The ATS is a guideline to help parents, coaches, and athletes identify
the components of our sport that that should be trained — and when
— based on the goal of optimizing athlete development. Every parent
and athlete should have this chart posted on their wall; clubs can get
larger sized ones through the sport ed department.
Jon Nolting, USSA’s director of sport education, says that the U.S.
has “great momentum” right now with the new ATS, but that we also
face ‘systematic challenges,” most specifically in areas of course setting, athlete race scheduling, and regional race calendars. Nolting
says he is studying what other sports and countries such as Canada,
Swiss-Ski, USA Hockey, USA Soccer, and the Austrian junior developmental system are doing for LTAD. He recalled an educational trip to
Stams, one of the top Austrian junior ski academies, where selection
for entrance is based a series of skills tests, and they “never factor
[race] results into their decisions for admission, and that the technical
evaluations as part of their exam are much more important predictors
of future success .” Nolting also cites the director at Neustift ski-acad-emy, Friedl Klingenschmid, who was interviewed on NBC as part of
its Olympic coverage in 2010: “We stress technique at this level more
than anything else because technique is what you have to know when
you are young. If you have a good technique, I can make you fast, but
I cannot make you very fast if you do not have a good technique...I do
a lot of games, play and play and play, try to motivate them.”
Kirk Dwyer, headmaster of Burke Mountain Academy, points out that
most of Burke’s athletes arrive at Burke during or just after their peak
height velocity period, and that the school’s challenge is to implement the ATS while helping each athlete to achieve the best long
term results. Dwyer says he believes in optimizing skills based on
the windows of trainability, and points out that older athletes need
coaches that are well versed in periodization, while younger athletes
need coaches that are well versed in skill development. Dwyer also
discusses the research that shows that the highest achieving athletes
tend to be the later developers, giving further backing the saying that
ski racing is a marathon sport, not a sprint.
Dwyer points out some challenges: the tendency of clubs and coaches to continue with what is most comfortable, and the ratio of training
to racing. He says that Mikaela Shiffrin “had 130 days of skiing and 11
scheduled races in her plan” as a second year J3.
Jesse Hunt, former USST alpine director and now head of Park City
Ski Team says that the ATS is a “framework for goal setting” and offers “lots of flexibility” for individual adaptation. “Long-term goals and
short-term goals are not always congruent,” says Hunt, adding that
the ATS is “critical for the success of the athlete.” He says that he
and his staff have “good buy-in” with the LTAD model at PCST, but
that it requires “constant education and management of expectations”
among parents and athletes.
Debbie Armstrong, Program Director of Steamboat Springs Winter
Sports Club SSWSC, offered insight on the subject of LTAD and the
development of the ATS. An Olympic gold medalist, high-level PSIA &
USSA instructor/coach, and two-time Olympian, Armstrong says that
“parents want to play in to a model” of participation for their kids in any
given sport, but instead it has to be “adapted on an individual, club,
and regional level.”
Armstrong believes that LTAD and the ATS are “hugely important —
higheset priority” and she says she discusses them with her coaching staff frequently as well as in her frequent parent meetings. She
points out that it is a continuing process of education among parents,
athletes, and coaches, adding that “it’s a complex sport” for new ski
racing parents to understand. “They are like a group of wild horses,”
says Armstrong, but through LTAD education can be tamed in to the
“Budweiser horse team” to help the club and the athletes to pull in the
right direction. Armstrong’s experience as a successful athlete also
allows her to focus on sport psychology, the team environment and
“building passion and fundamentals from a young age” — all critical
componets of successfully implementing the ATS.
“Athletes need to stay true to their strengths,” says U.S. Ski Team
racer Steve Nyman of LTAD. “I’ve seen too many good skiers lose
their skills because they ignore their strengths while trying to heighten
their weaknesses. It always amazes me at how many styles win on
the world cup and can be so close in time. Kids need to maintain and
work on their strengths while still trying to work on their weaknesses.
There are always the fundamentals, and you need to make those habitual when it comes to race time you can just go and not think about
anything else except for where you are going. And remember to have
fun! Challenge yourself and try performing in different and difficult
situations.”
LTAD Web Learning Resources*
USA Hockey ADM web site
Canadian Sport for Life web site
USSA ATS Chart
USSA ATS Case & Principles
USSA New Course Setting Recommendations
Alpine Canada AIM 2 WIN LTAD Program
Swiss-Ski Junior Development & LTAD
USA Hockey LTAD
USA Soccer
Austrian Junior Development
Stams Ski Academy
Austrian Academy Selection Info
Peak Height Velocity
Windows of Train-ability
Periodization
LTAD Book List
Key Contacts:
USSA Sport Ed Department
education@ussa.org
*Google Chrome can help translate the sites in
languages other than English
Ski Racing Junior Photo of the
Year Contest!
Parents, juniors and coaches: If you’re taking
photos of races this 2011-2012 season, Ski
Racing wants to see them — and maybe even
publish them, too. The editors are also offering
a springtime prize for our favorite winter junior
racing photo. For information on submitting junior
photos, email stuff@skiracing.com.
