Team Fuzion Coaching Staff and Athletes
Team Fuzion is our coaching Staff and Athletes
If you would like to be part of our coaching staff please contact us.
Team Fuzion Athletes are vaulters that are on our traveling team, if you are interested in been part of the team you must contact us for more info.
Jamie Steffen
Jamie Steffen is founder, owner, and head coach at Fuzion Athletics, Inc. Prior to developing Fuzion, Steffen vaulted at Flight Deck Athletics for 6 years, coaching and hosting camps for 4 of them. Steffen began coaching pole vault at Greenway High School in 1998, where he coached two state placers. Since then, he has coached at Apple Valley High School (2004) and in 4 years has coached 7 state meet qualifiers which have all taken home medals in the pole vault and contributed to 1 MSHSL State Championship and 4 MN True Team State Championships.
Steffen currently hosts one of the Midwest's biggest street vaults at the Dakota County Fair, bringing the best vaulters together for the strongest competition in the area. Star Tribune has recognized Jamie for being "the strongest advocate for pole vaulting in the state, helping in making the sport fun and safe." He is certified with the Pole Vault Safety Certification Board, and Level 1 USA Track and Field.
Steffen is in his 3rd year at Apple Valley High School working in the special education department with the CIP center based Program and continues to coach Track & Field and Football along with working with the basketball and gymnastics team there.
Katelin Rains
Ms. Rains started her vaulting career at Spring Lake Park H.S. She now attends Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN and now is a junior in the elementary education program. In high school Katelin’s best jump was jump 11’6” and she was a state runner up in 2005. Her first year at MSU she jump 12’6” and for the first time she was a Division II All-American, placing 4th at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. Katelin’s improved very rapidly by her sophomore year jumping from 12’6” to 14’0” in one year to win the NCAA Indoor National Championships in 2007. This year she is NCAA Division II Indoor National Champion and is currently the Division II National record holder with a jump of 14’1 ¾ indoors and a jump of 13’11 ½ outdoors, and is 2008 Drake Relays Champion. Katelin has qualified for the USA Olympic Trials at University of Oregon - Eugene, Oregon and is currently ranked 17 in the US. Pole vault is not the only thing she is excellent at, Katelin is also a runner up in 2008 NCAA Indoor National Championships in triple jump with a jump of 39'9”. Katelin have been an assistant coach at Matt Kolb’s Elevation by Determination Pole Vault Camp for the last two year, she also volunteer at the YMCA for2008 their Discovery Kids program.
Kristin Dare
Kristin Dare- Apple Valley High School 2008 Minnesota State Champion, she is the first vaulter in Minnesota to win a state title on ESSX vaulting poles.
Kristin attend summer pole vaulting camp for four years and the indoor camp this past winter. Essx Xlogic Sports and Fuzion Athletics wants to congratulate her on her work.. What are you doing to become better?
Paul Grabow
Paul Grabow is assistant head coach at Fuzion Athletics, Inc. and has been pole vaulting for over 20 years. Grabow set Cleveland HS's school record set in 1991 which remains unbroken, competed at Minnesota State University for the Mavericks, and has vaulted at Flight Deck Athletics for the last 6 years. In 9 years of coaching pole vault, Grabow has led Farmington High School's first vaulter to the award stand and qualified a vaulter to the state meet every year for the last 4 years from Lakeville North HS. His efforts have also led to 2 MSHSL Championships for Lakeville North and new Boys and Girls records currently at 14'7" and 11'6". In addition to coaching at Lakeville North, Grabow has coached for St Olaf College to help build their program.
Grabow is employed at Rottlund Home and is building manager for David Bernard Home branch in St Paul. Paul is engaged to Beth Cimmerer planning to get married this Fall.
John Pollack
John Pollack started vaulting during his freshman year at Irondale Senior High School. Through his strong work ethic and constant refinement of his technique he progressed rapidly from a novice to an experienced and knowledgeable vaulter and was named a Captain of the boys track and field team. His senior year resulted in a nearly undefeated season and along the way he became the North Suburban Conference Champion, set numerous stadium records, set a new True Team Section Record, and broke the Irondale School Record that had previously stood for 10 years.
Now entering into his fifth year vaulting, John has a personal record of 14' 6" and shows no signs of slowing his upward progress any time soon. Pollack attends the University of Minnesota.
Tony Banks
Tony Banks graduated from Apple Valley High School in 2007. During high school he merely entertained a casual interest in the pole vault, only jumping in 5 meets his entire HS career. Tony graduated with a personal record of 12'3". After working hard all summer at Flight Deck Athletics camps with Coach Steffen, Banks found a new love and appreciation for the event. He traveled the country and vaulted in about 15 meets over the summer and improved from a 12' 3" vaulter to a 15' vaulter after just 3 months of Coach Steffen's training. Banks received some scholarship offers which he says have been life changing for him. He is now attending Arkansas State in Jonesboro, AR where he is working with Bell Athletics and Arkansas State Vault Club and competing unattached for the college.
Banks has a bright future in pole vault and truly is a great vaulter to watch jump, we are very excited to have him jumping for us this summer.
Team Fuzion was developed to give back to pole vaulters and the pole vaulting community by providing an opportunity to practice the skills learned during camps and compete at a competitive level outside of the regular season. Team Fuzion is our 'Traveling Team' within Fuzion Athletics which consists of all ages and levels. Team Fuzion travels during the summer and competes in some of the biggest street and beach pole vaulting meets in the county. Some of the meets include Hot Springs Arkansas, Champaign, Illinois, Grand Haven, Michigan, Fort Wayne Indiana, Seattle Washington, Pueblo Colorado, Reno Nevada and Vancouver Canada just to mention a few. We are very excited to have some new vaulters along with us this summer.
Coaching Staff
At Fuzion Athletics we do our best to bring in all kinds of different coaches and coaching styles. Some of our coaches consist of University, College, High School Coaches even College and Elite Athletes. We know that our campers and athletes need to be coached by different coaches time by time to get to the next level. Every Coach we bring in to our program we are proud to have on our staff.
**If you would like to learn more about our traveling team or about being on our staff please contact us.