Category Archives: Critical thinking

Blog # 9 Right to disconnect

Posted on by

Blog # 9 Critical thinking – The Right to Disconnect

The Right to Disconnect has been the most publicized of the changes to the ESA. The legislation amends the ESA to require larger organizations to codify or develop a policy regarding employees’ right to disconnect from work. The amended legislation defines “disconnecting from work” as:

“… not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or the sending or reviewing of other messages, so as to be free from the performance of work.”

Hello Managers,

As per Bill 27, the Working for Workers Act, Craigleith Ski Club has a new written policy covering the worker’s right to disconnect. In keeping with provincial guidelines, this policy must be communicated to staff no later than June 2nd, 2022. Please take the time to read and understand the new policy and circulate it to any working staff.  A copy of this policy will become part of the employee handbook moving forward and, therefore, be communicated to the seasonal staff upon their return.

As you can see from all written rules, suggestions, and law was written for workers, at my ski club, the coaches, to disconnect either after hours while we are employed. My contract goes from Nov 15 to April 15 every year.

As seasonal coaches and how is budgeted, we are only paid for 7.5 hours a day. Our contract is based on daily pay. The sound is very good and fair if you have your task to do for that period of time, then disconnect. So, do not worry about anything else until the next day.

How about if you are the leader of the group of 20 athletes, 5 coaches, and potentially 80 parents who always have questions regardless of what time of the day is? How about changes in the program for the next day that we must communicate to athletes because of bad weather, issues with training space, snow conditions, and many other factors that you need to communicate with all stakeholders?

Further into this discussion, how about race or training trips where you are responsible for the entire group 24 hours a day and paid for 7.5 hours? Should you disconnect and ignore everything that will potentially happen after hours. Never mind the coaches’ meetings, ski preparation, team meetings, and food supplies.

This is the best-case scenario as Alpine skiing has many twists and turns. One bad turn can cause chaos in the team. The hospital trips are always a concern and a reminder of how difficult a coaching job can be if things do not go as planned.

The right to disconnect off-season is a different animal as I am not under the contract and have not paid, and have no obligation and responsibilities until the next contract, Nov 2022.

The period from April 15 to June 15 is the busiest time of the year for Alpine Skiing. I must complete year-end for each athlete and follow up with athletes on their next step, work and deliver a program for next year including all potential trip budgets, and individualize athlete program based on fitness testing in late May. Ongoing recruitment for new team members who are not familiar with our program, parents/athlete meetings prior to program signup deadlines, and constant Q and A from the group I coached last ski season who will be on my team for the 2022/23 ski season.

In meantime, at the HPCTL program, we have been thought how to be leaders, professionals, adaptable, keen, and ahead of the game kind of guys.

So, should I disconnect and ignore everything that is happening with my team which I built from the scratch? How can I stay competitive and be disconnected at the same time? How can you run the program under the budget, keep it low cost, and make it attractive and high quality at the same time?

Lots of questions and concerns. Yes, there is a very simple answer.

“We love our sport so much and we will do whatever it takes to support potentially future Olympians as professional volunteers. We know, the club, PSO, and NSO is taking advantage of us, but we do not care as our contribution to the sport is feeling good. Yes, we will go the extra mile, we will put up with all sorts of abuse, from home, parents, the club, and everyone involved in this sport. It will be all good once we see one of the athletes, we coached did really well at the world cup stage or she/he is running a very successful company”. Yes, it feels very good to be part of a successful journey.

The respect from society will come one day, we will be recognized as equal professionals to schoolteachers with respectful pay.

The LTCD (long-term coaches development) is in the hands of our HPSTL program. This platform and group of coaches must influence all levels in the sport to recognize the coaches as academic and expert contributors to our society. It will be a long battle. Until then, happy professional volunteering

Reflecting on the HPCTL journey

Posted on by

blog # 10

Deciding to sign up for the HPCTL program at UBC happened to me when I was between Coaching jobs. I did not have my own team to apply the knowledge I was gaining over the summer and fall of 2020 and was frustrated that the knowledge and assignments I suppose to complete and show some evidence, were not possible. The hypothetical application of knowledge to a non-existent team did not make any sense to me.

