Level 300 and the Moving Target

For those of you who think I live a blissfull life in the world of pure athletics... think again. Yeah, there are some great times. Being around high level competition is always exciting. But like everything else, we have our bureaucracies, one of which is coaches education.

Now don't get me wrong, despite the inconvenient schedules, expense and dogma of "continuing education" I've learned alot from the clinics and courses offered by USSA (the governing body for US Ski Racing). My problem rests with the management of the programs and the constant change. When I first Joined USSA as a coach in 1998, one could get certified as a Club, State, Regional or National Coach. OK, catchy names, geographically oriented, easy to understand. But wait, a couple of years later they changed it to Level I, Level II and Level III, with advancement through a series of clinics. So I dutifully completed Level I and attended the Level II Slalom and Giant Slalom Clinics, but there were no Speed Clinics to be had. Life superceded education and I dropped out of the process.

When Scott was 12 I offered to enroll him with a traditional Junior program for his teen years. He said he wanted me to remain his coach until he either made the US Ski Team or quit racing. Uh-oh! FIS and National level racing looked pretty complex from the outside so I decided to reenter the education pipeline. Unfortunately, it had changed again and now had three levels labelled 100, 200 and 300 -- how clever. The path was also more complex. For Level 200 one had to attend three different clinics, take two sports science courses from those available, take two management courses from a college, have a first aid ticket (no problem) and be a referee (also already done). Since I knew I was going to be going for Level 300 as well, I took all of the sport science courses. They were pretty good and included Strength and Power Training, Sports Psychology and Nutrician. The management courses were pablum about running a generic sports organization and fund raising -- sort of anticlimatic after 28 years in the Army and 12 years running a ski team. Then of course, there were the clinics; Training Environment, Tactics, Course Setting, Slalom, Giant Slalom, Speed. The challenge -- snow is required to have clinics, but most of us are working as coaches when there's snow on the ground. Scheduling was tough, and just when I'd get the clinic I wanted it was cancelled due to under-enrollment. Long story short, I finally completed my final on-snow clinic this week.

Not so fast! Sure, I've taken everything USSA has to offer, received my Level II Referee card, updated my first aid, undergone another background check and finished all the clinics... but at the end of our clinic this week the instructor mentioned they weren't quite sure how they were going to handle Level 300 after all. They still hadn't defined the management requirement and they might create a comprehensive final exam covering everything plus a practical application test (which has already occurred at each of the clinics). I promptly sent them a complete resume of my military management experience, 10 years a a Ski Patrol Director, 6 years as Chairman of the National Avalanche Board and 12 years running race teams, plus my MBA. I'm hoping to9 hear soon what remains to be done. Far from being a badge hunter, I'm just interested in getting this off my plate.

OK, so much for venting. I just wanted you all to understand why the guy in the photo has only a few hairs left and they're all grey. Aside from management challenges everything is going well and Scott is happy to be on the team. His gear is running well and he is getting faster by the day. He's not perfect, but he knows what to fix. That's progress. Perhaps tomorrow I'll provide a more upbeat look at life on the road.