Steven's a AAU Junior Olympic Qualifier
Germantown, OH (July 22, 2004) Valley View's Scott Stevens has qualified for the AAU Junior Olympic Pole-vaulting Nationals for the third consecutive time. Stevens began his journey in West Virginia. There he took the gold and qualified for the next round that was held in Lima, Ohio. The competition was fierce, but Stevens managed to come out with the bronze.
"I'm in the 17-18 division now, so I'm competing with more experienced vaulters. I vaulted a 12'6". The highest I have vaulted is 14-feet," Stevens noted.
The poles have a lot to do with just how high Stevens can vault and they had a big impact during the Lima Tournament.
"The reason I didn't hit 14' was because I didn't use a 15 foot pole. At camp Slippery Rock I was getting 14' easily, but I hadn't been practicing with that pole. In between weights would help me transition to the bigger pole," commented Stevens.
Now that Stevens is a senior he's looking forward to possibly beating Valley View's record of 13'6", which he's already done while practicing, but what about his past. How did he begin his career in pole-vaulting?
It started back in 2001, Stevens eighth grade year, when pole-vaulting made a comeback. Devin Stoutenborough was his coach and the Spartans knew they were only points away from winning the SWBL title. Stevens and some of the other boys spoke to Stoutenborough about pole-vaulting in the league meet.
A week before the meet Stoutenborough had any of the interested kids try it. Stevens was of course one of them.
"We knew we needed extra points to win. We only practiced for a week before the meet and I got fourth place while my teammate took sixth place. The points we earned pushed us above the other teams and we won the SWBL title," Stevens commented.
That was the opening of Stevens successful career. Once in high school Stevens began pole-vaulting under coach Matt O'Diam and that's when his heights began to soar.
"They way he coaches is, he's not there to limit you. He starts you off with the basics and lets you progress," said Stevens.
O'Diam had a pit at his house, but just a couple of weeks ago moved it to Jessica Rolland's house, so Valley View athletes would be able to practice on it without driving the distance.
"This week Matt is going to put the mats up and get it ready to work on," added Stevens.
Practice brings improvement and Stevens knows that, so he'll definitely be practicing, practicing and practicing over the next couple of weeks before he travels to Des Moines, Iowa to compete in the AAU Nationals for the Junior Olympics.
"I'm just having fun (at the nationals) because I've been there three years in a row. My goal is to hit 14'," Stevens said.
After his summer tournaments, Stevens plans on concentrating on Valley View's meets and as of right now he's undecided on which college he would like to attend.
"I have a stack of letters in my room, but I haven't decided where I want to go yet," Stevens stated.
Stevens holds a 4.0 GPA right now and is one of the best pole-vaulters in the area, so surely he'll be able to attend any college of his liking.
"I want a school that has a good athletic program, but also a good architecture/engineering program," Stevens said.
There are a lot of things that await Stevens in the future, through all of his achievements, but the one thing he's concentrating on now is the AAU Junior Olympic Nationals on August 5th.
