April 19, 2024
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Pole vaulter training facility coming to Joliet

RISE Pole Vault is ‘flourishing’ and needs more space, owner said

By Bob Okon

A Plainfield East High School pole vaulter clears a jump in 2021, during a track and field meet at Minooka Community High School. RISE Pole Vault provides a training center for area pole vaulters that the Winder family plans to relocate from Shorewood to Joliet. (Geoff Stellfox - gstellfox@shawmedia.com/Geoff Stellfox - gstellfox@shawmedia.com)

A training facility for pole vaulters is moving to Joliet.

RISE Pole Vault plans to occupy 18,750 square feet of warehouse space at 560A Joyce Road.

The training facility opened in 2019 in strip mall space in Shorewood, RISE owner Jake Winder told the Joliet Zoning Board of Appeals in July.

“Now we’re flourishing,” Winder said. “It’s starting to become a special place for a lot of pole vaulters in the area.”

But the pole vaulters could use more space than is available at the Shorewood facility, Winder said. The Joliet warehouse will provide more room for vaulters approach to the crossbar, he said.

Winder is part of a pole-vaulting family that includes his father, Tim, and brothers, Josh and Luke, all of whom won Illinois High School Association state pole vaulting championships. The brothers also have won national championships. Tim coached at Naperville Central High School and North Central College in Naperville.

The family is involved in the RISE training center.

The unique use for the warehouse space required a special use permit, which was recommended by the zoning board and given final approval Tuesday by the Joliet City Council.

The warehouse that RISE will occupy has five other tenants, including UNO Volleyball, a volleyball club that got a special use permit from the city in 2016, according to a city staff report on the RISE proposal.