The following article is a reader's response to <Luke Bodensteiner's article Outlining The USSA Development Plan. The article is followed by Luke's reply.
Luke:
Your note to FasterSkier is full of descriptive sentences all explaining why we can’t do things the way we should, and how we have to manage with less. Come on, I don’t know of a person out there that can win with those limits placed on them. That may work in the day to day management of budgets, but it doesn’t begin to cut it when you are speaking about establishing a vision and tactical plan to achieve it.
Where is our nerve. We have to stop cutting back, getting by with less and abridging our programs as if that will lead to success. There must be a vision that says we are going to do more, provide better programs, set higher standards, train coaches, meet the needs of our athletes, coaches and federation with the most powerful program in the world. And, equally important, do it in a uniquely American Style.
Nobody ever lost their job for saying “Noâ€. Think about it. We hear about businesses everyday cutting back, making do with less, etc. But the truly successful people are the ones with the big nerve. How about, Steve Jobs for one. He developed the most elegant PC ever, lost his job and then came back and revolutionized music with the I-pod and perhaps saved the music industry at the same time by getting people to pay for downloads.
There is considerable discussion about how we don’t receive support from our government like other countries. As if that is a problem. Frankly, I can’t imagine anything easier than a hand out from Uncle Sam and yet more limiting. Do we want some bureaucrat telling us how best to spend the money and asking for a report once a month on what we did with it. This is the United States, we have more money to do more things than perhaps anybody else in the world. Here is the rub, you have to go out and find it. But that’s not such hard work. If it is the limiting factor in our current success and the proper development of our athletes than I assume raising the dollars is on the top of somebody’s “To Do List†everyday. If it isn’t, it should be.
Now we get to the point about how nobody cares except us. How can we get money without people taking an interest? Isn’t that always the situation? It’s our job to make them care. We need to state our case. The story is compelling, the athletic potential terrific. Put it together, structure it and go out and sell it. The two clubs of which I have been a member in each case have raised over $70,000 in two years to fund the purchase of a snow groomer and snow making system. If a small club can do that without a professional fundraiser and nothing but a good story, well, on the national scale it shouldn’t be any harder than that.
I’ll stay away from the criticism of individual training plans, race schedules etc. They are certainly important, even critical. But first is having the tools and confidence to win. Part of getting to that position is assembling all the pieces of a successful program. We’ll need to know where we are headed when we get the funding the team requires. In fact selling the xc team without a complete program would be difficult. The experts are around to help put it together. If we are talking about a development program, get the coaches that have developed athletes from square one to World Junior Champ’s together and have them outline the program. If we are discussing club development models, look to the clubs that have been successful. There are some very good ones that are supporting their communities and developing best in the nation talent. Incidentally, we need to leave the local gunners in their club. The local fast skier sets the stage, posts the performance standards and serve as a focus for the clubs development success. Leave the gunners in their hometowns, where they benefit from the coaching that made them successful, receive the support of their community and where they can serve as icons to developing skiers and set the performance standards to which others can aspire.
There is a USST meeting coming up in PC shortly. Look at the agenda, approve this, review that, discuss reporting, confirm, etc. These are bureaucratic issues that make little to no difference in the future development of athletes and the success of our current team. Where is the attention to Job 1, items like expansion of development team, expanded team budget, report from fund raising executive, execution of regional coaches-ed program, expanding participation in club programs, USST team member event participation program, etc.