Yet I think if you look at stats the world has moved well behind the NCAA level of skiing and or the other sports mentioned. I am not sure what you meant by the swimming hours but I can tell you they exceed that of cross country skiing. I have a daughter in a NCAA D1 swim program. At the “conference” championships another coach convieniantly brought in some swimmers from Hungary who had just taken a break from the Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile her swim club “Nova” in Irvine, Ca. could easily put a lap on her top ranked NCAA swim team. They have produced 6 Olympic medalists. Meanwhile I coached a young lady years ago in soccer who made the podium in the NCAA finals in swimming indoor this winter (3rd). As I heard from her recently, she laments she is miles away from making the Olympic team in the outdoor pool which is twice the size of an indoor pool and pushing off the wall is less of a factor. I also coached on this same youth soccer team a young lady who is on the U.S. Alpine team and you will probably see her compete in Vancouver, she elected to forego regular high school years ago and took classes in the summer. Same goes for Brenna Ellis, whom I also just saw today, who just retired from the U.S. Ski Jumping program, she was also on that same youth soccer team. She elected to not go to public high school as well as it conflicted with ski jumping. She just retired at an early age and was awarded by USSA as a ski “pioneer” in the women’s sport of ski jumping.

Let me assure you that another Micheal Phelps is not someone you will see come around in the next decade or two, you just watched something special from a very strong club swimmer who took on NCAA swimming because of the coaching connection.

Since I have run some decent times many years ago,
I do follow running and Track and Field closely. We have had some great collegiate athletes in distance running lately yet these NCAA Champs aren’t even close to what it takes to make either the finals much less the podium. These guys struggle to make the finals in the 1500 and up. Gone are the days of Billy Mills (circa mid 60’s) winning an Olympic 10k out of college. Even Frank Shorter (circa early 70’s) ‘72 Olympic Marathon Champ. can tell you that . As for the NCAA Sprinters that is a different story but not applicable to the subject at hand which is about training volume in the formative years. I don’t have a clue as to how the rifle sports aspect works.

Since I saw a dad and friend today who’s daughter will attend New Hampshire on scholarship in XC skiing , I was thrilled for him and her as she is a great kid. Then I saw and talked to an old fav. at the same event who skied well in the Torino Olympics (who did in US XC skiing ????? come on guess!) , she had quite an unusaul path in her skiing career and ended it well after many ups and downs. Hint it included a stint with the “Alaska Winter Stars”.

Cheers, Dave

Regarding popularity/population centers/number of participants: rifle is not a popular sport, but (former) NCAA shooters (Americans) are always fighting for the podium at the Olympics. Swimming is popular in NA, but NA certainly does not have a corner on the market for swimmers worldwide. And yet (former) NCAA swimmers (Americans) continue to perform quite well at the world level.

Snow, yes this is an issue, but not an insurmountable one anymore. The volume of training needed for international success is probably the biggest factor. And yet, swimmers (notorious for hours in the pool and the weight room) are able to make it work.

If other sports are able to use the NCAA as a pipeline for success at the international level I am convinced that skiing can, too. It may be hard, but so what? I’ve been wrong before, and I may have to eat my words on this in 20 years, but I think it can be done.

It comes down to true commitment, not this fluffy garbage that passes as commitment these days. Most young people (and coaches, for that matter) like to commit to skiing when it’s convenient, fits their schedules, and requires no true sacrifice. (“But my mommy wants me to go to the family reunion in August for three weeks…” “I can’t afford rollerskis, but look at my new ipod…” etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.)

As my buddy Sten says, “I’ve heard every excuse in the world, and none of them is good enough not to train.”

Bottom line: the NCAA can be a successful pipeline if the commitment, tools, leadership and support are there. Obviously it is not happening now. And maybe it’s not worth the effort to make it happen. But, I am sure some will keep plugging away.

As for the USST, I’ll bet they pretty much approach someone they see with potential and see if they are interested pursuing a path with the USST just like college coaches do in recruiting.

Cheers Tim, we should have a beer someday!

Dave

I’d also like to point out too that the economic environment for young skiers is much more challenging than back in the 70s and 80s. Life is way more expensive than back in the day. Competition for jobs is much stiffer and people will now generally have to work longer to have a decent life in later years. Yeah, 3 years is not a big deal. But for someone these days to ski race until they are 30 – 35 and then go to school and start a career … they will likely find themselves very behind in life for their age (pay, employment options, afforable housing, saving for retirement). And it likely be quite a struggle to try and catch up. Of course, the other option is to work until they are 80-90.

1. Winter is a short season everything gets compressed into a few months. Few resources, talent, races,etc…all gets compressed.
2. More population centers involved with the sports you mentioned aren’t regarded as snow towns, in fact it is a hinderence to them.
3. The Olympics is usually the “second season” to Track and Field and Swimming allowing these athletes longer periods of time to peak. Outdoor Swimming, T&F, and Beach Volleyball
are pretty much different events compared to their indoor events.
4. These sports are huge compared to XC easily 100 to 200 countries compete around the world in these marquee events.
Last I checked about 20 to 25 countries are in the mix for XC.
The number of events and actual particepants a staggering number to consider by comparison.
5. On your last point I think everyone on this website would agree that promoting our sport in numbers/particepation is a healthy thing to do. Cheers to the efforts and the award that Andy Shepard from the Maine Winter Sports Center recently recieved from USSA for doing just that! I think Andy’s organization introduces something like 2,000 to 5,000 new skiers to our sport every winter!

Regarding the specific question of foregoing college, I have one basic premise: if we produce enough competent skiers in NA at the J2 and J1 levels, there will be more than enough skiers to go around when these skiers turn 17 or 18. The US Ski Team will have a strong group of development skiers ready to commit to the challenge each year and colleges & universities will have plenty of skiers to recruit and coach. We, as a skiing continent, need to focus on producing a far greater number of competent, fit young athletes to fill the top of the funnel.

Parents and coaches here should make it clear that every skier has to make his own decision. And they should let skiers make that decision without saying that college is the only way to go…It doesn’t matter whether skiers go directly to school or defer 3 years. In my opinion 3 years is not even enough if you’ve got the talent and training to succeed.

Getting to the World Cup and actually having good results is only available for a small window of time but college is an option for your entire life. I agree that some of the best developing years as a skier are during college. I have seen so many skiers go to college with the hope that after 4 years they will start quality training again and miraculously be fast. They are already 4 years behind the people who didn’t go to college and put all their effort into training. I have even heard from a few fast NCAA skiers that they were only able to fit in 400 hrs during their last few years in school-and they were at a well known skiing college too.

So if a college skier does 500 hrs a year for 4 years vs. an athlete who trains only and completes 800 a year for 4 years…the math says that the college skier already has 1,200 hrs to catch up on. Of course hours are a small factor, since you have to look at talent, training history, etc but that’s an important point.

Why not encourage everyone to follow their dream and train and by doing so provide the US Ski Team with a lot more skiers reaching higher levels internationally?

Making the decision for a very talented JO skier who has the potential to ski at an international level or go to college, ski well and or develop there is just another one of those life choices kids have to make. Doing more than is possible often may mean that the effort(s) comes up short, besides Duncan Douglas any masters skier can tell you that!

Another possible alternative for this very talented skier would be to go to college part time and or on a limted basis, eliminating the “xbox games on mommies couch”. Obviously it precludes racing NCAA as they have chosen a different path.