When opportunity knocked on the baseball helmet of a freshman three springs ago, it came as a question posed by West Deptford gym instructor Mark Dixon to his freshmen class, and the answer reverberates to this day.
Who wants to take this here pole, run down that there path and flick over that bar?
Only Dan Batdorf stepped forward, and then he stepped up, way up, clearing nine feet -- a height unreached by many varsity vaulters -- in 20 minutes of practice.
Class dismissed.
"Dan, um, you're playing baseball now, but if you don't want to play baseball, if that doesn't work out for you, you might want to try pole vaulting," suggested Dixon, the 15-year boys' track coach.
Although a decent outfielder, Batdorf put down his glove the following spring, a move that's materialized into two back-to-back pole vault state titles.
Lifting himself head and shoulders over the other state vaulters in his senior year -- not one was within a foot of his 15-6 clearance at the state Indoor Meet of Champions -- Batdorf is the 2008 Courier-Post Boys' Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Not bad for someone who entered this winter limping.
A sprained right ankle after a block in the Eagles' football championship game last fall sidelined the tight end for the remainder of the game and confined his early winter workouts to the weight room or the hot tub.
"After the game I was worried about what impact it would have (on vaulting)," Batdorf said.
Batdorf found out on Dec. 23 when Dixon cleared him for takeoff at a throwaway Olympic Conference meet. But for fear of reaggravating the injury, Dixon limited Batdorf's usual running start of 14 steps to about five.
Even on his restricted runway, Batdorf managed to vault 13-0 for second. It would be the only time he would lose this season.
Five times this season Batdorf has cleared at least 15-0, including two 15-6 performances to win on track's biggest stages, the Meet of Champions and the Eastern States Championships.
Soon after winning the state Meet of Champions last spring with a jump of 14-6, Batdorf took Dixon's advice and checked into Fiber Benders, a Pennsylvania pole vault camp, three times. He funded his last couple stays by cooking, cleaning and coaching as part of an agreement with camp owner Lance Atkins.
Combining the technical with the physical -- "He benches close to 300 pounds and runs the 200 in 21.1 seconds," Dixon said -- Batdorf is the total package."Dan has all of that," Dixon said of the 6-foot, 174-pound athlete. "When he comes running down there you're talking momentum. That's a lot of speed and a lot of mass."ÊFor some poles, even too much momentum.
En route to finding his perfect match last year, Batdorf outgrew and consequently broke four poles, none bigger than the one used by former Haddon Heights vaulter Bob Green when he set the outdoor South Jersey record of 16-0 in 1992.
"I had a good jump on it, and it couldn't hold my weight," said Batdorf, who is still looking at colleges. "It sounded like a gunshot."Batdorf, who holds the indoor South Jersey record, hopes to break more than just Green's pole, but Dixon is hesitant of him using bigger poles -- and not just because they cost $400 to $500 apiece.
"My first priority is his safety," said Dixon, who acknowledges both the benefits and dangers of suddenly using a bigger pole by likening it to suddenly racing a faster car. "This is an event a kid could really get hurt on."
At Eastern States Championships, with the blessing of Dixon, Batdorf went from using a 15-7 pole made to support 185 pounds pole to a thicker 15-7 pole built to withstand up to 205 pounds, the resistant difference allowing Batdorf to spring off farther, like a pea catapulting off a bigger spoon.
"I'm looking forward to coming out, and jumping 16-6 (outdoor)," Batdorf said. "That's what I want to do."
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