Michael Auslen geared up for some pole vaulting action before track practice at Arvada West April 7. Photo by Ashley Pajor.

It’s been a long time since I last had the opportunity to participate in one of RVHS’s wonderful sporting practices and, to be honest, I wasn’t completely confident in my decision to do girls’ track. Those who recall my first column (cross country) will remember that I am not athletic, as I continually assert, but even more specifically, I do not run.

I abhor running.

Nevertheless, track went off relatively well.

At the beginning of practice we gathered near the math hall and did two laps of some combination of stairs and running through classroom wings. I must express some pride in my ability to stay near the head of the pack with my faithful partner in journalism Ashley Pajor (who is, incidentally, a member of the track team), but, near the end of the second lap I found myself near the rear of the pack.

In any case, I then went outside to throw discus and do triple jump. I started with the wimpy fake disc, and didn’t do

Michael Auslen trying discus for the first time

so hot, but I did graduate to the real deal one pound disc. Though discus wasn’t my strong point by any means, if I do say so myself, triple jump is possible the most fun thing I’ve done with any sports team during practice to date. It took some practice to figure it out, but even Ashley said I wasn’t too bad. I suppose now would be the appropriate time to do a bit of shameless promotion. I have put videos online of discus, triple jump and my pole vaulting adventures at www.rvhsnews.com.

At that point, I was supposed to do sprinting, but that group of girls was finished, so we cut the day short.

However, after spring break, I got back together with Ashley to do the one thing that, from the beginning of planning my track practice misadventures, I had vehemently opposed: pole vaulting. Somehow, I am not comfortable with the idea of holding a long pole and running straight towards a pile of mats, only to hoist myself onto said mats using said pole. It seems unnatural and, frankly, extremely dangerous. But I reluctantly agreed to accompany Ashley to Arvada West for one day of practice. Unfortunately, there were other people practicing there, so I didn’t get quite as many tries doing the real deal as I would have liked, although maybe that was for the best. For starters, Ashley taught me
how to swing forward using the pole. I was instructed to thrust one knee forward and have the trail leg follow behind, a move I quickly likened to Peter Pan. But my trip to Never Neverland was regrettably cut short by my own failure at athletics.

As Ashley added steps to my travesty of an attempt at pole vaulting, I quickly worsened in my ability to do any of it. In fact, even things I had mastered earlier seemed to disappear from my short list of things I can do which require insane amounts of hand-eye coordination.

I did finally get a couple of tries on the pole, the first of which was an utter failure (but it was all Ashley’s fault for not fixing my hand position), but the second of which sort of worked. I say sort of because I only made it onto the mats with very little air time or height, but I say worked because I actually made it onto the mats without injuring myself, which was above my own expectations. Though my time with the girls’ track team wasn’t nearly as physically strenuous as some of my other practices, it was very difficult. I spent most of my time doing field events and found that it takes a serious amount of practice and dedication to succeed. These girls (and, I suppose, their male counterparts) push themselves throughout the entire season to achieve as close as they can come to perfection. There’s always some little tweak to make to the routine or a few more inches that can be thrown or jumped. So, though
I may not have been tested as much as usual, I did come out of girls’ track with a few very beneficial things:

I now understand the difficulty of field events, which I once would have considered not altogether difficult to master.

I have conquered my fear of pole vaulting, and what a short-lived fear it was.

I have, as usual provided you with some sort of entertainment at my pitiful athletic attempts, this time in a video format online.

Don’t forget to check out videos and photos at http://www.rvhsnews.com/michaelauslen/girls-track-anticipating-doom, http://www.rvhsnews.com/michaelauslen/girls-track-still-breathing-hard-part-i-recap, http://www.rvhsnews.com/michaelauslen/girls-track-will-i-stab-my-foot-part-ii-pre-practice, http://www.rvhsnews.com/michaelauslen/girls-track-i-pole-vaulted-part-ii-recap-and-video.

I went with Ashley Pajor to Arvada West (that’s where all the pole vault stuff is set up) and we got right to work. She started off teaching me how to plant the pole and swing across it. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, for some reason I couldn’t get it down just right. Basically, you plant the rubber end of the pole onto the ground and thrust one knee forward. The other leg (or trail leg) follows behind, locked, and at a high angle, almost parallel to the ground. On the rare occasions when I got it right, I felt like Peter Pan.

Then, she thought she’d try something a little more difficult. Big mistake. I was instructed to walk forward, then plant, then do the cool Peter Pan thing. If all had gone well, I might have had more tries jumping over the bar, and then I’d be off to Neverland. As expected, though, it did not go well and a pinch of fairy dust just wasn’t going to cut it. I tried and tried and tried until, at one point, Ashley said, “I think you’re getting worse.” Well duh! I’m not athletic (as I continue to remind those readers who enjoy my suffering), and something that requires as much coordination and physical multitasking as pole vaulting just isn’t my forte.

