podcast! if you have any questions please feel free to reach out and email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Esther Fleigle of the Fleigle Flyers joins the podcast to discuss the stress of practice versus the stress of competing and how coaches can help alleviate some fo the stresses of competition, as well as a slew of other pole vault coaching topics. If you enjoy the podcast make sure to subscribe, like, and share this episode! Thanks!

Branko does a solo episodes and covers a few topics. Who actually needs to buy poles? Should a novice jumper buy? How do you coach athletes to be tough, and what athletes actually need toughness the most? And as always if you need help contact us at apexvaulting@gmail.com. Don't be do proud as a coach to ask for help!

Alex Curran, head coach and business owner of Next Step Pole Vault Club, joins the podcast to tell us about signing for his first indoor facility! Alex discusses his inspiration and journey from becoming a pole vaulter, coach, and now proud club coach and small business owner! He discusses some of the concerns, struggles, and fears of getting an indoor facility. This is one of my all time favorite episodes and we will certainly have Alex on again! If you have any comments and questions about this or any episode please email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com. We are doing weekly episodes now and will be answering as many listener questions as we can! If you enjoy the podcast please make sure to like, share and subscribe! Thanks!

This is part 2 of Branko's solo episode answering listener questions that addresses the college track situation, how to coach sessions safely during this time, how masters pole vaulters should train and eat, as well as some other technical questions. This episode had to be divided into two parts due to technical difficulties. Thank you for the questions and keep them coming! If you enjoy the podcast please like, share and subscribe!

Branko does a solo episode and answers listener questions that address the college track situation, how to coach sessions safely, how masters pole vaulters should train and eat, as well as some other technical questions. This episode had to be divided into two parts due to technical difficulties. Thank you for the questions and keep them coming! If you enjoy the podcast please like, share and subscribe!

The great Shawn Francis and Colin Waitzman join the podcast to discuss the state of Pole Vault today! Are the Olympics or Track and Field holding back our sport? Also we answer some listener questions on this episode! Keep those questions coming and have your questions answered on the podcast! Email us at apexvaulting@gmail.com

Calvin Hartman joins the podcast to discuss what it takes to become a coach, and work towards making a living with it. Calvin discusses the ups and downs of being a young coach and some important lessons he learned along the way. We also go over what gpp and spp are and how coaches can incorperate both to take their athletes' training to the next level.

In this episode Branko announces he will be doing weekly episodes so make sure to email him any questions you would like him to answer on the podcast(apexvaulting@gmail.com. This week's episode covers the amazing results that are heating up this Winter Track season! He also discusses how you can grow your club and help more athletes!

Podcast host of Innovators Anonymous and Track World News Colin Waitzman joins the podcast to discuss some of the decisions made recently about high school and college track during this wild year of 2020. Does track leadership have a distance bias? Is a DISTANCE BIAS what prevents the sport of track from growing?

Robert Plumb joins the podcast to discuss a recent video posted on Apex Social Media. The video is an analysis of straight pole era jumping and elements of straight pole technique that can be applied today. We also discuss what we mean at Apex when we say pull. Hopefully this sheds some light on what we try and teach at Apex.

Branko does a solo episode and discusses how to help athletes develop as pole vaulters by identifying what stage of competence they are in. It is a must listen for all coaches.

Coach Tim Reilly of the North West Pole Vault Club joins the podcast to discuss the importance of a coaching system to the development of athletes. Coach Reilly is one of the most successful high school club coaches in recent years. Enjoy the podcast!

Jack Rhea joins the podcast to discuss his pole vault journey through college. Jack would join the Tennessee Volunteers program with a 15'7" pr and end up jumping 17'3". Jack has a maturity and insight that is rare for a 21 year old man. Great episode!

Matt Barry of Pole Vault Atlanta joins the podcast. We discuss what reopening a pole vault club might look like depending on your region and situation. We also discuss the importance of viewing coaching through an education lens. Awesome episode! Enjoy!

Jeff Coover joins the podcast to discuss The Ultimate Garden Clash, where Renaud Lavillenie, Mondo Duplantis, and Sam Kendricks competed to see who could clear 16'4" the most times. We discuss the tie, what was good, and what could be better. We also go off on many tangents and discuss a slew of topics. Great conversation, enjoy!

Sondre Guttormsen of Norway and UCLA joins the podcast. Sondre has jumped 5.80 (19'1/4") t the age of 20! Sondre introduces us to how he began pole vaulting in Norway and how the sports system in Norway differs from America. Sondre also walks us through an injury he dealt with his freshman year at UCLA and how he feels his strength and conditioning program helps keep him fit and fast, as well as prevent injuries. We also discuss what technical things he's working on and what parts of the vault he likes from some of his favorite vaulters of all time. Great episode!

Livio and Rosario join the Apex Vaulting Podcast and discuss how they stated their club and how it grew to a 60 plus athlete club. Their perspectives on culture, maturity, and respect as it relates to pole vault clubs and coaching are to be admired. The positivity and joy they bring to the table is amazing! Enjoy!

My friend and 17'9" vaulter Nick Homan joins the podcast and opens up about his medical battles the last few months. Just as Covid-19 was shutting down the world Nick started feeling numbness in his back and abdomen and losing strength in his legs. He went from one hospital to the next and had countless tests done. I hope listening to Nick and his positivity through this all can inspire us all to look for the positives we have in our lives. Also Nick's medical bills are huge, and if you find that you would like to help, please reach out to Nick to contribute to his gofundme page. Contact us also for more information.

Jake Winder of Rise Athletics joins the podcast again. This time we discuss how to talk to athletes about missing their spring seasons and what they should do about training at this time. We also go over what club owners can do during this time and facing some of the unfortunate realities of the current situation. Also Jake announces the his brother Josh and him will be starting their own podcast, One More Jump!

Eric Bennett joins the podcast and discusses how he started out coaching at the collegiate level and what it takes to become a head coach and get a full time position. We also discuss Eric's approach when recruiting and working with athletes that have jumped at pole vault club or a pole vault coach in high school. Great tips!

Joe Oliveri joins the podcast again for a pole vault companion episode! We go back to the 2015 IAAF World Championships. Yelena Isinbaeva is no longer competing and we see who will be the next generation of women to compete at the world stage! Enjoy!

Ed Luthy of DC Vault joins the podcast and discusses his journey through pole vault how he ended up starting DC Vault. His club is home to an amazing 3 pit outdoor facility that is also has all the training equipment an athlete would want or need. Ed discusses how the DC Vault coaching staff manage to train 5 year olds all the way through adults who are trying pole vault for the first time. An amazing podcast! Ed provides some amazing perspectives on what it takes to be a pole vault coach.

Joe Oliveri joins the podcast for a pole vault companion episode! Joe and I give you some commentary for the 1997 Mens Pole Vault Final. Go to YouTube and search "1997 Men's Pole Vault Final" and watch the 39 minute 53 second video with us. We break down the jumps and the comp. This is Bubka's 6th and final world chmapionship! We had an awesome time doing it and we hope you enjoy it too!

Dylan Spadacinni owner of Strength Speed + and also former high school pole vaulter and collegiate decathlete joins the podcast to discuss training at home at this time as well as how small business owners in the fitness industry can better serve and help their clients during this time. We also discuss the importance of having some strength and conditioning knowledge and experience as a pole vault coach.