Alpine Coaching Hall of Fame
by Greg Gurshman
A figure of a coach in professional sports is often left behind the curtain while athletes are taking the center stage. It is especially true for the alpine ski coaches. When racer receives a medal on the podium, his or her coach is already working on training plans for the next event. Ski coaches rarely speak at press conferences or give interviews; very seldom you can see their pictures in the papers. Majority of them are modest individuals and would like to keep it this way.
Many people, who do not closely follow ski racing, will still recognize the names of Killy, Stenmark, Tomba or Mayer. But very few know the names of their coaches. I have decided to change this situation and introduce our visitors to some of the outstanding members of this unique group of professionals. I have selected some colleague into the Hall of Fame based on my own knowledge and available information. I apologize for missing someone who deserves to be included. I will gladly add more individuals if I get requests from visitors of this site.
Fred Roessner
Accepted a post of a Head Coach for Austrian National Team in 1951, and was rightfully considered a leading coach of the 50s. Roessner was the first coach who created training programs for developing explosive strength and speed endurance. His innovative coaching methods and techniques were instrumental in the success of Austrian Team during those years. Three Olympic medals won by Tony Sailer should be credited in large part to Fred Roessner.
Honoré Bonnet
For many years, starting from 1960, Bonnet was in charge of the French National Team. The entire generation of great ski racers had been through his hands. Leo Lacroix, Jean Vuarnet, Adrien Duvillard and many others have been coached by Bonnet. Jean-Claude Killy owed his great achievements to Bonnet as well. Honoré Bonnet not only had a tremendous impact in developing the famous French technique, which was dominating the ski world at a time, but was among the creators of the World Cup.
Ermano Nogler
Coach of arguably the best ski racers in history, Ingemar Stenmark.
The Italian from Val Gardena was a great champion in his time and also coached Carlo Senoner to his 1966 World Championship slalom title. When, due to some politics, Nogler's services were not any longer needed by the Italian Ski Team, he moved to Sweden. There he created a strong technical team competitive in slalom and GS. Nogler discovered young Stenmark when he was only twelve and worked with him throughout the entire career -- and what a fantastic career it was, which included 86 World Cup victories and two Olympic gold medals. It is hard to overestimate the input of Ermano Nogler in developing the technique of carved turns. High level of support and interest in alpine ski racing across Sweden and rest of Scandinavia should be attributed to diligent work of Ermano Nogler.
Karl Frehsner
The “Godfather” of modern ski racing.
For many years Frehsner was a Head Coach of a men's Swiss National Team. A truly multidimensional coach, Freshner produced great all-around champion Pirminn Zurbriggen. Thanks to Karl Freshner, many coaches started to take chances in preparing racers competitive in all disciplines from slalom to downhill. This great ski coach is also known for working with Formula 1 drivers in his spare time.
A few years ago Karl came back to Austria to take on the women's National Team. Although girls initially had a tough time with a very demanding (even by Austrian standards) coach, the team had a lot of success. Under Karl Frehsner, Aleksandra Meisnitzer and Renata Goitchel won the overall World Cup titles. At the present time Frehsner is the Head Coach for the entire Austrian Team. The results of the team speak for themselves. Karl is also a good businessman. He owns a part of a glacier, which he rents out to National Teams for training. I was fortunate to see this outstanding professional at work on many occasions. Last time I spoke to him at Lake Louise World Cup DH and he said that, in his opinion, Austrian racers are "getting soft". Well, it just proves to me that Karl Freshner is still one of the most demanding and toughest coaches around. We all can learn a great deal from him.
Dieter Bartsch
Austrian by nationality, more than a quarter of a century he spent outside of Austria. His professional path was not easy. Austrian federation did not need his services and in early 70s Bartsch went to England to coach the National Team, which was weak and in bad shape financially. There he served as a coach, an administrator as well as a fundraiser. Six years later Dieter was invited to work with the women's Swiss Team. He spent six very successful years on this job. His racers were winning everything. The greatest success under his coaching came to Michela Figini and Maria Welliser.
At this point the Austrian Federation had realized what they were missing and Bartsch was invited to work with the Austrian men's team. He gladly accepted, but could not manage to keep the job for very long. He was fired after three years in 1987. Bartsch's unorthodox approach and innovative coaching methods were going against the grain of very conservative Austrian system. For the next two years he worked with Liechtenstein National team until getting an offer from Norwegian Ski Federation. It served as sort of a break in a winding down career of a great coach. From 1986 to 1997 Dieter Bartsch served as head coach of Norwegian Ski Team. He not only had learned the language, but was able to really get into the Scandinavian mentality. One of the strongest National Teams in the world had really blossomed under his touch. Scaardal, Kjuss, Amodt, Furitheth, Torsen, Jagge practically dominated the World Cup. “Norwegian Machine” attracted attention of the specialists from all over the world. But even then Dieter Bartsch stayed in the shadow and continued to work hard. By 1996 Norwegian Ski Federation had gotten used to successes of the team, but it came at the price of severe financial problems. They could not afford Bartsch any longer and he was forced to leave. This time he was almost immediately offered a position of men's Head coach with Swiss National Team, which was at its low point. In a short time the team started steadily coming up. At the present time Swiss team is shifting in the high gear under the guidance of Dieter Bartsch, in my opinion, one of the hardest working coaches of the last two decades.
