Q&A with Oxford pole vaulter John Scott Kendricks
OXFORD, Miss. — We sat down with Oxford High School Pole Vaulter John Scott Kendricks to chat about his promising future. John has committed to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Let’s hear from John about what to expect from him in the near future.
Talk about when you started getting into pole vaulting and track & field to begin with.聽
John Scott Kendricks: My dad had been a track coach forever when I was born. He had already been coaching at Oxford and so I have been around sports for a long time. Not just pole vaulting. I have been around everything. He was the head coach. I was just around the track all the time. Whenever I got into eighth grade, the current track coach asked me to pole vault for the high school. I had done it a little bit but they wanted to see if they could score some extra points at state so they asked me to do it at the end of my eighth-grade year so I started there. I ended up jumping 12 feet and scored a couple of points and from there I continued to grow and learn it.
Your older brother is a former Olympic player and he went to Oxford High and Old Miss. What kind of impact did he have on you getting involved in this sport?
Kendricks: I mean it was definitely a big one because obviously he is the reason they asked me to do it. They probably thought oh if his brother can do it, he can probably do it. If I needed tips he was there. He was a great source of knowledge. He was, of course, a professional athlete at the time so he was all over the place but the things that he knows, he is willing to share with me and that really helps me, and besides just pole vaulting, he is an amazing athlete. Just being able to learn from him all around is incredible.
Do you get to spend much time with him to show you some techniques?聽
Kendricks: Yes, but it is mainly my dad because my dad was his coach. Everything that he knows he learned from my dad so I spent a lot more time around my dad learning stuff like that. I go to Sam whenever I am hurt because he is really smart with physical therapy. Mainly, my dad is the one showing me all of the pole vaulting stuff.
I am sure you and Sam have been competitive over the years. What was Sam鈥檚 best jump in Junior High School and where are you compared to that?聽
Kendricks: We do keep track of that. I have been keeping track of that since eighth grade. I have been about two feet ahead of him every year so I am trying to keep that up. In eighth grade, I don鈥檛 remember what he jumped but in ninth grade, he jumped like 12-6 and I jumped 14-8. In tenth grade, I know he jumped about 13-6 and I jumped 15 feet 8 inches. Last year I jumped 16-10 and I think he jumped 15-6 so right now my personal record is 17-3 and his is 15-6 for the time we were in. I am staying ahead for now.
You won the Adidas nationals last year in your Junior Year. Are there any other tournaments that you would like to talk about that you won?聽
Kendricks: That was the big one because I went to meets all over the place. In regulated meets, I was undefeated in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and I can鈥檛 remember where the National Championships were. I think it was in North Carolina.
Did you win that one?聽
Kendricks: I did win that one which was a shock honestly. I went there for the experience of it. I didn鈥檛 think I would win. I knew I had a chance because there is always a chance but it was fun to end my season there. And it’s kind of funny because all of the athletes there were kind of also undefeated.
Was that National Championship for all high schools?聽
Kendricks: Because it is high school, every major brand hosts their own championship so you have the New Balance and you have the Nike and you have the Adidas. The Adidas one was the closest so we went to that one. On the day there were three national champions in the pole vault. One guy jumped 16-6 to win. One guy jumped 16-7 to win and I jumped 16-10 to win so of the national champions technically I had the highest.
Your brother went to Ole Miss. What happened with the Arkansas and Ole Miss thing?聽
Kendricks: College was tricky to decide because I loved everywhere I went. I went to Texas Tech. I went to Tennessee. I went to Arkansas. Of course, I went to Ole Miss and Ole Miss was definitely my second option. It was a big choice to decide to go out. My whole family has attended Ole Miss. There has never been anyone not go to Ole Miss in my family. I wanted to be the first person to really branch out.
Talk about Oxford and what this community has meant to you growing up here.聽
Kendricks: Oxford has been really good to me. It really is a great community around here. They care about all the sports. I have never lived anywhere else. I have been here since I was born. The Oxford School District has been really good to me. I have to travel a lot and they have been really lenient with me and my ability to do things as an athlete. The city of Oxford has been good to me too. They have been good to my brother. I can鈥檛 tell you how many parades that I have attended for Sam because you know he won the world championship. So yes Oxford has been really good to all of us.
Talk about Arkansas. Who recruited you for Arkansas and what did you like about them?聽
Kendricks: The coach that really recruited me was Coach Geopfert. And he was with Arkansas for a while and then he went somewhere and came back. A coach at Ole Miss, Coach Porter, he was the pole vaulting coach there and I really liked both of them. I liked their coaching styles. The biggest factor for me was that I have lived in Oxford my whole life and I really did want to branch out a little and be independent but at the same time, they really do have an amazing coaching staff at Arkansas. I mean they have won what fifty-something national championships. It is incredible. As much as I like Ole Miss, Arkansas definitely had the stronger track program and they have some of the best athletic trainers in the world so for my situation and what I wanted to do in college I thought that was the best choice.
We are excited to see what John’s future holds!聽
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