We have developed an elite athlete development system that excels at identifying talent but delivers a poor and expensive participant experience. We need to build a sport that ensures an affordable and fulfilling participatory experience with an elite athlete pathway based on merit, not financial ability.  

Every nation can be represented at the Olympics, while the strongest nations max out at four starters in each race. Stronger nations always leave athletes at home who are faster than many of those representing weaker nations. This is not a fault within the structure; it is a feature – the Olympics balance performance with participation. The World Cup does the same. Stronger nations have maximum quotas and weaker nations have a minimum quota so that they can be represented by their best. 

Much of the cost of our sport is driven by the pipeline we have designed for elite athlete development. Too many athletes are expected to participate at a level not appropriate for their current ability. To compete successfully, programs are driven to provide more staff, training camps, competition travel opportunities and other services. The costs of these resources are passed on to the athletes through program fees. Non-elite athletes participate in expensive elite athletic programs with the expectation of an elite outcome. Those not willing or able to participate at that level have few options.

Creating a system that addresses the specific needs of all levels

A system focused on the participant experience will have local competition focused on the joy and excitement of racing. When athletes rise to the top, the small group who have separated themselves from their peers is given the challenge of experiencing a higher level of competition. Most competitors are appropriately challenged at each level, and a small selection needs to be advanced to experience a higher level. For this meritocracy to function, the ability to advance must be determined by performance, not means.

The US Ski Team identifies and funds the athletes representing our nation internationally. In the same way, each region identifies its athletes to compete nationally. Regions must strive to fund the athletes they are advancing. With this example, divisions advance and support athletes to the regional level, states or districts to the divisional level, and clubs or academies to the state or district level. This seems impossible, but not if we look at it from a fresh perspective.

Selection creates efficiencies that benefit everyone

For example, if a region sends 20 athletes of each gender to an event, 8-10 coaches are needed and the competition can cost thousands for each athlete. Funding 40 athletes and support staff can approach several hundred thousand dollars. When funding is involved, the goal becomes identifying the smaller group of athletes who have separated themselves and need competition they are not experiencing at home. The prospect of the region periodically funding 5-6 athletes of each gender to a national event becomes more realistic. Those not qualifying for one opportunity have more time to train for their shot at the next one.

Just like in the Olympics, athletes will be left at home who could compete successfully and may be faster than athletes selected from other regions. With fewer spots available in each region, the regional competition is raised while costs are contained. Eventually, fewer staff and other resources are needed at clubs and academies, with savings trickling down to reduce upward pressure on program fees.

Reducing barriers to entry

At the other end of the spectrum, sport organizations, clubs and academies have created barriers to entry and growing the sport. Resorts around the country collectively spend millions annually to provide terrain parks as a resort amenity. It is a striking paradox when racecourses are not offered or extra fees are charged. Competing as an independent, even at entry-level races, is difficult. A license is required, representation at meetings is expected and information is not easy to find. Racing is club-focused rather than participant-focused.

It must become possible for children and their parents to try out ski racing before committing to coaching, a training program and a license. Once hooked, economical local entry-level programs are critical to growing the love of the sport. Age-appropriate volume and content can readily be provided to ensure that athletes gain the experiences needed to fulfill their future potential. Many existing programs could be even more affordable if fees were set to cover costs or as loss leaders. In practice, most of these programs generate revenue to support the club’s more intensive programs.

In the space in between, the sport becomes more intense for those whose commitment, performance and opportunities are increasing. The first step is to reduce expenses. From a club perspective, that means less staff expense and more efficient services. Reducing travel needs and competition costs are the first steps before containing fees and funding travel becomes a reasonable goal.

Programs do create increased inclusivity

Some innovative solutions are being introduced and piloted. One of the country’s oldest and most successful programs, the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, introduced an EZ Scholarship several years ago. Based on the honor system and available to local families, it allows a family to report their AGI on their tax return at registration. This can result in a scholarship of up to 40% of program fees on a sliding scale. Recognizing the cost of living and snow sports, EZ Scholarships begin with an AGI below $175K. For those requiring more support, financial aid is available with financial disclosure. Other organizations are implementing or considering similar initiatives.

