Your teacher gives you a long pole and tells you to throw yourself 15 feet in the air over a bar and then land. This sounds pretty dangerous and it is. Like much of life, the fun lies in the danger. Many people here at lake Mary wants to try and vault but simply is scared of the dangers. As a vaulter I’m here to ensure you it isn’t as scary as it seems. Yes you could die or get seriously hurt, but thats only when you’re starting to jump high and by than you will have enough expierence to not mess up badly. I encourage everyone who wants to try it to just do it. For my experience I never felt like I was in danger we started fundamentals in a sand pit and mastered them before even jumping over anything. Once you’re good enough to start practicing on the mat you start low, as low as 5 feet and it takes time to get good enough for it to start to become dangerous. So is it dangerous? Yes but you will have a lot of practice before it starts to get there. Besides the dangers I find pole vaulting vary fun and if you get good you can earn an athletic scholarship. Of course you can earn one else where in a less dangerous sport but the competition will be much bigger not a lot of people do pole vault because of the fear. Pole vault is a risky sport but it could be worth it for you and the journey is fun.

I interviewed a few of my teammates to see how they feel about the sport and its safety. I asked them a couple questions like 1. “Why did you try pole vault?” 2. “do you feel in danger when your competing?”, 3. “how safe do you think the sport is overall?” and 4. “in your opinion does Lake Mary take good precautions to ensure you won’t get injured competing?”

The first person I interviewed is the school record holder Dilon Dechristopher who currently is a freshman at the university of South Alabama on a full ride schollarship. His answers to the following questions was, 1. “My dad actually wanted me to try pole vault. I told him no at first and then coach cash man (his personal trainer) actually got me to come out and try it and I never stopped.” 2. “It depends on what school or complex we’re jumping at. Some places are known for having bad equipment which is a huge safety hazard. For the most part, I feel safe when I compete.” 3. “It is a safe sport if you’re taught correctly and take the right precautions.” 4. “Yes, Lake did a great job while I competed there.I’m sure they are doing just as good or even better.

The second person is Aislin Blue She’s currently a senior and is our best female vaulter. Her answers were 1.”I tried pole vault because it was something new for me, so I tried it and got good at it.” 2. “I’ve never felt in danger when competing. When competing I’m aware of what I’m doing in the air and it’s muscle memory to me. Practice is frequent as well so I usually fix all my dangerous mistakes there to the point where I know what not to do in order to keep myself safe.” 3. “I think a 6/10, because if you practice enough you’re less likely top get hurt.” 4. “Yeah for sure, we aren’t allowed to practice without coach supervision, and during competition our coach is always there unlike some other schools.”

The third person is Alex Keener (person in picture) he’s a sophomore vaulter who is fairly new and only started a year ago. 1. “I really just got thrown into it.” 2. “Not really, I trust the equipment and the mats are pretty safe and soft.” 3. “Overall id say its a pretty safe sport, its not that dangerous.” 4. “Yeah id say lake Mary takes great precautions.”