Helmut Girardelli
Helmut Girardelli may not be considered a ski coach in a full sense of the word. The only person he had ever coached was his son Mark. Helmut was not happy with the training received by his son in the Austrian system and, at the age of twelve, he took Mark out and began working with him on his own. It should be mentioned that he coached him absolutely mercilessly. World Cup has never seen an athlete and a coach who could match Mark and Helmut Girardelli in their training volume and intensity. It paid off in results — five overall World Cups, medals at World Championships and Olympics. Helmut was one of a few coaches, who not only set a goal of producing an all around ski racer capable of winning in all disciplines, but had successfully accomplished it. I had personally seen them train downhill, super G, slalom and GS all in one day. Up to this day, nobody else was able to do it like that. In the entire history of alpine skiing there were only four other all around athletes who had won in all disciplines. Mark Girardelli is arguably considered the most outstanding of them all. As a coach of his own son, there is no doubt that Helmut Girardelli has reached unprecedented level of success. Unfortunately, he always kept to himself and did not share his methods with other coaches. Nevertheless it is difficult to overestimate the input of this father and son team in developing of modern alpine skiing.
Finn Aamodt
Yet another father-coach who produced an outstanding champion Andre Amodt. Contrary to Helmut Girardelli, Finn has always worked closely with the Norwegian Federation. He had not only shared his ideas and methods, but actually coached the elite juniors of Norway. Finn Amodt has created a system of physical training, which included elements of gymnastic and ballet. He also developed a new approach to improving explosive strength by using plyometrics. Finn also developed a number of technical progressions on snow, which are used by other coaches across Europe and North America. Furthermore, with the help of his son, he produced a number of very interesting training videos. Finn Aamodt has not only produced one of the best ski racers of modern era, but had a huge impact on “Norwegian Machine” of Dieter Barstch.
Gustavo Thoeni
An outstanding ski racer of his time, winner of four overall World Cup titles and an Olympic Champion, Thoeni was a member of Italian National team from 1968 to 1980. He is one of very few great champions, who not only became a coach, but also had worked with another great champion. From 1989 to 1996 Gustavo Thoeni was Alberto Tomba's personal coach. This period covers the most successful performances by Tomba — numerous World Cup victories and four medals at two Olympics. Gustavo Thoeni has been a Head Coach for the Italian National Team since Tomba's retirement.
Toni Vogrinec
At the present time Head Coach of Slovenian National Team.
For many years Toni worked with Yugoslavian men's team. Toni played a key role in developing athletes like Bojan Krijay, Roc Petrovich, Jure Franco, Boris Strell and many others. Toni Vogrinec had a huge input in developing one of the strongest technical men's teams in the world.
Jože Gazvoda
Currently a head coach of Slovenian National Team in speed disciplines. Jože had been working with the technical teams of Yugoslavia and Slovenia for more than twenty years. The racers he coached have won 148 World Cup podium places. His resume includes 44 first places (out of which 33 in slalom), 51 seconds and 53 thirds. Arguably, Jože Gazvoda is one of the most productive coaches not only in Slovenia, but in the world. It should be mentioned that he has always worked on a minimal budget. I have had a chance to observe his work on many occasions. He has a unique, unimpressive and simple at the first glance, but very effective way of coaching.
Olle Larsson
Originally from Sweden, Olle Larsson competed on the team of Grenoble University (France), which he graduated from with the degree in alpine ski coaching. In the late 70s Olle coached the Canadian National Team. Then he founded Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City (Utah), one of the first Ski Academies in US. While coaching, Larsson studied Sport Psychology at Utah State University for three years. The Academy he had founded has been around for many years. Athletes like world champion Hilary Lindth and World and Olympic champion Picabo Street as well as many members of US and Canadian national teams are on its alumni list. At the present time Olle Larsson is a Program Director of Rowmark Ski Academy. He is an author of numerous publications on race technique and a co-author of the book. It is difficult to overestimate his role in education of alpine coaches in North America. One could only envy his energy and enthusiasm.
