6 Pole Vault Games to Inject Some Fun Back Into Practice

By Jake Winder, founder of RISE Pole Vault. Games created by Tim Winder, the RISE Godfather (except Three-peat, that one's Jake's).

So... sometimes pole vaulting can be frustrating. Did you know that? Of course you did. And having grown up vaulting in the wonderful (insert sarcastic grin) Illinois spring weather, we know that vaulting outdoors in March, April, and May can accelerate that frustration considerably.

One strategy we've used throughout the years at RISE is playing pole vaulting games. It's a great way to reduce stress, accept conditions, adjust to conditions, get a fresh perspective, and even have fun vaulting in a 37-degree headwind with snow hitting you in the eyeballs. This article covers six of our favorites: Ten in a Row, Team Ten in a Row, 30-Second Vaulting, Dead Head, Zone Vaulting, and the Three-peat bonus challenge.

Disclaimer: play these games at your own risk. We do not recommend these games for inexperienced coaches. There may be advanced adjustments needed in an athlete's grip, pole size, and approach length for these games to be played safely. These games should be done with modest grips and modest poles. If you try to play them with big grips and big poles, you could end up hurt, or you could put the nail in the coffin of your remaining confidence, which completely flies in the face of the reason we play these games in the first place.

Ten in a Row

Objective: Clear ten consecutive bars, with the bungee set a foot and a half to two feet below your personal best.

How to play: Vaulters usually run from a shorter approach during this game. A short approach is not required, but it is recommended. The standards must remain at the deepest setting, and a bungee is used instead of a bar. If the vaulter or their pole touches the bungee, it's a miss. If the vaulter runs up and stops in a vault attempt, it's a miss. Any miss sends the vaulter's total back to zero, and they start over. First to ten in a row wins. It's best to put a time limit on this game; whoever has the highest total of clearances when time runs out wins.

Benefits: This game promotes consistency and proper focus on the technical process regardless of conditions. As an athlete gets closer to ten in a row, the pressure builds, which makes this a great way to practice staying focused when the pressure is on. It also develops rhythm through consistent clearances, and even with the lower bungee setting, athletes gain a little confidence with every clean, no-touch clearance.

Team Ten in a Row

Objective: The whole team clears ten consecutive bars, together.

How to play: Same rules as Ten in a Row, but every vaulter contributes to one shared tally. The bungee is still set a foot and a half to two feet below each vaulter's PR, and if anything touches it (yes, your shorts count), the team total goes back to zero. Athlete one clears: team total is one. Athlete two clears: total is two. Athlete three misses: back to zero. You can chase the goal as one squad, or split into two teams and race to ten.

Most of the time the team will want to keep going after ten to see how long the streak can run. The longest we've seen in this game is over 50 in a row.

Benefits: Team continuity and spirit, plus each vaulter learns to execute technique while external pressure (the whole team's streak) is riding on their jump.

30-Second Vaulting

Objective: Execute and complete a vault within 30 seconds.

How to play: Played with a bungee set one and a half to two feet below the vaulter's personal best; the standards may be moved. The vaulter stands with the pole in the box. The timer says "go," and the vaulter walks, jogs, or sprints up the runway to their approach mark and makes an attempt. The clock starts on the vaulter's first step down the runway and stops when they hit the pit. The bungee must not be touched for the attempt to count. A short approach is recommended, and so is a time limit for the game. Points are scored by time, and a point is taken away for every run-through; vaulters can go negative if running through becomes a problem. Vaulters get competitive with this one, so make sure they keep the balance between competitiveness and safety.

| Time (seconds) | Points |
| --- | --- |
| 18.00 to 15.01 | 1 |
| 15.00 to 12.01 | 2 |
| 12.00 to 10.01 | 3 |
| 10.00 and under | 5 |
| New record | 7 |

Team 30-Second Vaulting follows the same rules, one team against another, with run-throughs counting against the team.

Disclaimer: Not for inexperienced coaches who can't make advanced adjustments to pole size, grip, and start mark. There is also a level of athleticism an athlete needs to do this safely.

Benefits: This is scenario vaulting in disguise. You're rehearsing real competition situations without realizing it, because you're wrapped up in the challenge. A few scenarios this game recreates: you have one minute to vault once the bar is set (if you didn't know that rule, now you do), and a crosswind blows your pole mid-run so you stop before the box; you can still jump since you haven't crossed the plane, and you'll have roughly 30 seconds to get back and go. Or the wind takes a drastic turn, let's be positive and say for the better; now you have a tailwind, your current pole will land you in the bleachers, and you have about 30 seconds to run to your bag, grab the new pole, get back to the end of the runway, and complete a vault. The list goes on. We're building mental triumph over adversity, on a timer.

Dead Head

Objective: Get 'er done into a headwind.

How to play: Same rules as 30-Second Vaulting, but into an abnormally strong headwind.

Disclaimer: Not for inexperienced coaches. Adjustments are everything in this game: small, small, small poles with small, small, small grips. You may think you're more powerful than Mother Nature blowing a 20 mph south wind in your face, right up until She shoots your tail straight back down the runway and you're on your back looking at the sky, begging forgiveness. Humble yourself. This game exists to show you the power of good adjustments.

Benefits: The ability to make proper adjustments and succeed into a headwind, which is a skill every outdoor season eventually demands.

Zone Vaulting

Objective: Spell out "RISE PV" (or your own team's name, but feel free to use RISE PV) by making clearances from approaches of different lengths.

How to play: Set up three approach zones. Zone A is 16 strides, Zone B is 12, Zone C is 8 (feel free to adjust; 16 strides may be a little much for most high school athletes). The vaulter starts in Zone A, and a clearance earns the first letter of "RISE PV." They then attempt from Zone B, then Zone C, then work back up toward Zone A, earning a letter for each clearance. No two consecutive vaults from the same zone. First to spell the name wins. The team version follows the same rules. Standards may be adjusted, and a time limit is recommended.

| Zone | Approach | Bungee height (approx. below PR) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A | 16 strides | 1 foot |
| B | 12 strides | 2 feet |
| C | 8 strides | 3 feet |

Benefits: This game is built entirely out of variables the vaulter controls, and those are exactly the variables that cause trouble. Moving seamlessly between approach lengths, and knowing the right pole and grip height for each one, trips up more vaulters than you'd expect. It may surprise you how many athletes don't know what pole to go to when they move from short approach to full.

It's also a mental exercise. Some athletes have blocks at certain approaches: "No coach, I can't run six lefts," or "I can't run from full because I haven't in a couple weeks." Yes you can. You've just convinced yourself otherwise, and it's time to debunk the idea that you can't move from one approach to the next at will. The way you debunk it is by understanding the proper adjustments, which is the common thread running through all of these games. Understanding grip, pole, and approach-length adjustments can take you very far.

Bonus Challenge: Three-peat

Objective: Clear a bungee set one foot below your personal best on three different poles from the same approach.

How to play: It's pretty self-explanatory.

Benefits: If you can do this, you a gangsta.

Go play

So there you have it. Go out there and feel the glorious feeling of having fun in the pole vault again. Allow yourself to let go of the pressures you've put on yourself and just play around. Trust me, those pressures aren't going anywhere. You can scoop them back up after practice. But chances are you'll pick them up with a touch more confidence and perspective after enjoying some of these games.