Bonner & Prendie’s Oropollo has made dad proud on way to states

UPPER DARBY >> Regardless of what Hannah Oropollo does in the girls Class 3A pole vault Friday in the PIAA Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg University, her father, Sal, will be right by her side, and not just as a doting parent.

He’s also her coach.

It’s not unusual for parents to coach their children, especially these days, where daddy- and mommy-coach is common at the youth level. This dynamic, though, is a little bit different. Sal Oropollo knew little, if anything, about the technical aspects of the event when Hannah began pole vaulting seriously as a freshman at Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast High School.

His primary sport was football. He was the head coach at Academy Park for many years and an assistant at Cardinal O’Hara and Marple Newtown. The elder Oropollo also was the jumps coach in track for Bonner & Prendie so the sport wasn’t completely foreign to him.

Like any good coach, though, Sal Oropollo learned as much as possible about the pole vault.

“I would look at DVDs and tapes on how to pole vault, just try to find little things on how to swing and stuff, but she kind of grew out of me,” Sal Oropollo said. “I don’t say anything anymore. I just make sure her hands are going up and not in front of her. I don’t say too much because I don’t feel too comfortable with the pole vault. It’s a little different with the triple jump and long jump. The pole vault is a lot more technical.”

Sal Oropollo leaves the technical aspects to the coaches at the Vertical Assault Pole Vault Club in Bethlehem and the Philadelphia Jumps Club in Conshohocken, where Hannah goes to work out twice a week since there is no pole vaulting pit at Bonner & Prendie. His primary role is morale support, which took on a new meaning when her mother and Sal’s wife, Marsha, passed away nearly two years ago following a bout with cancer.

“He’s really encouraging,” Hannah Oropollo said. “If I’m having a bad day he’ll say not to worry about it. I’ve done this height before and I can do it again and if I don’t do it, it’s not the end of the world. Every time I go out he tells me that it’s about having fun so stop worrying so much.”

Her dad has another message that he repeats before every meet.

“He tells me, ‘Your mom is watching over you,’” Hannah said. “That encouragement helps a lot.”

“It was tough for her, especially last year,” Sal said. “Marsha had a special way with her. I tend to be extremely intense and a lot of times when things didn’t work out in the pole vault and I would be boiling over, Marsha would pull me over and tell me to calm down.”
The parent-coach dynamic can be a tricky one, but the Oropollos have made it work.

“When we get home I’ll say, ‘Dad, I don’t want to talk about it now. That’s for when you’re my coach,’” Hannah Oropollo said “We try to keep it separate.”

The pole vault isn’t for everyone. You have to be a little daring and not afraid of heights or being upside down. Her dad still isn’t sure how she got interested in the event.

“I saw it watching the Olympics one year and I thought it was something I would like to try,” Hannah said.
She dabbled in the event as an eighth-grader at St. Eugene’s School in Primos and then took it up full time when she entered Bonner & Prendie a year later. Being a gymnast for eight years before she tried the pole vault helped her over the fear factor. She was used to swinging on the uneven bars and taking risks on the balance beam. Getting over the anxiety of wondering if the pole was going to break took a little longer, but that eventually passed, too.

“I wasn’t as scared as I thought I would have be because of my gymnastics background,” Hannah said. “If you talk to most girl pole vaulters, 90 percent of them were gymnasts or still are. The two sports really go together.”

Hannah Oropollo gave up gymnastics as a sophomore to concentrate on track and it has worked out pretty well for her. She will attend Bloomsburg University, where she will concentrate on the pole vault and most likely study nursing, like her mother.

This is her third trip to the state meet after winning the District 12 championship for the second year in a row and finishing second as a sophomore. She’s also a two-time Catholic League champ and won the Delco title this year for the first time.

Her goal this weekend is to top 10-feet, which is the opening height and would be a personal record. Her best was a vault of 9-9 in the second weekly meet in the Catholic League. Hannah Oropollo was hoping to top the 10-foot mark before heading to the state meet, but weather throughout the spring had a lot to do with her not reaching that mark.

“We had a few nice days, but for the most part It’s been windy and rainy,” Hannah said. “Hopefully at states I can do something.”

Regardless of what happens, her dad will be right there with her.

“It’s nice having him as a coach,” Hannah said. “It’s easier to get into an argument with your dad than it is with a normal coach.”