Ski coaching philosophy

[h.harb]

In the sport of skiing, and in particular the profession of ski coaching in the USA, there are two career choices, one is to adhere to the program, which is, USSA coaches association, Us Ski Team coach, and coaches unity. The other, is to forge ahead with your own ideas about how to develop skiers. The lonelier path, is to forge ahead on your own, which requires great conviction, serious self-confidence and proof.

The easy road is to be one of the masses, but you end up, another wheel in the mediocre cog, that never evolves the sport. However, you do maintain your status in the in crowd and you are accepted as some kind of authority within your group. An authority for what, I have yet to figure out. I never aspired to be in or one of the, in crowd, because they are fake, illiterate (in the sport of ski movement) and lazy with thinking.

I always chose to be effective and evolutionary, than to be loved, I guess.

[HeluvaSkier]

I'll raise my glass to that.

Cheers.

[h.harb]

So that no one get the wrong idea, I know there is lots of love out there for what we do. However in the previous post I was referring to the coaches in USSA and the association..

[Skiasaurus Rex]

Harald,

I have a friend I ski with who used to Patrol at Aleyska when you coached the race program there...he said you were (and still are) a legend there and that it was often remarked on how well all the racers skied in that program (racing and free skiing).

I can also see from your posts you still have a passion for racing, racers, and racer development. Just curious, what moved you away from Race coaching towards recreational skier coaching (I realize you still run a race camp as well)? Not complaining, thousand of skiers have benefited from this change in your career . But with the prevalence of the race focus here and elsewhere, and your well-deserved reputation as a quality coach (with some fairly impressive skiers who came through your program at some point) I just wondered when and why you made the switch.

[h.harb]

Hi Rex,

Thank you for the kind words and great remembrances. My change to recreational skiing, isn't that far off my passion for racing and ski racing technique. PMTS is a reversed engineered World Cup racing technique. I didn't know that it would work at first, however the more I experimented with the ideas, the better they fit.

I was asked while running the race programs in Alaska, if I would coach the PSIA trainers and examiners. They could see the results we were getting with the racers and they wanted in. I did it, and they asked me if I would represent Alaska at the PSIA Demo Team tryouts. I said yes, made the team and the rest is, as they say, history. I realized I had lots of skiing left in my body and I was not utilizing my skiing ability in coaching; nearly as much as I could being on the Demo Team. It was like a dream come true to be on another National Team, in a different country, at 42. I began to ski again, you don't ski much as a ski coach. That's what pushed me to make the change, skiing. And also Colorado, I fell in love with Colorado, the climate, the summer sports and the great skiing.

[Max_501]

...I fell in love with Colorado, the climate, the summer sports and the great skiing.

You forgot something.

[HighAngles]

...I fell in love with Colorado, the climate, the summer sports and the great skiing.

You forgot something.

Would that be someone with the initials of DR?