Ski race shake-up called for

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 258, 11 October 1988, Page 3

Ski race shake-up called for

An ex-national ski team coach says it's time for a reorganisation of the ski racing system in New Zealand.

Andreas Hefti, who has many years' experience in top level race coaching in New Zealand and Switzerland, says there is not enough competition at present for up coming racers and that the New Zealand Ski Association structure is at fault. He says there should be 1000 kids at the bottom of a racers' pyramid, all pushing to gain places further up the scale. The psychological push of more competition within New Zealand is what is needed to produce racers. A big part of a reorganisation should be the setting up of regional associations, says Andreas. He said at present the Southern Districts have an association that is organised well, Canterbury has one but it is

not doing well and the North Island has none. His idea is not original, with the system having been worked in NZ before and in use in Europe and the USA. This regional structure would work for the national association, he says, with skiers entering the system at about 15 years of age. The regions should have "masses of young racers", not just 30 or 40. Racer progression With a regional and national structure there should be a progression of teams, with regional teams, a development or "C Team", a B team up to the A team then an Olympic team. At present there i s no progression, says Mr Hefti, just a huge jump from club level to the B Team. The regional

associations would be responsible for sending teams to national events under his system. "If you have regional associations making such decisions problems such as this years' Turoa "rebel" team would not happen," says Mr Hefti. He said it should not be up to private ski schools to decide who is selected for race teams. Instruction Isn't coaching Commercial ski race schools are fine for

working on race technique, says Andreas, but they should not control team selection. He says there is a difference between coaching and instructing, which the present association does not recognise. "Coaching is about mental preparation," says Mr Hefti. "Coaching camps should be run with the coaches taking the kids all.day, through fitness training and ski training." He says the national body should get all racers together in May each year for fitness camps. After that the racers should go back to their clubs and ski schools to work on technique, and then start competing. He says once a young skier has reached about 15 technique should be "more or less OK" and from then the emphasis should be on speed. "Technically good is not enough," he says. "Being fast is motivation." He says schools such as the Turoa S k i Academy help very much with technique. "But kids who have technique want to see how good they are. They need to race against each other." Mr Hefti says ski racing is an individual thing. "Sometimes skiers who don't look good technically are very fast. "Franz Muller, for

example is the fastest downhill racer, but was a horrible looking skier but he knew how to turn and had the feeling for going fast. "When he was in the B Team they said he would never do well because of his technique. "Kids should not only be pushed o n technique but on speed." Association funding Andreas also believes coaching should b e free. "If the National body is organised they should be able to get better sponsorship," he says. "The Southern Districts, who are well organised, seem to have more money than the national association." "If coaching is free the pressure from parents on coaches' discipline is less." With a properly organised national association lots of other benefits could follow, he says. "Why not take in the best of the B and C team skiers into the A team when they are training within a particular region?" he says. "Even the little children would get a real kick out of spending a day training with the 'big boys'." One coach should be able to handle eight to ten racers, says Andreas and at present there are only three in the National team.

Andreas Hefti has been in the ski business for 30 years and has spent much of that time involved in ski racing. He began as a member of the Swiss National Ski Team, spent four years as coach of the Junior Swiss Olympic team and eight years coaching the Swiss National Olympic Team. He has been an FIS technical delegate spanning 1 5 years working with World Cup racing. Among other activities in New Zealand, Andreas was head coach for the New Zealand Ski Association until 1984. He is presently involved with marketing snowboards in New Zealand and is based in Ohakune.