I was South Ontario Men’s Head coach for 3 seasons. We had great success from a participation point of view but needed high-performance results to qualify to the Ontario Ski Team. Coaching stability and leadership changes at the PSO level derailed the developmental strategy that we agreed upon to follow and execute.

First time in a long time, Alpine skiing was my only profession and I wanted to make our team very competitive and create an environment where athletes can focus on academics and athletics equally. I needed freedom to develop well-balanced athletes as I strongly believe the mental balance was directly related to academic and athletic activities.

Starting a new pathway had its own challenges as I was between two projects who might have been a great success and a big failure.

The first project was to form a team of graduating NCAA high-performance athletes and give them an opportunity to qualify for the national team. As a usual challenge, money and the financial structure of this team did not work and the 3 men and the 2-woman team went in different directions.

The second project was related to the new-formed U19 FIS team based at Craigleith ski club. I was asked to join as men’s head coach and my supervisor would take care of women and para skiers as well.

This idea did not last as I hoped, and my supervisor resigned just before ski season was supposed to start.

So, I took the responsibility for the team and started speeding up the process of finding keen coaches to help me manage and coach the group of 18 athletes.

It was right in the middle of the pandemic and was a difficult time to do anything as a team. We managed quite well, took a calculated risk, organized the camps, and squeezed out of season as much as we could. We had some reasonably good results for their own age groups. Considering what we went through and how we finished the season every coach would be happy with the outcome.

I was not.

I knew that we could be much better than what we delivered. I knew that athletes could do more than what they showed. I learned that we need to give them good reasons why they should continue ski race while still in the school. I felt the Covid challenge will show us who the real athletes are, and who really want to continue improving academically and athletically.

I learned that pandemic was very tough on athletes, parents, coaches, the club, the administration, and our leadership. Following the rules was essential and despite some issues, we were disciplined and did not cause any safety concerns or risks to our club.

What we needed from that group was the commitment to our program. The majority of athletes enjoy the training and racing but only four wanted to improve and continue ski race after grade 12 graduation.

In a meantime, HPCTL assignment deadlines were approaching and passing. My frustration on the slopes, team performance, Covid situation, and late assignments affected me to the point that I need to drop Kin 586 and Kin597 and focus on Kin515 and Kin585 completion.

As an academic beginner in the HPCTLS program, I had so many ideas in my head but could not put those ideas into words and explain what gap analysis of my team is, what YTP for my team suppose to look, how to lead Covid affected team, how to apply all HPCTL ideas to my team.

Action based, Evidence-based, Reflection direction of my sport kept me occupied but I was blog-less and assignment-less for the majority of the 2020/21 season.

Kin 515 assignments took a lot of energy out of me as I did not meet the objectives. My frustration was rising, and I lost my fate that I won’t be able to meet the minimum requirement of passing the course. I was not able to establish good communication with Andy as my assignment’s evaluation feedback went unnoticed.

What I kept doing in all assignments was voicing my opinion. Andy kept telling us/me that he is interested in ‘EVIDENCE’. I kept thinking, I have a lot of experience, I have seen the gaps, but I never presented evidence. My opinion means nothing if I do not have evidence. So, after one year of my internal battle, I finally realize that I need to present the “EVIDENCE”

So, having my own team who kept growing, I was able to apply HPCTL knowledge to every athlete, coach, parents, management, club leadership, and PSO as well.

One big discovery was in KIN586 to learn about myself, my leadership style, and my core values. I learned about goal setting approach (SMART) for my athletes and coaches. I learned how to prepare athletes for peak performance by changing the focus, routine, breathing, self-talk, and visualization.

I designed YTP for my team keeping in mind that these athletes will continue ski racing after high school graduation. I applied knowledge from KIN 585 and designed a detailed mesocycle program that will last at least 2 full ski seasons.

Then, blogs challenges never learned how to do and present properly. I was following blogs closely but did not read/comment on all of them. I was not sure if anyone is interested in my opinion as I learned “Evidence” is the way to go, not opinion.

