I’m so happy to finally be able to share more vaulting stories with you, friends across the ocean! This last year has been really difficult for many teams here in the United States, as I’m sure it was for you too. Practices were suspended, competitions canceled (except for a couple virtual ones), and lots of teams, including ours, had issues with their horses at the same time—many were injured or got sick. It’s pretty hard to find good vaulting horses especially on the East Coast, so any opportunities for extra training are always welcome, especially right before our Region IX Championships, which include almost all the teams on the East Coast.
This year, Region IX Championships was also the first competition where vaccinated vaulters could go maskless and where we could finally start vaulting in groups again. I got really lucky, because, during our training for this competition, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a clinic with an extremely talented vaulter—Daniel Janes (https://www.instagram.com/barplebapkins/?hl=en). One of Pacific Vaulting Club’s (https://pacificcoastvaulting.com/) coaches, he competed multiple times in world championships, in individuals, pairs, and team, most recently in Saumur, France, in 2019 where he placed second in pairs. And what a coincidence, Daniel has even heard of the Vaulting Review! What an honor to have him fly across the country to come coach us!
Photographer Jerry Yang
Hannah Wildermuth will participate as a flyer for Team USA at world’s in Budapest
Photographer Jerry Yang
All of this was thanks to another really inspirational vaulting figure especially for us younger vaulters: Hannah Wildermuth, of High Flyers Vaulting (https://highflyersvaulting.com/). Just thirteen years old, she trains tirelessly every day to reach the world championships. Thanks to her efforts and her monthly trips to California to train with Daniel’s team, Hannah will participate as a flyer for Team USA at world’s in Budapest this August. It’s at her house, in Pennsylvania, that our clinic with Daniel was organized, on Hannah’s horse Jump Start.
I find the story of how her horse got his name pretty funny, so I want to tell it to you briefly. During his first week of life he wasn’t able to get up on his own, so Hannah’s mom had to help him stand every day. Therefore, because he needed a bit of encouragement, or a jump-start to get going, he was named that! It’s him that I borrowed for regionals, in the absence of my team’s horse, and on him I did my first canter practices since last year, under Daniel’s guidance.
Photographer Jerry Yang
Regionals was a great experience. In addition to my individual competitions, I was able to do a pairs and a team routine. We put together the latter in two or three practices, with a vaulter who had recently recovered from a few injuries and a flyer who had never done team before because of COVID. So it was really a special moment to see that, even with all the challenges of the past year, our Oscars-themed freestyle (accompanied by a red carpet that we unraveled as we ran into the arena), won the Region IX Cup!
If we all acknowledge that our mental abilities are just as important as the physical ones. why don’t we train them just as much?
Photographer Great Falls Vaulting
This memorable moment encouraged us all and showed us the worth of Daniel Janes’s advice on the mental aspect of vaulting. Especially with the new experience of borrowing a horse, it was essential for me to be able to calm down before the competition, and the quick concentration exercises that Daniel taught us allowed me to focus only on the important aspects of the chaotic environment. Indeed, as he would say, if we all acknowledge that our mental abilities are just as important as the physical ones. why don’t we train them just as much? It is thanks to this notion that our vaulting keeps improving, but it’s also nice to see how much the sport itself improves our mental state. It creates a community that shares the same passion and that reminds us of the indispensability of collaboration and friendship even during a difficult or new period like that of COVID. It truly does make us want to begin again. You see, this is our jump-start!
