When we first read this article about newly hired women's tech coach Roland Pfeifer, somebody made a fart noise and then we moved on. On the surface it's a boilerplate profile of someone 90% of us will never even lay eyes on. Inner monologue: "Blah blah...Austrian...blah...looking forward to a great year...blah blah blah...Shiffrin...Lindsey...Julia." Not really that interesting.
But then we read it again and noticed the part where Pfeifer says, “We need to make them ski relaxed. We need to bring some fresh motivation and fun into the team... We need to convince them of what we are doing and we need to talk a lot, and train a lot.”
Whoa. Wait a minute.
Didn't you think it was sort of extreme when he said "fun"? I mean seriously, "We need to convince them of what we are doing." Really, what kind of quack is this guy? You call that a coaching methodology? What ever happened to "Because I said so."?
And Mikaela? Well, he had this to say:
“I’ve got this unbelievably talented and gifted Shiffrin. She is skiing like a grownup already... I’m not putting too much pressure on Mikaela because she is 16 years old, I’m not going to set any goals for results, just to qualify top-30... She shows really good skiing, I like the way she skis and I like her. I’ve never met a 16-year-old that knows so much about skiing and she loves it. ”
Um, Roland, shouldn't he be bossing someone around? Aren't you going to get all Donald Trump on us and kick somebody off the team? Or are you just going to be all nice and positive and Tim Lepard? Jesus, Roland, it's like you're taking coaching cues from Phil Jackson or something. Don't forget, just because Phil is one of the most successful coaches of all time (ever, in any sport) this isn't basketball! This is ski racing! Get real! Maybe what he meant to say was, "This is a critical year for these girls and they really need to live up to the expectations we put on them and show us that they're worth our continued time and investment. We'll see if Shiffrin can live up to the hype, but at 16 she's already a little behind the development curve." Maybe the new hires haven't had a chance to get through the media training yet?
Alright, well that's our sarcasm quotient for the day (no, actually that's probably not true), and maybe those jokes are a little unfair, but, well... start your own blog.
For real though, it's nice to see that kind of philosophy stated outright, especially for the women's team. There's a lot of talent on that side, and it would be great to see the continued development of athletes like Duke, McJames, Stiegler, and Shiffrin (and a resurgent Schleper, too). It's easy to rest on your laurels when you can point to huge success stories like Vonn and Mancuso, but it's the true champion's mentality to continue to work on development, even when things are going well. It's also nice to see someone with clear and logical standards for measuring where the athletes can be. There's none of the sweeping cliche of "Best in the world," or "Win Olympic medals and World Cup globes." It's clear: Schleper and Resi can make the top-10 and get on the podium, and Hailey and Megan can be consistently in the top-30. And in Pfeifer's words, those are all things that "we" need to do (emphasis added).
This looks like a good move by USSA/USST and it would be amazing to see Pfeifer continue this tone with the women's team, and to follow through the season with it. Does he have the necessary faith in the process? Do his bosses have that faith? Time will tell, but the initial signs are promising and we're really psyched to see what the future holds for women's tech.
And, in case you missed the Tim Lepard link, you owe it to yourself to watch this:
Photo of Roland Pfeifer from the VSV website. Auf Deutsch!
Bode video from Nike.com, way back in the day.
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THAT IS A MONKEY RIDING A DOG. THAT IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN.
ReplyDeleteWell let's see if Roland can get the girls to love the sport again, actually have fun and forget about the less than adequate staff at the D team level... maybe even help develop a racer or 2! I miss fritz....
ReplyDeleteWith Patrick Riml back at the helm, I expect we'll see great things at all levels. Roland's appointment is exactly Riml's style. He gets right to the heart of the matter.
ReplyDeleteI remember several years back when Patrick brought in a guest coach from the Bundesportheim to free ski with the gals. It was a catalyst for what Julia, Resi and Lindsay and Stacey accomplished in the following years. The girls learned to love skiing--and it showed in their racing successes. Success and competency obfuscates the 'meeting criteria' discussion.
Positive reinforcement is never a mistake. Negative-based coaching is destructive. There are a few good coaches out there--the rest have to go down the road. If that means hiring coaches from other countries, so be it. We're not in this to support a bunch of half-assed coaches. Our athletes are first rate. Our coaches need to be first rate--no matter which country they come from.
Whoever you are writing this Hard Snow life, you need to go
ReplyDeletelisten to Pink Floyd or something. You need to learn the difference between PERCEPTION, fact, and TRUTH...you are so often soooooo off the mark...of TRUTH....