Amidst all the commotion, I overheard Johnson asking Danny Meade, the sports editor, who he wanted to try pole vaulting for the next Tom Tom tries column. Right away, even though I had no idea what was going on, I became overwhelmed with excitement and volunteered myself.

I secretly have always wanted to attempt pole vaulting, so here (obviously by fate) was my chance. However, when someone speaks of pole vaulting, instantly a person sticking a giant stick into the ground, screaming and flailing themselves through the air, plays in my mind. Well, sounds pretty freaking awesome to me and fairly simple.

As soon as Mr. Johnson agreed, with laughter and his characteristic smirk, that I was definitely the right Tom Tom candidate to try this graceful sport, I got my phone and texted pole vaulter Emma Miller to find a time for me to give it the ole Tom Tom try.

After many texts, we finally scheduled a time and place, and the day had finally come.

It truly was a mix of emotions once I started making my way across the turf to the pole vaulting mats. There was no doubt that I was excited, but I was becoming increasingly more nervous and unsure of this commitment. For some reason I never really thought I would have to learn any particular technique before I just ran and jumped aimlessly onto the mat. But, actually, there is quite a bit of technique and preparation that goes into each jump.

Thankfully my amazing pole vaulting instructors, Taegan Gandolfi and Emma Miller, provided me with all the necessary tips I needed before I made an absolute fool of myself… oops.

The first step in the preparation was to find a pole that correlated with my weight. After, I practiced stepping and how to correctly lean into the jump. I used the soccer goal as a place to push the end of the pole against so I was able to get a sense of how much pressure I would need to exert into the ground and forward. Once Taegan and Emma felt like I had a well enough understanding of the motions, it was time for lessons on hand positioning.

Hand positioning when pole vaulting is very important. If you aren’t careful, an error in hand positioning could result in serious injuries or even death. Well, not death, but seriously it is important. After I had the positioning down, Emma and Taegan had me combine the steps with it. For the first couple attempts I just ran with the pole on the turf to get the feel for it.

It took a while for me to perfect the technique, but when I did It was time for the first trial run of putting all the steps together with the actual mat.

This was the exciting part, the moment I had been waiting for this whole time. I could feel the spotlight and everyone watching, wondering if I was going to even leave the ground… which I did by the way.

I moved back three steps from the front of the mat, tried to compose myself, laughed a bit, and just went for it. I ran to the edge of the mat planted my pole into this metal hole that I don’t know the name of and tried jumping up as much as I could. It felt very awkward, but I’m sure it’s a motion and feeling you get used to after a number of attempts. After my first, second, and then somehow I talked them into letting me jump several more times, my instructors both continued to smile through their tears of laughter, as well as my photographer, Tyler Steele.

PSA: pole vaulting is not as simple as it seems.

Despite the laughs and judging looks from the rest of the pole vaulting team from observing this hot mess, I learned that pole vaulting is a lot of fun and I would no doubt try it again. But, hopefully, I can get a little higher next time.