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 yo...

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 importan...

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 a...

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...

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...

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 on...

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 su...

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 co...

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...

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 ep...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 wa...

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 vaul...

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 maj...

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 ha...

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...

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 up...

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 podcas...

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....