USSA National Coaches Symposium Wraps Up, NTG Convenes in Lake Placid

USSA National Coaches Symposium and L200 Training Wraps Up in Lake Placid

(Press Release)

Summary:

It’s been a busy and informative 5 days for coaches around New England, with time for some fun too.

Last Wednesday and Thursday, 18 coaches took part in the first ever L200 coach certification training to be held in the East. Bryan Fish, development coach for the USST taught this very informative course, and with any luck, and some hard work, we will have 18 new L200 certified coaches in NE, once every has passed their exams.

On Friday, the USSA played host to their semi-annual National Cross Country Coaches Symposium held at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. Over 35 coaches from Alaska to Maine, and all in between, attended this 3-day conference held at the OTC.  US Ski Team development coach Bryan Fish, USST woman’s coach Matt Whitcomb, USST men’s coach Jason Cork, and overall USST coach Chris Grover where all on hand to welcome the coaches, and run the weekend, as well as USSA’s new Nordic Director Robert Lazzaroni.

There was a full slate of very informative Keynote speakers, including – Anders Bystrom, the Norwegian Junior National team coach, who gave two great talks on the Current Norwegian Training for Juniors and their Development, as well as Current Norwegian Technique Training Principles.

Vern Gambetta, of Gambetta Sports Training System, gave his unique generalist approach to the Application of Coaching Excellence, as well as an informative presentation on Endurance Training Principles and the Integration of General Athleticism.

Brian Krill, the Director of Sport Education and Club Development for USSA shared his philosophy on Grass Roots/High Performance/and Long-Term-Athletic-Development Ski Club development within the USSA.

Jay Gump, a professor of anatomy and psychology, as well as cycling coach, gave a talk about Preparation for Multi-Day Events.

Troy Taylor, USSA’s new High Performance Director, also gave two presentations – the first on Learning from Medal Winning Programs Around the World and the second on Bridging the Gap – Juniors to Seniors International Success.

And last, but certainly not least, the USST coaches hosted a round table discussion with lots of time for Q&A, and gave a very informative presentation of New Projects happening within the USST and Lessons from 2015.

ORDA hosted a very fun opening dinner for everyone Friday evening at the Olympic Jump Complex, complete with the thrilling and adrenaline pumping opportunity to go tubing down the ski jump hill! See the NENSA Facebook page for photos!

ORDA will be hosting one of the Supertour and Eastern Cup race weekends in Lake Placid this coming January 30th and 31st. They are so excited to be able to showcase the Mt. Van Hovevenberg venue, so rich in Nordic history, and they look forward welcoming all our New England Nordic athletes, as well as the Supertour athletes, next January!

National Training Group (NTG) Camp started Monday in Lake Placid

(Press release)

Summary:

National Training Group (NTG) Camp started in Lake Placid [on Monday, Sept. 14] – so thrilled to be able to join them on their morning interval workout – thanks to the USST coaches for letting me tag along!  Many of our NENSA Elite Team members there – Sophie Caldwell, Jessie Diggins, Erika Flowers, Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, Paddy Caldwell, Anne Hart, Annie Porkorny, Katharine Ogden, Julia Kern, Kamran Husain and Ben Saxton, as well as our NENSA Development Team Member Daniel Streinz, to name a few. 

The group started the day off with a brief meeting at the OTC, where they are all staying this week, and to watch 5 minutes of World Cup footage for visualizaiton, and to get pumped for the skate intervals they were about to do.  We loaded up in the vans and headed 20 miuntes south to a loop near Jay and Keene NY for intervals.  The team started with a nice warm up skate up one road, then all met in a grassy area, where USST Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach Tschana Schiller led them all in a dynamic warm up, which lasted 5-10 minutes.  Then they went off as a group to do their intervals.  The USST coaches Bryan Fish, Matt Whitcomb and Jason Cork took video footage from the vans and from the side of the road, as well as providing feedback along the way.  USST member Andy Newell even got the full service treatment of getting a broken pole tip changed, in less then 30 seconds, as the team van slowly trailed him.  The rain that was falling during breakfast cleared, and the team got in a great morning workout.  See our NENSA Facebook page for photos!