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

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