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Phill Erickson

  • Title
    Assistant Coach/Pole Vault

Phill Erickson enters his ninth year as an assistant track & field coach in 2017-18, specializing in pole vault at Concordia University. During his time at Concordia, he has coached 15 national qualifiers and 20 all-conference athletes. His athletes have also broken 15 school records. Under his instruction his athletes have averaged a 16-inch improvement in their personal bests.

Before coaching at Concordia, Erickson coached the boys and girls pole vault at Irondale High School in New Brighton, Minnesota. During his 12 years at Irondale HS he coached 18 all-section athletes, including four section champions, 21 all-conference athletes, including nine conference champions. Along with this he coached 12 all-state athletes, including four runners-up.

Coach Erickson has studied technique and training methods with some of the best pole vault coaches in the world, and has had the opportunity to observe this training first hand while these outstanding coaches worked with Olympic and World Champions.

In 2010, Erickson was invited by Alan Launder, former Australian National Coach and author of From Beginner to Bubka, to travel to Australia to study pole vault with Launder, as well as the Australian National Coach Alex Parnov (coach of Olympic Gold Medalist, World Champion, Steve Hooker [19'10 1/2"] and Olympian, World Champion Dimitri Markov [19'10"]), the National Junior Coach Mark Stewart (coach of Olympian, World Record setter Emma George [15'1" WR] and Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Steve Hooker).

Erickson uses a unique, data-driven approach to coaching. His proprietary software, ProVault, enables him to collect individual data from each athlete in order to ensure clear, objective technical growth.

He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in music education. He is currently working on his master's degree from Sam Houston State University. Before transferring to the University of Minnesota, he spent a year competing in the pole vault for the University of Wisconsin River Falls.

Erickson currently teaches at Highview Middle School in New Brighton. He is a USATF level 1 certified coach, and also holds a USTFCCCA Technical Certification.