WOODSBORO, Texas — Pole vault in track and field might look intimidating, but with a good coach and the right gear a determined athlete can reach new heights. The Barn coach Kevin Hall is hoping to help anyone interested in learning the event.
"I want to keep it alive, and you know we're the only one in the area now down here," Hall said. "It's just us."
From the Valley to the Panhandle, pole vaulters from across Texas spend time training with Hall at the Barn. He has one of eight indoor vaulting facilities in the state, and is the only event facility in South Texas.
"Coaches are welcome to come any time whether they have a kid vaulting for me or not," said Hall who wants more high school coaches to become involved. "They can sit right here with me and I'll help them all I can. We're trying to keep the event from dying because it's so expensive and it's so time consuming. That it just gets tough."
Since 2017, 80 percent of athletes that spent time at the Barn landed college scholarships, like Big 12 Champion and Woodsboro grad Anthony Meacham.
Gregory-Portland senior Tristen Grimes recently signed with the University of Incarnate Word. Her personal best is 13-feet, and a second place finish at the UIL 5A State meet.
"I feel like my run has improved so much. We're really breaking it down and working on my step, so that's been difficult but it's something that I've really been needing to work on."
Like most sports, pole vaulting creates a family bond. Even though it's not a team sport.
"Positive environment because that really got me to love it because I was struggling. Again like the basics, breaking it down and it's more about technique. You actually get to see videos of what you're doing."
Kevin Hall was never a pole vaulter, but he was public school coach for 35 years. (10 years Athletic Director/Football Head Coach and 27 years Track Head Coach) Making the career change in 2017 came down to helping his daughter Sky.
"I quit my job and moved here. We were at a location about a mile away from here. We set up there, and a couple of years later she was a 2-time State Champion, set the State record and went to college. Now she has her degree, and that's what put me in it. I came here to coach my daughter."
Now it's Hall's mission to help coaches and athletes learn to pole vault.
"How do I move that pole to the pit and make it go with it. That's the basic way you start. It's very simple. If you start out right it's really not that hard."
The Barn will host two free pole vault clinics for beginners going into seventh, eighth and ninth grade on Saturday, Dec. 20 and Sunday, Dec. 21 from 1:30-4 p.m.
