Motivation and Emotion: Pole Vaulting

In my experience, the most common response people have when I tell them that I am a pole vaulter is, "isn't that scary?". Of course there have been moments in my 7 years of vaulting that were terrifying, including tearing my ACL, watching other vaulters break a pole, or getting rejected and landing back on the runway instead of the mats. My coach preaches trying one thing, whether it be a new drill or a bigger pole, that scares us each practice. I have seen teammates terrified, elated, in tears of both frustration and joy, so what drives us to keep pushing ourselves to our physical and mental limits? "The things that tap our deepest emotions have the ability to evoke the greatest value... often emotional involvement can make a consumer appear irrational"(Babin, 2016, pp. 101).

Oh Snap (Umichpolevault, 2016)


If you watch the video above you might wonder what would motivate someone to continue this irrational activity, but the risk is well worth the reward. Fear is not the only emotion involved, success brings feelings of accomplishment, satisfaction, joy, pride and affirmation. It is emotionally gratifying and clearing a new personal record height elicits a euphoria that is unparalleled by any other activity.
From my personal experience, I find that I pole vault because of self-improvement motivation, "motivations aimed at changing the current state to a level that is more ideal, not at simply maintaining the current state. Self improvement leads consumers to perform acts that cause emotions that help create hedonic value" (Babin, 2016, pp. 91-92). Pole vaulting offers a constant opportunity to set the bar higher and improve myself. I love activities like vaulting and weight lifting with quantitative results that consistently provide measurable goals and clearly reveal improvement.

To further explore what motivates pole vaulters to do the irrational, I asked a few of my teammates what motivates them and why they vault.

(Umichpolevault, 2016)

Sarah said, "I vault because it is challenging, but I see my own potential and I want to achieve it" (Uhlian, 2017).

(Umichpolevault, 2016)

Emma said, "I vault because I like to feel like I am flying" (Bauer, 2017).

(Burkhalter, 2016)

Nick said, "I vault for the adrenaline rush" (Burkhalter, 2017).

(Umichpolevault, 2017)

Kevin said, "I vault because I am competitive and it feels good to be the best" (Haughn, 2017).


These reasons are mostly emotional, affirming the hedonic value of the pole vault. Hedonic motivation, "the drive to feel something emotionally gratifying", played a huge role in getting each of us to vault at the B1G 10 level (Babin, 2016, pp. 93).  It is an incredibly technical sport, taking many years to learn and the dedication that it takes to become successful at it can only come from serious passion. I believe that most pole vaulters exhibit emotional and enduring involvement in the activity. Learning more about the event and new approaches to technique drive them to better themselves. "Consumers with high enduring involvement typically find more hedonic value in learning more about that particular activity... Consumers often show passion for activities in which they are enduringly involved"(Babin, 2016, pp. 95). Pole vaulters are also emotionally involved, appearing irrational at times. Breaking a pole for instance and then immediately taking another attempt on a bigger one might seem irrational, but the passion of enduring involvement combined with the deep personal interest of emotional involvement would drive any vaulter to do this in a heartbeat.

Works Cited

Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 91-92). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 93). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 95). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 101). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Bauer, Emma. (2017, Feb 4) Personal Interview.

Burkhalter, Nick. (2016, April 16) Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209637165510432&set=a.1618909677120.2086135.1367749937&type=3&theater

Burkhalter, Nick. (2017, Feb 4) Personal Interview.

Haughn, Kevin. (2017, Feb 4) Personal Interview.

Uhlian, Sarah. (2017, Feb 4) Personal Interview.

Umichpolevault, (2016) Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/umichpolevault/?hl=en

Umichpolevault, (2017) Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/umichpolevault/?hl=en