As we neared the end of the practice, I did get a couple of tries jumping onto the mats. The first one was an utter failure. Although in my defense, it was all Ashley’s fault. She still had my hands positioned low down on the pole for swinging on the pavement, as opposed to high up near one end for using the pit and mats. On my second try I did get some air, but I probably wouldn’t have made it past the first bar height.

So, pole vaulting isn’t something I should consider pursuing. Oh well, I did learn that it’s really hard. Ashley and the A-West pole vaulters aren’t new to this sport, yet the coach had so many things to help them with that I was just amazed. It’s a very delicate art and I guess I’m just not up to it.

Videos:

Michael’s first attempt at pole vaulting with the actual mats. Video by Ashley Pajor.

Michael’s second and final attempt at pole vaulting with the mats. This time, he actually succeeded in getting off the ground (thanks for fixing my hands, Ashley). Video by Ashley Pajor.

Professional Number 1: Ashley Pajor, Xpress reporter and RVHS pole vaulter, makes one of her vaults at Arvada West during girls’ track practice April 7.

Professional Number 2: One of Arvada West’s pole vaulters at his practice on April 7.

Michael Auslen geared up for some pole vaulting action before track practice at Arvada West April 7. Photo by Ashley Pajor.

Pole vaulting is scary. No, seriously, it really freaks me out. Understandably, therefore, I am very nervous about my second day practicing with girls’ track because I’m passing into the realm of the pole vaulter.

In just 40 short minutes, I will be on my way to Arvada West to pole vault with Ashley Pajor. This should be interesting. I don’t have much to say but this one question:

Has anyone ever stabbed his foot into the ground pole vaulting.

P.S. Thank you whoever has the pole for my weight. Your contribution (by giving me a pole 35 lbs. too heavy) will really make this funnier–and possibly more dangerous.

Michael Auslen trying discus for the first time

Today I went to Girls’ Track practice (see original post for my pre-practice thoughts). It was interesting to say the least.

First, I met up with the rest of the team back in one of the hallways of the school and we did some warm up, by which I mean ran two laps, each consisting of running up and down stairs, through classroom hallways and, essentially giving ourselves a good tour of the building. I actually held my own (I am not very athletic for those who don’t know); I was second in line behind Ashley Pajor for most of the run, but I could have passed her if I knew where I was going. Then I got passed by more than half of the girls. Oh well, they do this almost every day and I do not.

Michael Auslen landing a successful triple jump at track practice. (Photo by Ashley Pajor)

Then, the girls split up into groups; we started with the throwers doing discus, which I was not horrible at. The coaches helping us there were amazing and I was nowhere near as good as them, but I did okay as far as I’m concerned.

After that, the line started to build up (they guys had come over by this time), so Ashley and I moved on. The jumping coach wasn’t there so she taught me how to triple jump. I think triple dump was the most fun I have had since we started “On the Field” last October. You jump, skip and land into a giant pit of sand. How awesome is that!

To finish off the day, we were supposed to go do hills with the sprinters (and enjoy the torture that was bound to be), but at this point they were done. So, we decided that the week after Spring Break I will do one more track day to do sprinting and to go to Arvada West High School with Ashley to pole vault.

Michael Auslen lands triple jump during his day at girls' track practice. (Photo by Ashley Pajor)

Please enjoy these pictures and videos and keep an eye out for part two in a week-and-a-half. The full (and undoubtedly humorous) story will be available on April 15 online and in print.

Video:

Below are videos of my experiences at track practice.

Editor’s note: We are still hammering out our video capabilities. Please bear with us as we fix any problems with the following videos. Thank you.

Michael Auslen throws discus at track practice.

For those of you who are new to the Xpress, welcome. One of our recurring features is a sort of day-in-the-life of RVHS athletes. Ashley Pajor and I go to opposite gender sports practices for one day and see what it’s like. Today, I’m going to girls’ track.

HOLY EXPLETIVE!

After the disaster that was girls’ cross country last semester, I am very anxious. I do not run. I am not athletic. I do sports with a pen and paper.

Hopefully I won’t die too much, but, I suppose, it would all be worth it to provide you, the reader, with some entertainment. Here’s my pre-track emotion summed up:

Aaaaah! Ashley, stop posting how much you will laugh at me on your blog (click here)! I’m going to have a panic attack (we are at T-18 minutes), but that’s okay because as long as it’s in the name of journalism, everything is just fine!

Please check back in a couple of hours for my initial reaction after practice and check back April 15 (or the print version of that date) for the full stories from Ashley and me.