The cost and accessibility issue is a complex and daunting challenge. There is something each of us and the organizations we’re part of can do. The best ideas haven’t been thought of yet.

Athletes

It’s not about the skis. It’s about the skier. Having World Cup quality race skis or the latest fluorine-free overlay isn’t where the answer is. Your passion, effort and perseverance will make the difference. Your coach, club or academy isn’t what will make you succeed. You will. 

Scott Wilson, the coach who most influenced me, did some math with our team. He pointed out that when a training run takes a minute, an average day with six runs equals 6 minutes of training. If we were to take one more run each day, we would get an additional day of training every six days. If we took three more runs, we would get an extra day for every two days. The implication is that six or nine minutes of training per day is also too valuable to waste with a lack of focus.

There is no substitute for time on snow. But logging the minutes while going through the motions doesn’t cut it. Being deliberate and engaged in the process is where the magic happens. 

Time on snow in the off-season is expensive compared to time on snow during the winter. Taking full advantage of every opportunity to ski when it’s readily available reduces the need for expensive travel and camps. A minute on snow is the same whether it is in January, August or October. The “winter conditions” sought in the Southern Hemisphere winters are available at home in January. Extend the season into the spring. Conditions are some of the best all year and the resorts are quiet. 

Play other sports, have fun, and express your passion for skiing every day you are out there. 

Coaches

Our athletes are not professionals. Let’s not treat them that way or expect them to act that way. Promoting an athlete attend every training session or camp at the exclusion of other sports or family activities isn’t healthy. We know how few of our kids will become professionals. Be thoughtful about the expectations and costs we place on our families when we schedule competition trips or camps that are “Nice to have” but not “need to have”. Guide our athletes and their families to the essentials and away from the excesses. As Ted Lasso states “For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on and off the field.” Any one of us can be proud when we measure success that way.

Parents

Ski racing is a game. Let the kids have fun. Focus on the process, not the outcomes. There are great lessons to learn that will make your kids more resilient, more daring and better people. As adults, they will be the best skiers on the mountain.

Elite outcomes are exceedingly rare. There are only three steps on any podium, and most racers seldom stand on them. If that is your only goal, you will likely be disappointed.

Participating in the sport is not an “investment” on which you can expect a financial return. The best return is happy and healthy kids who love skiing and develop a lifelong love of activity and healthy lifestyles. Everyone can be successful when success is defined that way.

US Ski and Snowboard

As the Olympic national governing body, USSS is responsible for identifying and fielding teams for international events. As the principal stewards of the sport, USSS is also uniquely responsible for providing an exciting, inviting and accessible sport. An essential part of that is helping the best athletes in the nation become the best athletes in the world. These role models inspire and attract families and kids to become involved.

For those athletes targeting the US Ski Team, nomination criteria are the critical programming driver. If criteria emphasize points, racers will chase the best point opportunities. When criteria emphasize head-to-head performance, athletes will target the identified events. 

Criteria must be closely evaluated for effectiveness in identifying the athletes exhibiting the performance indicators of their potential to win World Cups and Olympic medals. A critical look must be given to whether the criteria unduly reward those with more significant resources.

USSS can be most effective at these two extremes of the sport experience: entry-level and elite performance. One supports the other. The large space from entry to the elite is best impacted by volunteers, local programs, academies, colleges and regions. With finite resources, USSS is stretched by trying to do too much for too many who have not yet emerged to the elite level. Many times, this adds expense to the athletes who’re emerging.

Not doing enough to support growth at the base and the athletic success of the very best is at risk. Re-allocating redundant resources to what clubs and schools can provide could significantly replace the need for membership and other athlete-sourced revenue and reduce participant costs.