I realized all of the blogs are so thoughtful, and impactful and many ideas, challenges, and solutions are applicable to my sport. I have read many blogs after and made the comment on some of them. I learned about issues across all the sports. I learned about the challenges every sport faces. I adopted some great exercises for Alpine skiing and will continue to do so in near future.

Kin597 Practicum presentation was another challenge. Deadlines for a few assignments pushed me to be well prepared for the panel presentation. Yes, I completed all prerequisites for the presentation. I went through all of my assignments and pulled out the Alpine skiing gap analysis I researched last year. I was happy to see that my analysis was correct and to the point. My prediction and the future of the Alpine Canada team were correct as the analysis was “Evidence” based on many charts and diagrams that proved the work ski community did well or missed some developmental tasks in the last 12 years.

I used Kin 585 YTP data to design my own Fis Team program. I used Kin 586 for coaches’ and athletes’ development, and I learned that Kin597 is pulling in all research together into one final well-designed program and portfolio.

The practicum presentation gave me new energy to continue the Master of Coaching program as I thought that my academic journey may come to end.

I feel very good about what I accomplished so far but I am more excited to learn what is next, and what new I can learn and share with my athletes, coaches, the club, PSO, and NSO.

Looking forward to the new academic chapter

Blog # 4 Kin 597 critical thinking

Posted on by

The ski season officially started on July 1. Many teams started practicing and traveling to Europe for summer and fall training.
Last two years I worked very hard to convince provincial organizations to find the school and place for graduated high school athletes to continue ski races throughout their university years.
The breakthrough came this spring with the University of Calgary. UC Head Coach and a few of us supported the idea the program and Alpine Skiing became a varsity sport. Many Alberta high-level athletes enrolled in the program and they are hoping that this program will become a steppingstone to the National team.
For me, and my program, this is a huge opportunity to keep athletes longer in the sport.
My team grew to 20 athletes. The age group 16 and 17 years old (grade 11 and 12). All athletes are very committed to their academic responsibilities and are trying to do as much as possible training and be ready for ski season. In the Ontario ski community, this group is considered less intense and most of these athletes are written off from high-performance pathways to the National team. All athletes want to go to universities or colleges after they graduate high school but would love to continue ski races. These athletes are very talented, hard-working on and off ski slopes, and their Time Management skills are superb.
The dilemma is how to manage the group and athletes who do not have enough milage in their legs and prepare them to be competitive at regional and local FIS races?
Elite teams already had 5 weeks of ski training and they should be ready to race at the end of November.
In our case, we will need to be careful and strategic when comes down to training and racing. Our first camp will be at Panorama, BS starting Nov 12 for 3 weeks. At the end of the camp, we will have the opportunity to race 6 races. I am torn between the safety of the athletes and the opportunity to score some FIS points, improve the ranking and position themselves for the remainder of the ski season.
I am hoping that 2 weeks of training on the race hill will give the athletes enough time to get used to the hill, equipment and get in race shape. I will approach this race on an individual basis. If I am not comfortable with the athlete’s readiness then we will organize a time trial and only fast ones will race. We also have a limited number of spots to race as the provincial quota for this race is limited to 16 athletes.
I do not want to rush with racing but that is not my nature as I believe racing is the best training you can get. I am sure we will make the right, last-minute decision for training and racing.

 

 

Coaching philosophy in local/provincial U19 FIS level world

Posted on by

The reason I shared my presentation was to learn how to apply my Coaching philosophy and leadership skills to the team I coached last year and will lead and coach it this 2021/22 season.

The team consisted of 16 boys and 3 girls.

Most of the boys had a good track record and wanted more to compete than practice. The boy’s group was very versatile with different skills set, fitness levels and expectations. Some boys were focused on school, some were able to ski more as they have organized school to fit their training schedule.  An interest in ski racing forces them to organize their academics better.

During Covid challenges, we decided to make U19 boys ready for local FIS competition, cut down on travel, and hopefully earn valuable Fis points, improve national and international rankings.

On the other hand, health and safety were a priority for the girl. The girls would focus on technical free skiing and low gate training intensity. We hoped that their fitness level will gradually improve throughout the season. The girls just wanted to be part of the team. All three had low expectations as they did not have much success at U14, U16 level growing up. We allocated one female coach for the girls and they really liked it. We knew if they have their own coach they will bond as a team and be prepared for races. We felt they needed their own space, own training and racing routines as well as coaching and personal touch.

