Monday, December 19, 2016
4:19 PM
Dear Pole Vaulters, Family, and Friends,
Winter
is upon us and it’s 27 degrees as I write this!
We’ve got lots of information regarding coaches, weather, practice
schedules, and meet schedules to discuss so I’ll get right to it.
Facebook - We have both a Lone Star Pole Vaulting page and a group
on Facebook. These emails are lengthy and take a long time to put
together, as do updates to our main website, so for quick and up to date
announcements, please check the Facebook page and if you’re not already a
member, request to join the Lone Star Pole Vaulters group.
New Coach - many of you have already met and worked with him but
I’d like to formally introduce our new Associate Head Coach for Lone Star
Pole Vaulting, Mr. Kyle Ellis. Kyle is a native of Oklahoma City but has
spent the last 10+ years up north building pole vault powerhouses at Eastern
Illinois University (EIU) and the University of Wisconsin. Himself a
retired 17’6 vaulter and former school record holder at EIU, Kyle stayed
on at his alma mater to become the vault and jumps coach and produced 2
18’0+ male vaulters and one 14’7 female vaulter, no small
accomplishment, especially at a university that practically nobody has heard of
and didn’t have the means to recruit in blue-chip high school superstars.
One of his female vaulters came into his program as a 9’0 high
school vaulter and eventually jumped 13’0 in 3 short years. That
kind of improvement in college is generally unheard of.
In
addition to coaching the pole vault, Ellis also coached the Eastern Illinois
long jumpers and triple jumpers. He coached 27 Ohio Valley Conference
Champions during his time at Eastern Illinois. During the 2014 campaign
he coached Peter Geraghty to first-team All-American
honors, placing 4th at the NCAA Outdoor National Championship. Geraghty set a school record in the pole vault with a
height of 18’2.75 and went on to place 4th at the US National
Championships clearing 18’0.5. During his tenure at EIU
Ellis’s accomplishments also included a podium sweep of the men’s
triple jump at the OVC Indoor Championships in 2011. His pole vaulters
swept the podium in 2011, 2013, and culminated with a men’s and
women’s podium sweep in 2014. Ellis coached the pole vault and
horizontal jumpers to 39 Eastern Illinois top ten performances and set eight
school records in the pole vault. In 2012, Jade Riebold
earned OVC Female Field Athlete of the Year honors in both indoor and outdoor
track as she set both the EIU and OVC record for the event with a performance
of 14’7.25”. Riebold went on to
become the first EIU women’s athlete to earn NCAA Division I All-American
honors earning second team honors in both indoor and outdoor pole vault. Riebold would earn a spot at the Olympic Trials. On
the men’s side the pole vault crew sent Mick Viken
to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships where he earned second team All-American
honors. In 2014 Ellis coached Jalisa Paramore to #2 on the all-time list
with a jump of 20’3.75” in the long jump. In 2011 he coached Viken to the OVC Freshman of the Year for both the indoor
and outdoor track seasons.
Ellis
was a standout in the pole vault during his two year career at EIU. He
set the school record for the indoor pole vault at 17’1” which was
broken in 2011. He currently ranks 3rd on the EIU career list for indoor
pole vault. A native of Oklahoma City, Ellis was an All-OVC performer and
a 2009 graduate of EIU with a BA in Exercise and Sports Science with a
concentration in Kinesiology.
Whilst
building his college programs, Kyle also built a club program on the side which
produced 6 High School State Champions.
One
last fun fact about Kyle is that he is a professional disc golf player in his
free time. Kyle just moved to New Braunfels last week and we hope to keep
him around for a long time as his knowledge and experience combined with my own
will help propel each and every vaulter in our club to the pinnacle of their
ability.
I
would like to see everyone take the opportunity to get some private 1-on-1
instruction with Kyle in addition to the time you’ll spend with him in
group practices. For the remainder of December, we’re offering a
Private Lesson Special Rate with Coach Kyle of $75 for 90 minutes. As
Kyle is a Head Coach like myself, this is normally
priced at $120. He’ll be traveling the rest of this week but will
have availability next week. You can book a private with Kyle on our
online scheduler via this link: https://instant-scheduling.com/sch.php?kn=570316&typId=33343&step=2
Weather
- Please make sure to check the weather and dress appropriately before coming
to practice. It’s not uncommon to see temperature drops of 30
degrees from the start of an afternoon practice to after the sun goes down in a
few hours. We do our best to try to make everyone comfortable with our
heaters, but it’s difficult to heat an uninsulated, drafty metal building
with a few patio heaters. In San Antonio we have no heat or roof or
walls! Dress accordingly; that goes for parents and spectators too.
Athletes should “layer-up and peel-down,” which works better
than one thick layer of clothing. I’ll typically wear a short
sleeve t-shirt under a long sleeve t-shirt, under a hoodie, under a jacket to
start and peel as comfortable. Tights under wind pants
and/or sweats on the legs. Hand warmers in pockets, gloves or
mittens to put on between jumps, and warm socks that will fit into your spikes.
Our policy for canceling practice is a 40 degree threshold… if
it’s going to be 40 and above we’ll go ahead with practice. If the temperature is forecasted to be 39 or below we cancel.
I’ll text and email everyone at least 2 hours in advance of any
practices if we decide to cancel. Experience has shown us that suffering
through a sub-40 degree practice is rarely productive and mostly miserable,
especially when you can’t feel your hands or hold onto the pole!
Memberships - membership in our club for group
practices is not monthly, but is sold in practice blocks of 4 practices for
$100, 8 for $150, or 12 for $200 and expire in 90 days to allow you more
flexibility and value. You can use unlimited practices (up to 7 days per
week) for $200 with a 30 day expiration. Please
try to keep up with your account, but if you need an account statement to see
when you're due for renewal, email our Office Manager Roxanne Alvarez or call
the office at 830-620-1175.
