This is the January 2014 issue of VAULTER Magazine featuring the College Edition once again with The University of California, Berkeley on the front cover and Hamilton Southeastern High School on the back cover for the first time featuring high schools on a cover. Most sought after print magazine for The Pole VAULTER and pole vaulting fan. Now you have the unfair advantage in pole vault!

Welcome to 2014. We have something very exciting for you in this first edition of the year. Bubba Sparks interviewed Debbie Chappell, wife of UCS Spirit’s own Steve Chappell. Debbie Chappell has been around pole vaulting a long time and has some great information for us. This exchange between these two legendary vaulters is so much fun to read! We know you will enjoy it.

This time Penny Hanson has focused on second semester high school juniors in her College Connection piece. She is urging you juniors to get out there and find out what colleges you will be applying to, and get the ball rolling on the decision-making process. It’s not easy, so if you are struggling when it comes to your college choices, this article is for you. You will find it most helpful.

Dolf Berle is our featured veteran vaulter to start off the New Year. He treated us to a great story about his experience in the Porto Allegre World Championships and the USA National Championship in the decathlon. His story is one all vaulters can relate to, and his emotions and physical reactions he expresses are familiar to, not only vaulters, but to anyone who has ever competed in a sport.

The Golden Bears of UC Berkeley are lucky enough to have Vault Coach Jordan Stepp this year. Although he is new to Berkeley, Coach Stepp is not new to vaulting and he and his crew are getting along great. They are moving right along in competition and putting out great athletes. You won’t want to skip Coach Stepp’s account of this past year, and how things have been going. Please enjoy.

Last, but not least we have our cover story on Hamilton Southeastern High School in Indiana. This group has been fighting hard to reach their best and making big future plans. Coach Collin Gayde is reaching amazing heights with both the boy’s and girl’s vault teams.

So we hope you will relax after your holiday ventures, whatever they were, and relax with our fun-filled January issue. Thank you for ringing in 2014 with us, and keep reading throughout the year for more vaulting tales, information, and tips. Happy New Year!