“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” is a quote from Mark Twain that best summarizes the first year in our new indoor facility. October 1st was the day the bowlines were thrown off as we opened that original 12′ garage door to an empty warehouse in Melbourne. Much work was to be done and many helpful hands were needed on deck to create the facility that would proudly train the best that Florida has to offer. 4 state champions, the top male and female vaulter in the state, 24 state medalists, 30 state qualifiers, 127 points for teams that would eventually help 3 teams win overall championships isn’t a bad set of numbers for a once barron warehouse on the back of an industrial signage shop. These are only the numbers for the Florida high school state championships. The warehouse now boasts an 18′ garage door, an extended runway, a pretty good sound system and poles from every major manufacturer in the United States. Thanks to the support of my friends and family, I will not have to look back and wonder what could have been in 20 years. I will get to look back in 20 years and reflect on all the great memories this indoor facility has provided and will continue to provide. Special thanks to Dave Cook for the use of his pole vault pit, the Blessing family for the carpet in the building, the Gale family for their help with special projects including the door, the Smith family for their help with the Altius poles and help with the building of the runway, the McDaniel family for the endless hours of manual labor help with the facility and my endless project list, and anyone I may have left out that has helped this dream become a reality.
Individual gold medalists included Emily Gale, Shelton McLean, Josh McDaniel, and Nico Shepherd. Silver medalists included Amanda Gale, Annie Harwig, Stephanie Cook, Brooke Saurbier, Winston Perry, and Dean Sage. Bronze Medalists included Corey Smith, Kristen Petry, and Justin Deithorn. Other state medalists included Grayson Mack, Randy Hage, Jenna Meyers-Sinnet, Samantha Olson, John Batch, Brandi Lucas, Lauren Chabarek, and Kevin Knox. Other state qualifiers included Ben Horowitz, Amanda Rigdon, Charlee Beckett, Jose Roca, Will Kelley, Ashley Cahill, Bridgett Bauer, Kelsey Nilsem, and Austin Bubb. Performances by the Gale twins finishing 1-2 for 18 points helped turned the tide for Calvary Christian School to win their first state championship, Corey Smith’s gutsy performance to finish 3rd helped Holy Trinity capture the schools’ first boys track state title, and Nico Shepherd and Dean Sage finished 1-2 for 18 points to help St. Thomas Aquinas capture another boys state track title.
Not mentioned above are the people that made it possible for these athletes to become successful, their parents. To the parents of all the athletes that have participated in a camp or training session with PoleVault City, we salute you! You have made it possible for your children to achieve their goals and we know how much each of you have sacrificed both financially and timewise. Behind every champion their is a support group that goes unnoticed that is critical to that champion’s success. We at Pole Vault City are truly blessed to be able to work with your children. We hope each of you feel like part of our polevault family because sport is important but character is more important and our building is full of character and characters 
.
Thank you to everyone who has helped to make our first season in the new building a success. Let’s build on the success of 2012 and make 2013 even better.
A true labor of love. Thank you Bobby and Marcy!