USATF Memberships - anyone participating in in our club group practices
MUST have a current membership card with USA Track and Field. This is not
optional, as it is a contingency for our liability insurance coverage.
These memberships expire on December 31st unless you've purchased a multi-year
membership, so please get signed up or renewed for 2017 and forward our Office
Manager Roxanne your membership confirmation email. You
can sign up online at www.usatf.org/membership
Group Practice Schedule - We are currently on Holiday Hours through January 2nd:
Monday
12/19: 3-5pm
Tuesday
12/20: No practice - we are hosting a television commercial camera shoot all
day
Wednesday
12/21: 9-10:30, 10:30-Noon
Thursday
12/22: 5-6:30, 6:30-8
Friday
12/23: 9-10:30, 10:30-noon
Saturday
12/24-Sunday 12/25: CLOSED
Monday
12/26: 9-10:30, 10:30-noon
Tuesday
12/27: 5-6:30, 6:30-8
Wednesday
12/28: 9-10:30, 10:30-noon
Thursday
12/29: 5-6:30, 6:30-8
Friday
12/30: 9-10:30, 10:30-noon
Saturday
12/31-Sunday 1/1: CLOSED
Monday
1/2: 9-10:30, 10:30-noon
Tuesday
1/3: Normal hours resume, Mon-Fri 4-5:30, 5:30-7ish, Sat
9-10:30, 10:30-noon, Sun 1-2:30, 2:30-4
San Antonio Group Practice Schedule - Starting in January
we’re looking to hold 2 practices per day on Wednesdays, a 4:00 and a
5:30 at St. Mary’s Hall. Big thanks to Paul Golibart for allowing
us to crash his backyard pit for a few weeks while we dodged the soccer games
on Tuesdays at The Hall. For this week and next:
Tuesday
12/20: 4-6
Tuesday
12/27: 4-6
You
can schedule San Antonio Group Practices via this link: https://instant-scheduling.com/sch.php?kn=570316&typId=52391&step=2
Each
practice in either location is technically slated for 90 minutes,
however they are structured to take 2 hours with a 30 minute overlap.
Those arriving to the later practice will be doing the warmup and workout
routine during the first 30 minutes as the first group is finishing up
vaulting. If you need to leave earlier, please let the coach know at the
beginning of practice so we can modify and structure the session accordingly.
Don’t forget to bring your “numbers” (phone or training
log) that contain all your information about steps, grips, poles, etc…, your spikes, and water.
Private Lesson Schedule - Coach Kyle, Coach Chaney, and myself
are available most hours when there are no group practices going on. Kyle
will be traveling up north the latter part of this week through Christmas and
returning next week. None of us are available on Tuesday the 20th due to
the television commercial shoot going on here. We are happy to have our
outdoor pit and runway functional again so that we can run groups and private
lessons concurrently (or divide up the bigger groups) starting next week.
You can request a private lesson online here: https://instant-scheduling.com/sch.php?kn=570316
Results
- Age is Just a Number Classic - We held our 6th annual edition of this meet on
December 10th and had a great turnout and some great jumping. The results
were age-graded and gender-graded as a means of handicapping the meet to level
the playing field and give everyone a chance to win regardless of age or
gender. 60 year old Don Curry of Bryan won the overall but many of our
athletes were in the hunt for the title with Lauren Sikoski
finishing second with a double PR day. Full results here: http://lonestarpv.com/results/20161210results.pdf Thanks
to everyone who came out, and we’ll host 2 more indoor meets here on
January 21 and February 4, so still 2 chances for our newcomers to gain
valuable competition experience with the home field advantage and coaching
before venturing out onto the battlefield of a school track meet with no coach.
Upcoming Meets - Now that we have 2 full time coaches in addition to
our Assistants, we can cover more ground and get out to some meets. Here
is a list of the upcoming Pre-school-track meets we will be attending, who is
eligible to compete, and the associated fees. For meets where I will
enter you via DirectAthletics (Texas A&M, University of Houston), please add the entry fee to
you coaching fee when you make payment. I need to know everyone who is
going to each meet, so even if you’ve told me before, please let me know
again which meets you’ll be attending via email, text, or at practice.
Expo Explosion 8 - Saturday, December 31st, Bell County Expo Center, Belton, TX. This is the best indoor pole vault meet in the State and is open to anyone. Jack Chapman and the Texas Elite Pole Vault Club do a first-rate job putting this on and even though it’s New Year’s Eve, think of it as a chance to up that 2016 Personal Record and come into the New Year flying high! I’ll be attending/hauling poles/coaching for a $40 fee. Enter yourselves online: http://www.texaselitepolevault.com/
Texas A&M High School Classic – Girls on Friday, January 6th – Boys on Saturday January 7th, Texas A&M University, College Station. The best indoor track venue in the United States. For high school only, this is a professionally run event that is at a top notch facility and run by the book. Not as laid back as pole vault-only meets as this is a full-on track meet, but a great chance to gain experience in a big meet. I would recommend any girls vaulting above 10'0 and boys vaulting above 13'0 to participate. I’ll be attending/hauling poles/coaching for a $40 fee. I will enter any interested vaulters online. Details here: http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/tamu.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/12/1/17_Texas_A_M_High_School_Meet_Information.pdf
Carl Lewis High School Invitational – Saturday, January 14th, University of Houston, Houston. For high school only, this is a full-on track meet at a good indoor facility with great competition. I would recommend any girls vaulting above 9'0 and boys vaulting above 12'0 to participate. Kyle will be attending/hauling poles/coaching for a $40 fee. I will enter any interested vaulters online. Details here:http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/c-track/home-meet-info.html