About
A non-profit bringing a high standard home to Park City.
Park City Pole Vault is a non-profit on a mission to give young athletes in the Wasatch access to the kind of coaching that's usually reserved for elite programs — close, technical, patient, and safe. We teach the vault the way it should be taught, and we build athletes who jump higher every season.
Safety first
Drills before heights. Technique before ego. Athletes earn the bar.
Real progression
Every session moves an athlete somewhere — speed, mechanics, or confidence.
Joyful intensity
The vault is hard. It should also be the best hour of an athlete's week.
Built for Park City
Designed for crossover athletes from gymnastics, skiing, lacrosse and soccer.
Why Park City
Park City is full of fearless young athletes — gymnasts who already know how to invert, skiers who launch off cliffs, lacrosse and soccer players with the speed and aggression that the vault rewards. Pole vault is the next mountain.
Our coaching philosophy
We teach technique before heights and habits before highlights. Once the mechanics are honest, we let athletes chase the bar — and the goal isn't just a personal best. It's an athlete who has learned how to commit under pressure, recover from a missed attempt, and trust their preparation. Those habits jump higher than any bar.
Our coaching lineage
Park City Pole Vault was founded by Jon Jessup, Founder and CEO of 1440.io. Jon is the former pole vault record holder at Princeton University, where he cleared 5.25 meters and collected multiple Ivy League and IC4A titles. He trained under Earl Bell — Olympic bronze medalist and Hall of Fame coach — at Bell Athletics in Jonesboro, Arkansas — one of the most respected pole vault programs in the world. That lineage shapes how we coach: rigorous, technical, and athlete-first.
Our partners
We train in partnership with Utah Pole Vault Academy and stay connected to Bell Athletics — so athletes who train with us in Park City have access to the same standards as the best programs in the country.
For Park City High School
Built to support PCHS track & field.
Pole vault is the highest-scoring, hardest-to-staff event in track & field — and the one most schools quietly under-coach. Park City Pole Vault exists to change that for the Miners: a non-profit program that brings event-specialist coaching, safe training, and a real competitive pipeline to PCHS athletes at no cost to the athletic department.
State championship goals
Develop PCHS vaulters into Utah 5A state qualifiers, podium finishers, and — within three seasons — state champions in both the boys' and girls' vault.
School records on the board
Aim to rewrite the PCHS boys' and girls' pole vault records, and put Park City athletes on the all-time Utah leaderboards their families and school can be proud of.
College recruiting pipeline
Pole vault opens doors to scholarships at every NCAA division. We coach with that runway in mind — film, marks, and a lineage that college coaches recognize.
Safety & standards
Coached to USATF standards on properly rated poles and pits, with progressions borrowed from Bell Athletics — one of the most respected vault programs in the country.
Zero cost to the program
Funded by the non-profit and community sponsors — not the PCHS athletics budget. Equipment, coaching, and competition travel are covered so any Miner can pick up a pole.
Local, year-round
Park City athletes shouldn't have to drive to the Wasatch Front to learn this event. We bring high-level vault coaching home, year-round.