Coaching Education/Certification Certification for pole vault coaches is on the horizon. Check out these websites for getting ahead of the curve. Pole Vault Safety Certification Board Other programs listed with the National Federation of High Schools www.pvsafe.com www.polevaulteducation.org www.advantageathletics.com www.coacheseducation.com The Pole Vault Education Initiative Check out this pole vault book: From Beginner to Bubka by Alan Launder and John Gormley. The technical models for the book are based on the theories of Vitaly Petrov (Bubka's coach) and Sergey Bubka. Paul Omi has copies of the book for sale. Contact Paul at 39 W 747 Deer Run Dr, St Charles, IL 60175. The cost is: $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping fee. Here's an endorsement for the book from Tom McNab: As far as athletics literature is concerned, I am the anorak of anoraks, having in my stay in this vale of tears read over a thousand books on athletics and articles beyond number. When, therefore, I say that ³ Beginner To Bubka² is undoubtedly the finest technical manual ever written in the English language, then I would hope to be taken seriously. For almost all technical books are like a series of recipes; all the ingredients are there, but little advice on the actual cooking. For mere descriptive accounts ie ³the free thigh is lifted, together with the arms²are of little value. What coaches want to know is how, at the early instructional period , to construct technical models , and how to deal in a practical manner with the problems which arise .And, on some occasions, when to let things be, when ,in effect, to avoid perfection. And what they want above all is advice which has passed through the sieve of experience. This is what Launder¹s book delivers in spades. When fibre ­glass vaulting first began, in the mid- 60s, the natural emphasis was on the bending of the pole. In the 90s. the Russians did as they had done in the 50s with high jump, by analysing what the best jumpers had done in the past, and distilling the core principles. Then, they had correctly concluded that take-off was the key, and so it was with pole vault. The Bubka technique was the result, and Launder and his co- author John Gormley have delivered an outstanding practical exposition on how it can be achieved .It is essential reading ,not only for all vault coaches, but for everyone involved in coach education. Tom McNab