Knowing that the team is not as committed as southern Ontario and Ontario teams we decided to provide a training environment that everyone can benefit from regardless of how many sessions, hours, days they will practice. Online schooling commitment, either morning or afternoon was the priority. The athletes were coming to practice whenever they could. Unfortunately, optically looked like athletes were coming on the training sessions at their convenience. It was rare to see athletes staying the whole day and train.

We want to make sure the training environment is well organized regardless of how many athletes will show up for the training sessions. We used a tracking system that was available on the Team Snap app. Every athlete needed to log in to the app and let us know if they are coming on training as well clear login on to the Covid app and make him/herself eligible to train.

After a while, many athletes did not use the app and would show/no show on the slopes. Having an empty prime location training hill raised many questions among club members and other club teams. The club safety rule doesn’t allow club members to ski gates and be on the hill while training is going on.

Yes, big problem. We may lose training space to other teams, may not get a prime location at prime time. How to justify training space prime location to a small group of athletes? Did not look good on me as a leader as well.

So we needed to be creative to solve this issue immediately. I took a gamble and decided to be creative not knowing if my plan will work. To save our face and reputation I allowed club members to ski our course with our supervision, I coached on the side of the hill, and sometimes shoot the video, took photographs, and of course we timed their runs. It was a gamble that I could do it because of my reputation and seniority. All worked out well and complaints stopped. The club members were excited to see empty training lanes and they would rush to get on it and enjoy the ride.

At the back of my mind, I questioned my decision. I am not sure if the decision I made was right?

Wondering what would happen if one of the club members have got hurt? What management will think about us coaching people who did not sign up for the program? How is possible that out of 20 athletes only 2 or 3 showing up for training? Am I a weak leader as I am allowing athletes to come whenever they are available?  Does this program care about development? Or this is just a low-level, low-intensity program with no future in ski racing beyond next year?

I also heard comments from our PSO that our team has no aspiration to go any further in a ski career. My supervisor also talked to me as he felt bad for me and my coaching staff about a situation we are in.

The comment that came from the leader of the provincial sports organization hurt the most. I was hoping that PSO could help us in this journey with keen athletes to continue racing as we had awesome athletes who did not want to focus on ski racing only. This is what PSo was expecting from the FIS program.

So, we called the team meeting and laid everything on the table. The timing was right as we received the green light to race. We were the only province in Canada allowed to race. The timing was right and we decided to use racing as motivation. We decided to give all possible opportunities to athletes who participate in training and give them priority to race if competition quota becomes the issue. The athletes will not race unless they are ready to race.

The meeting was very productive as we knew the racing, especially for the boys,  is the best motivation you can get. Knowing they will earn first FIS points in their life was an extra motivator.

They started asking questions about points calculation. They were searching the FIS web page and looking into their age group points profile.

Training participation immediately improved, focus on training raised, motivation to train more runs than before improved.

It was a great environment to be in. We were careful with training volume and tapering as we wanted to keep the athletes fresh but ready for the races. We managed to train 4000 slalom gates in 5 days. We planned 2 days off prior to the race so athletes can catch up with school work, take care of their equipment and be ready to show what they were capable of.

We had great race series, very competitive with all regional teams from Ontario, BC, and Alberta.

Most of the athletes earn their first FIS points and were proud of their achievements. They run out of gas at the end as we gambled with training intensity prior to the race series. We knew that this group has great potential and should be very competitive next season if (big IF) they continue to train on and off ski slopes.

Since the last race, many athletes have focused on the school as grade 12 is critical for the academic future. I have not heard much from everyone over the summer and my plans to take them to Chile for the summer camp and some racing did not happen.

Most of them had summer jobs and were busy. Other teams went for summer skiing. We will be behind them at the beginning of the season but I hope that gradually we will close the gap and keep these athletes longer in the sports system.

