Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS BY DAN MURPHY ple shy of a full football lineup. But the nine children of Don and Janet Schipper are making their mark in a much less com- mon sporting event. They have started a dynasty of Notre Dame pole vaulters. Irish senior Kevin Schipper locked T here are enough Schippers to start their own baseball team. They are only a cou- down the family's eighth consecutive Big East championship in early May when he cleared 17 feet, three inches on the bar at the title meet. The leap was a good seven inches below his personal best, but he didn't need to go any higher. He's been in a league of his own in the conference since 2009, when his older brother The family tradition began more than 15 years ago when the oldest brother, Andrew, now in his early 30s, caught the eye of lo- cal coach Bob McClintock. Andrew, like all his siblings, trained as a gymnast from an early age with his parents who own a gym in Fort Wayne, Ind. That background made him a perfect candidate to learn to pole vault in high school because, McClintock said, pole vaulting is basically gymnastics on a stick. "IT'S A FAMILY COMPETITION. I TRY NOT TO [BRAG], BUT YEAH THERE DEFINITELY ARE." NOW THAT HE HELD THE HIGHEST RECORD OF ANY OF HIS BROTHERS KEVIN SCHIPPER, WHEN ASKED IF THERE WERE BRAGGING RIGHTS ON THE LINE Matt graduated. Matt swept the indoor and outdoor titles as a senior that year, winning with a jump of 17-3 as well. Kevin then won the next six conference titles — three each for the indoor and out- door teams. Lately he hasn't been compet- ing against his contemporaries as much as trying to out-jump the future. As the family's middle child, Kevin has four more Schippers following in his footsteps, and no one likes to lose to his little brother. "It's a family competition," Schipper said with a laugh when asked if there were bragging rights on the line now that he held the highest record of any of his broth- ers. "I try not to [brag], but yeah there defi- nitely are." After getting a running head start and launching themselves with a pole roughly 16 feet long, vaulters need to contort their bodies over and around a bar while being sure to avoid the pole that just left their hands and even more sure not to avoid the large pad known as the pit that will catch their fall on the way down. "Some of the things they learned in gym- nastics really helped with the technique," Don Schipper said. "From there, a lot of the credit has to go to a lot of great coaches in the area." high school level, is part of a large pole vaulting community in Fort Wayne that has produced more than a half-dozen Olympians. He was one of several instruc- tors who helped the Schippers, a list that also includes a former Russian circus per- former who helped the brothers build up their upper-body strength. Don teaches his sons at times as well despite only a very short-lived career in the pole vault. McClintock, a longtime coach on the JUNE/JULY 2012 100