American Downhiller: Episode 5

There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes during a season on the World Cup that very few people see or even know about. From long, lonely cargo van drives through the night across multiple states and countries, constantly having clothes and hands covered in blue dye, to spending hours upon hours perched high in a tree to get optimal video angles, the coaching staff behind the American Downhillers runs on a steady diet of coffee and elbow grease.

And, for the first time in a long time, they’re all Americans. Head coach Sasha Rearick along with speed coach Johno McBride and his assistants Pete Anderson, Chris Beckmann, and Scotty Veenis make up the team behind the team. They’re coaches, of course, but they’re also sherpas, mechanics, and confidants to the athletes they work with year-round. Simply put, there would be no American Downhillers if it weren’t for this crew.

“I take pride in the fact that we’re all Americans,” says McBride. “I think for many years, there’s been this stigma that we need to have a European to be professional, to be competitive. I have a lot of respect for the Europeans and European coaches but if we can do it with our own people and carrying our own flag, I’m absolutely all for it.”

In episode five of The American Downhiller presented by POC, we take a look behind the curtain to see what it takes to keep the team on track throughout a long and grueling World Cup season.