Colleges

US colleges and universities are a resource more successfully used by athletes from other nations. Athletes who’ve been in their national team pipeline have fewer opportunities after their junior years and look to our universities to capitalize on their abilities. Schools can place themselves directly in the domestic elite athlete pipeline when NCAA eligibility rules applying to most sports are applied to skiing. Doing away with the age exemption will reduce the pressure on skiers to take PG years. Skiers who now interrupt their education and add 2 to 3 expensive years to their journey can continue their development in college. Foreign skiers will find our schools less attractive because they are still engaged in their national team structure.

With fewer PG skiers to program for, clubs can reduce their need for resources and focus on athletes at earlier career stages where resources can be more effectively applied.

Clubs and Academies

Larger clubs and academies need athletes to pay the fees that fund the organization. The demand for athletes is out of balance with the supply of athletes. A quick analysis of FIS registrations shared by Mark Moltzan reveals that since 1997 the number of FIS racers in the US has shrunk from 3286 to 1446 in 2022. Even more staggering, Canada’s number has gone from 2373 to 667. A big part of this is explained by the FIS age shift from 15 to 16. Over the same time, the numbers in Austria, Norway and France have also been cut in half. What is clear is that there are far fewer FIS racers than there were 25 years ago and more programs catering to them. 

More resources are provided, facilities built, and camps and competition trips offered to attract the needed numbers. An unfolding disaster is the weakening of the clubs these kids are being drawn from at increasingly younger ages. Like the tiny ski areas where many of us first learned the sport, the smaller clubs that have been the incubators of passionate racers are shrinking and dying.

Clubs need to focus on where their resources are most effectively applied. If the competition for skiers is replaced with collaboration, skiers can remain closer to home. Athletes can be retained in the sport through the high school years, when racing doesn’t mean moving to another community and school. 

Cooperation under the divisional or regional umbrella allows the burden of supporting racers that qualify for advancement opportunities to be spread out and funded by the divisions or regions. When we work with other clubs or regions, we gain efficiencies and eliminate redundancies.

Racing Series and Venues

Strengthening race series by reducing incentives and opportunities for discretionary travel is critical. Accessibility, managing expense and strengthening competition closer to home is the outcome. Rules and qualification procedures play a vital role.

As the expectations and infrastructure requirements to run races have been raised, the number of ski areas and clubs able or willing to run races has diminished. Teams, racers and support staff are often seen as disrupting the guest experience. We have the habit of scheduling races during the most expensive periods at the busiest resorts when we are least welcome and accommodations are most costly. 

The Master’s ACC report to the Regions Subcommittee this spring revealed an effective strategy of engaging with smaller ski areas that valued having the added business. Racers were welcomed, not just tolerated. Cultivating relationships and supporting these smaller venues in their hosting efforts will improve our partnerships with all resorts and help manage racer expenses. Experiencing a greater variety of venues and conditions enhances the development of our athletes.

Rules and Qualifications

Another athlete’s proposal last spring sought to delay the start of the competition season nationally. The proposal passed but was rendered less impactful when the start dates of the approved version mirrored current practice rather than drove change. When the start of the race season is delayed, athletes can train locally before racing. When races are conducted early in the season, the impact of early on-snow training is magnified. To reduce the cost of early season training, we must reduce the need.

As with national team criteria, divisional and regional qualification procedures drive programming at the club level. Focusing selections on head-to-head competition, as close to home as possible, strengthens competition and distributes opportunity. Reducing quotas to out-of-division or out-of-region events minimizes the number of athletes subjected to the expense. The opportunity for funding sources to support the athletes with critical opportunities is improved.

Change is hard 

Those readers who were hoping for a silver bullet are surely disappointed. This is not an easily solved problem. We can take many small steps that will make a big difference collectively. Actions can be taken to make our sport more attractive, reduce costs and enhance our performance at the highest level. No doubt working persistently in all areas, we will do it. If we don’t, no one will do it for us and our sport will become irrelevant.

Also, read the first two in the series

1st in the series: Aldo Radamus looks to initiate beneficial change

2nd in the series: Radamus offers a critical comparison to alternative systems