Joe Levine
Joe Levine (with author on the right) was nicknamed “Silver Fox”. This name is associated with the brightest stage of Canadian alpine skiing history. From the late 70s to mid 80s Joe Levine was a coach of one of the best downhill teams in the world known as “Crazy Canucks”. Among them were Steve Podborski and Ken Read. Both of them had a lot of victories including legendary Kitzbuhel. Steve Podborski won an overall World Cup title as well. When the generation of the Canucks was near the end of their careers, Joe tried to convince the federation that it was the time to start putting more emphasis on giant slalom. Equipment had changed and the downhill courses were becoming more technical with rounder turns. So he tried to get the federation to change the budget for developing technical disciplines. It did not work and Joe was asked to leave.
Joe then worked for a number of years in his native province of Ontario. He served as Head Coach as well as a manager. During this time he put many athletes on the National Team. It was done on the small hills of the province and on a very limited budget. After that Joe was offered a position of a Head Coach with the women's national team. But he hadn't got a chance to get the program going. There were some changes at the top of the federation and the program that he was running was cut. Joe was let go for the second time. He came back to Ontario again where he continued to produce great athletes in downhill and slalom. But even here he got in somebody's way. The Ontario Team was temporarily dismantled. The provincial team was divided into Northern and Southern with the coaches already in place. Joe was left hanging once again. Sick and tired of all the politics he did not consider any offers from other provinces and US team. For a few years now Joe and his wife and three children have been living in the province of Quebec. Joe is trying to make ends meet by making a custom furniture in his garage. He coaches little kids at the near by Mont Tremblant on the weekends. There are still a number of athletes on the national team who have been through the hands of Silver Fox. I have been fortunate to work side by side with this outstanding coach. He is a person who possesses a unique blend of class, professionalism, principles and decency. I am proud to call Joe my college and friend. I hope that his great experience and talent will be again utilized in Canada or another country.
Jean-François Bélanger
Jean-François, or simply JF as most of the athletes across Canada and US call him, should be rightfully considered one of the best coaches in North America. His career has been interesting, to say the least. JF spent his school years in Montreal. He started skiing at an early age but was able to only ski on the weekends. Therefore, he did not join a ski-racing club and instead played competitive hockey reaching a fairly high level.
But his love for skiing finally prevailed and after graduating from school he moved closer to a famous Canadian resort of Mont Tremblant where he started to work as a ski instructor. For a few years he taught skiing and ski raced in the local semi-professional circuit. He soon passed his level III exam through CSIA. During Summer months JF skied on the glaciers in France where he had a chance to be coached by and later work with some of the famous French coaches. Despite the lack of great racing background and connections in the business, he set a goal to become a ski coach. When a position of Head Coach for a local ski club opened in a remote town of Smithers (British Columbia), JF left everything and moved all the way across Canada into the land of Indians, loggers and tree planters. There, in a few years, he created one of the best groups of junior racers in the province. I met two of them much later when they were already coaching. I have to say that both were superb skiers with very solid technique. After that Jean-François went on to pass the top-level certification for CSCF. In the summer months, JF was invited to work with the BC Provincial Team. After three seasons in Smithers he was invited to coach full time with the Provincial Team for BC. After only a season with the Provincial Team, JF had a job offer to be Head Coach for the Quebec Provincial Team, it brought him back to his home turf. With consistent good results, after only one season in Québec he was invited to coach the Canadian women's technical team. At the time, it was the team's weakest link. It was a challenge and a logical step up. The successful performances of the girls at the World Juniors could be attributed to diligent work of JF. I met Jean François, when he offered me a job in the Ski Academy he ran in Eastern US. I only wanted to come for one season and ended up staying there for almost five.
I have never met a coach who was so close to me in spirit, in his way of coaching and understanding of the ski technique. I have learned a lot from JF in coaching as well as in general life terms. I was always amazed by his ability to demonstrate even the most difficult drills absolutely perfectly. His optimism and enthusiasm were unmatched. His love of skiing was contagious to anyone who came in contact with him. I am proud to call JF one of my closest friends although we don't see each other often these days.
Unfortunately for the sport, a few years ago, he was offered a different position in the ski industry - General Manager of Ski Smithers, ski area in Northern British Columbia. It is the same place where he had started coaching almost twenty years ago. JF says that it is a new challenge, which gives him a different outlook on skiing and ski industry. Ski Smithers has some of the best snow in the world according to JF. I guess he is lucky in a way that he was able to find himself doing what he loves after retiring from coaching. Many coaches have struggled with that. Never the less, I still hope that one day Jean-François Bélanger will return to coaching. We could use his services in Canada and US.
Teo Nadig
Teo Nadig could be rightfully considered international coach. He worked in Europe as well as in the US for long periods of time. For more than 15 years from 1974 to 1980 he had worked with the men's Swiss National Team. Despite being in the shadow of head coach Karl Frehsner, Teo had a significant impact on the successes of the Swiss Team. Then Nadig served as a head coach with US National Team. During his time US Team has experienced the most success. After that Nadig worked with the Italian National Team. It was also very productive. In 1994 Teo Nadig returned home to Switzerland but this time as a head National Team coach. He spent five years on a job. This time his work was not as fruitful. The team was going through the generational change. In 1999 Teo was replaced by Dieter Barsch.
