The World Cup According to Grande: The Prep Period Noise
We are only two weeks from the opener at Soelden, Austria. It generally signals the end of the preparation period for the GS groups. It does signal the beginning of the World Cup season and gets us addicts drooling with anticipation. It is a big race because it defines where a World Cup program is after the preparation period. And it gives you six weeks to pull the GS out of the tank if need be by the time Beaver Creek and Aspen come around. But it also gives teams a chance to evaluate what went on during the preparation period, and whether they were successful in improving the athletes on their squads. And, maybe even evaluating if they have all the right athletes in the places they need to be. The Soelden weekend is a big deal. And without it, you really don’t know where your team might stand in the scheme of things. It is not the end of the world if the results are not there, but it does give a jumping-off point to the evaluation process. And Soelden is a very specific type of hill and a lot of athletes do not like to race on it, while others thrive on it. But I will tell you what I do know. There are a number of athletes who do not like racing on that hill but STILL achieve excellent results, and they even win on it. And they are the best GS skiers in the world over the last 10 years, and that last comment is the reason. They do well on hills they don’t love, and win on the hills they do love.
With that being said, I was wondering where our teams might be with their prep period. How things went in New Zealand and Chile? How effective were the summer conditioning programs? Did our athletes improve? More importantly, did they improve at a faster rate than others in the world ranked around them? And this takes a lot of different things into consideration. Is their conditioning optimized? Big, strong and fast is great but they have to be bigger, stronger and faster than their immediate competition. Was the racing success for some of the guys in the summer truly what they needed? Is it really all about start position? And did focusing on racing so much for those boys take away from the volume they might have needed to improve faster than their competitors? Were the equipment switches good moves? Is anyone struggling with equipment? There are many questions to answer and the GS guys are coming to the point where they will know, good or bad.
I do know that the U.S. boys had their struggles with weather in the Southern Hemisphere. The speed group had to abandon their normal late-September Portillo trip and returned to New Zealand. There were some horrible weather in Mt. Hutt, forcing the tech group back to Coronet and making the speed boys wait it out in Methven. But with some rain and cold weather, things improved and the boys got their volume. I am sure they had to double up on the sessions but they got the volume they needed. As a coach, there is always the question in your mind if that type of volume is quality volume, or simply volume for its own sake? As long as their priority was kept straight and kept the speed work as the main goal it should be fine. Their GS work is necessary and drives good DH skiing. But did the work get done? The good news for the speed guys is that they have another long camp in Colorado to get going. And if they can get on the Flyway (top flat at Birds of Prey) to test skis on cold, man-made snow, it will be a major plus to have that information for them going into Lake Louise and Beaver Creek. And with Marco on Rossignol now, and Fish and Ganong trying to sort out Atomic laminate versus cap skis, it could be a big deal for them. It’s a lot of work to get it done, but well worth it.
When you get this bad weather or thin snow coverage in a preparation period, it can mess with the rhythm of a camp. And getting the planned volume becomes paramount. It often seems like you are trying to stuff 10 pounds into a 5-pound bag, and it does affect the quality of the volume you get too. It does risk injury more often. But, it sounds like the boys came out unscathed and are ready to go to Soelden. The tech boys have headed to Europe to get it done over there leading into the big opener. There is a lot to look for in the next weeks. Is Ted ready on the Head gear? Is Bode ready? He always seems to be ready to go in Soelden and he does not seem to need as much volume as everyone else. There were a lot of reports of great training on the glacier in Saas Fee all summer long and in Ushuaia, ARG and Chillan, CHI. The snow the boys had in New Zealand sounds like it was great after it rained and got cold, both in August and September. Again, it comes down to volume management and the quality of the volume the boys were able to take advantage of all summer long. The Tweets and Facebook posts of fantastic training were all well and good. It gave an overall feeling of positivity for everyone. But some teams had to work harder than others for that positive feeling. And if you trained in the same place three or four times in the prep period, all it really means is that you had great training on the same hills, with the same light and the same temperatures, all summer long. Again, we will find out soon.
The prep period also lets the new guys assimilate with the veterans and the new staff to figure out how to best work together. There was a lot of staff shifting this year with the US and Canada staffs. Every group has at least one new person to get to know. According to several of the USA men’s staff members, it sounds like everyone is getting along well and working hard. The addition of Dane Spencer, as I mentioned in the summer, is an interesting hire. I like it, and I like him, and it makes sense. Dane brings recent World Cup racing experience and instant credibility with the athletes. And being a cross-over Europa Cup/ World Cup guy is the perfect place for him. He did that most of his career and struggled with it at times. It was always a tough transition with the EC guys coming to the WC group and vice-versa. Getting assimilated, and feeling comfortable so they could race well without being worried about group dynamics is always a challenge. Using someone like Dane as a dedicated coach in that role definitely will make it easier for guys like Will Brandenburg, Andy Phillips, Will Gregorak, Nolan Kasper and Colby Granstrom as they try to break into the World Cup. The one thing that is going to make me chuckle is when Dane goes off the beaten track to try to get to some place in the middle of Niederoesterreich. I travelled with Dane very often to races like that. From Hermagor to Hinterstoder, Semmering to St. Vigilio; Dane would sleep or read or do crosswords or sometimes, just talk. But the trip would always end the same. “Oh, we’re here? Cool.” I am not sure he knows his way around in a car, behind the wheel. He’ll figure it out, it’s not that hard. But my piece of advice is to ignore the GPS, read a map and pay attention to the little Roman Numerals on winding red and yellow roads. And if you are not sure, ask someone if that pass is open that drops into Bormio, or wherever. Ask Ben Black how much fun it is to be shoveling your cargo out of waist deep snow in the dark at 11 PM with a powder ski!
All of that said, the racing world is starting to focus on where it matters most, central Europe. Everyone involved in the GS starts in Soelden are landing in Europe. The Canadians, men and women, are over there as well. So are our teams. From Zermatt to Saas Fee, Stelvio and Tonale, Soelden, Pitztal, Hintertux, Kaunertal and Moelltal. Teams are at all of those glaciers in full with training World Cup teams, trying to put the fine-tune on the prep period. Race skis need to be chosen. The teams need to decide who will fill the bottom of the roster for Soelden. All the while, it is only October and the majority of the team needs more quality volume to be ready by the time Beaver Creek and Aspen come around on the calendar. It’s a tricky time of year and Soelden can set you
up for a great start to the season. But many of the starters in the race need to decide why they are there and why they are racing. It means a lot to athletes trying to win an Overall Globe, a GS globe or maybe even sneaking into their GS roster for the World Alpine Championships in Garmisch. But for others, it is more important to continue their training with focus on skiing and being ready later in the winter for other races.
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Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain,
Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St.
Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg
returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head
Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to
Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program
Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg
became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.
In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World
Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski
Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the
helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and
experience to clubs nationwide.
About the Author: Pete Rugh