Yes, we need University Ski racing out of Kelowna and Calgary to take care of these late bloomers. As statistics and data analysis confirmed 10000 hours and more is needed to get to the world stage. We are just scratching the surface

Coaching at big events

Posted on by

I am still thinking about Tokyo Olympics and all amassing athletes, who managed to make it to the Olympic games. I watched the sports that I usually do not see on tv and never had an opportunity to see in person.
At the beginning of the games, Weightlifting 67kg men were the event that captured me the most. The Olympic lifting is part of the Alpine Skiing fitness program and most of the alpine skiers have good skills when comes down to snatch, clean and jerks’ techniques. Also, legs and lower back in both sports are critical for athlete success and injury-free career.
I never knew what is going on behind the stage as I assumed the athletes and coaches were working on physical and mental preparation, staying lose, warm, focused on the task, and patiently waiting for their turn.
What made it interesting was that the TV crew filmed the whole thing behind the lifting stage. I was surprised to see how many things are happening at the same time and how dynamic was environment.
Every athlete had a time slot to warm up with a certain weight, physio and massage therapist teams were working tirelessly to keep athletes healthy. The head coaches were busy and under a lot of pressure to make the right decision about what weight their own athlete was supposed to lift.
The jury had the list of all athletes and each athlete had their own sheet that the coach had to sign off with the weight the athlete will lift in the next attempt.
Decision-making was fascinating. Every coach must make the right decision on the spot, must know what the athlete is capable of, and more importantly what their competition will do as well.
After the decision was made, the coach needs to organize a quick warmup with accurate weight to make sure the athlete is ready to lift the weight the coach signed off.
The decision was critical as the Olympic atmosphere, team success, athlete’s readiness, country pride was at stake. At that moment coach’s belief what his athlete is capable of lifting became so critical. The coach must sign off right weight as his athlete in 3-5 minutes will give him instant feedback at the stage if his decision was right or wrong.
It was organized chaos behind the seen, coaches are sprinting back and forth between athletes and the jury as every coach had allocated a time limit to make the right decision and prepare the athlete for the next lift.
I was intrigued by the decisions the coaches made for their athletes.
To perform under the pressure was always the key for the athletes, but to perform under the pressure, to make the right decision for their own athletes to perform within the very tight time limit, knowing all possible scenarios and outcomes was the key to success or failure. The coaches do prepare athletes for everything related to big events like Olympics, but have coaches prepare themselves for high-pressure events?
Does experience to be at the events either as an athlete or coach helps more than data analytics, statistics, blogs, books, research?
The way Weightlifting was presented at Olympics, showed how critical coaches’ decisions for athletes, teams, countries, and games are. It was easy to judge the decision the coaches made. It was instant feedback as few athletes managed to meet expectations. Few coaches gambled, took a risk that paid off as athletes lifted an initial weight in the third attempt. Four athletes could not lift the initial weight. I am not sure if coaches cracked under the pressure of the event, failing to create opportunity for own athlete? Or, athletes did not perform at that moment because of many different things that may happen on the journey to the Olympics.
To succeed and lift the initial weight is the ultimate goal. Every athlete went through many competitions to qualify for the Olympics. I am sure the guys who failed to lift the initial weight were capable to lift close to their own personal record. The question is if their personal record was lower than the initial weight athlete needed to lift at their initial attempt? Was the coaches’ decision right? Will a coach who failed to give the chance to own athlete be remembered as a failure?
What made this Olympic event so interesting to me is that all Alpine ski coaches, regardless of athlete level and skill, are in the same situation all the time. We are making a decision in split second to make sure performance, safety, success, failure, improvement is present all the time. I am sure all high-risk sports coaches are feeling the same (gymnastics, diving, trampoline, cycling, horse-back riding, mountain biking, triathlon….)
We guide athletes to make the right decision, we encourage and challenge athletes to improve every day, we push the limit, we take the risk, we gamble knowing that decision may be critical for athlete success, health, life.
Standing by the side of the pool, the rink, the track, the field, the dock, and guiding/supporting our own athletes is what we do. What I saw at Olympics, all the coaches are looking for is the hug at the end of the competition, routine, game. That hug is what keeps them/us going. That hug is priceless. That hug forgets all family issues, car loans, mortgage payments, aches, pains.
Yes, that magic hug is what keeps us going.