Fritz Vallant
Fritz Vallant is well known not only in his native Austria, but in US as well. Vallant was a coach of US women's team up to early 90s. This period was marked by some great performances by American racers. It should be mentioned that Fritz was one of very few European coaches who were successful on the other side of the Atlantic. Despite his lack of popularity among the team members, they continued to produce some impressive results under his guidance. Diane Roff-Steinrotter became a World Champion and won an Olympic medal. She told me in private conversation: “Vollant was very strict and even seemed angry at the athletes, but with him around I could not even trip over my shoe laces. I felt that I could do anything on skis. Looking back I would say that Fritz Vallant was the best out of all my coaches”.
In 1992 Vallant returned home to work once again with the Austrian National team. This time he accepted the post of men's Head Technical Coach. The team was at its low point and Vallant was facing a challenging task of bringing it back to glory. He had accomplished it fully, working closely with Werner Magreiter. Vallant instituted a number of changes in the team structure and training regiment. He appointed his assistant coaches by regional principal, so the team members would not have to travel across the country for the training camps and testing. Coaches worked with groups of athletes in their regions and only periodically would get the entire team for training together. It had very positive impact.
Fritz Vallant played an important role in bringing the Austrian Team up after its low in early 90s. In 1999 Vallant retired from big time coaching. He is now living in California and working for one of the Ski Academies there. I would like to wish him much success in working with juniors in US.
Werner Magreiter
An Austrian who spent most of his career coaching at home in Austria. Even that is an accomplishment in itself, as the competition within the Federation of that great alpine skiing country is quite intense. But even this ski racing kingdom may experience a crisis. Werner Magreiter accepted post of a men's Head Coach right on the verge of such a crisis in 1992. There were no Austrian skiers in top seed in GS. Considering that GS is a key discipline to alpine ski racing, many coaches did not see realistic ways of bringing the team up.
But, by the season of 1999 all members of the Austrian Team were in top ten not only in GS but in super-G and downhill as well. How had Magreiter accomplished that with the large number of athletes in such a relatively short time? First of all, he had taken risk of creating the one team training in downhill, super-G and GS. It was very different from conventional division of racers into “technical skiers” and “speedsters” and almost did cost Werner his head. Austrian Federation does not like such innovations. But nevertheless Magreiter was able to overcome the resistance, and now his approach is used all over the world. The genius of Magreiter's methods was in his timing and ability to look ahead. Skis with increased sidecuts were about to emerge and Werner believed that short GS arc could be successfully used in super-G and downhill. That is why he assembled a group of athletes reasonably proficient in GS and started training them in all three disciplines. In a short time almost the entire team took leading positions in all the events. Austrian racers had brought short carved turn in downhill. Their rivals were forced to take some extra risks and many got hurt in the process.
Austria had not had an overall World Cup winner fore 28 years. Magreiter created the selection criteria for the team, under which only athletes who had results in three disciplines were able to make the team. That in fact allowed Hermann Maier, who was not very young at a time, to be selected for the team. Magreiter had to really literally for everything, there were many opponents to his system. The National Team had become leaner, the clubs of seven ski provinces were receiving lesser amounts of government money as the smaller number of their young racers were selected to the Team. Werner's head was literally on the chopping block in 1994 until Tomas Stangassinger won an Olympic gold in slalom. Now this head could be possibly seen made in bronze with inscription on pedestal “He took the greatest ski nations and led it back to glory”
Werner Magreiter retired from big-time coaching at the end of 1999. He had done everything he could for Austria. His system is still in place and continues to work. Austrian National Team continues to dominate in all disciplines of alpine skiing. Magreiter speaks at coaching seminars around the world. I had several chances to meet this outstanding coach and a man.
Leonid Tiagachev
Leonid Tiagachev could be hardly called a world-renowned coach. But he is well known in Russia and Eastern Europe. Tiagchev was a head coach for Soviet National team from early 70s to late 80s. Under him the best ever group of Russian athletes had been developed. It should be mentioned that Tiagachev accomplished it on a minimal, practically nonexistent, budget. Valery Tsiganov, Vladimir Makeev, Aleksander Zhirov, Vladimir Andreev, Nadezhda Andreeva - all were among the top World Cup contenders in early 80s. Another group was successful on Europa Cup. The greatest success was experienced by Aleksandr Zhirov, who won number of races and placed third in overall World Cup standings.
At the present time Leonid Tiagachev is a president of Russian Ski Federation, resently he was nominated as a President of National Olympic Committee. I would like to believe that he will have an input in developing a strong national team in Russia once again.
