Coach Workshops held at Falls Creek and Perisher

Cross country ski coaches at Falls Creek and Perisher took part in one-day on-snow technique workshops earlier in July, led by AUSXC Head Coach Alexei Sotskov and National Training Centre Coach John Max Ertner. Participants included a number of active coaches already working at school, club and state level in Australia, as well as several of Australia's leading APSI instructors.

"Our primary aim with these technique clinics is to get all coaches on the same page, whether they are working with young kids, masters or national team athletes," said Sotskov, who ran the coach workshop at Perisher and provides technical direction for the National Team. "The fundamentals of good technique are the same for all levels."

Alexei Sotskov working with Masters skiers at Perisher

APSI Nordic Technical Director Zac Zaharias was at the workshop at Perisher, and also attended a similar clinic on rollerskis with Sotskov at Jindabyne in June. In recent years Zaharias has been instrumental in pushing for closer collaboration between Snow Australia and APSI Nordic, and better alignment between technical development models for coaching and instructing.

"XC skiing at the high-performance level is constantly adapting as athletes push boundaries in technique to gain a competitive edge," said Zaharias after the recent Perisher workshop.  "Instructors also need to be attuned to these developments so that the teaching pathway progressively takes an athlete from foundation skills to high performance, thereby minimising the need to 'unlearn' older approaches."

At the Falls Creek technique workshop John Max Ertner echoed similar sentiments. "When skiers have a good fundamental position then everything else becomes easier," he said. "The challenge for us as coaches is to communicate with athletes as simply as possible, and for the athletes to be able to feel themselves when they are in the optimum position."

John Max Ertner working with coaches at the Falls Creek technique workshop.

These coach workshops form part of Snow Australia's Level 1 Coach accreditation for cross country skiing. Further details are available in the coaching pathways section of the Snow Australia website. New prospective coaches should start with the APSI Nordic Instructor courses, which cover the basics of teaching beginners skiers including group management and safety in the snow.