** Editors note: This week’s interview will be the last interview of the “Coaches Around the Country†column for this season. Hopefully, these interviews have provided Fasterskier.com readers a closer look at our nation’s coaches and what their jobs entail. Many coaches were nominated for interviews, with only about half actually interviewed due to limited time and resources. If you would/would not like to see this column next winter, feel free to post in the comments section at the end of the interview. Thanks!
J.D. Downing, 40 (how’d that happen!?), is Head Coach and Team Director of XC Oregon, a non-profit, elite development xc program based out of Bend, Oregon. An accomplished racer is his day, he now shares his love of nordic skiing with athletes of all levels. J.D. also organizes and coaches several masters camps, race trips, and programs associated with XC Oregon and the American Cross Country Skiers (AXCS).
 was at a peak competitively so the club system gave me a vehicle to get plenty of ski challenges while also allowing my body/mind some time to grow. By the end of that run I had figured some things out about myself and I decided I was ready to really get after skiing.</p><p>As an aside, there's little question I view the drop in support for college club racing as a big loss for our sport. Easily two dozen skiers besides myself were adding to the senior elite scene in the early 90’s all out of college club programs . In the Far West where I raced, Univ. of Nevada now has a legit NCAA team, but the entire NorCal league has vanished. That's a net loss of 50-60 college skiers annually and a half dozen schools! The real bummer is that I don't have any great solutions (other than a whole lot of money) for how to bring back more college club programs. Maybe it just takes college-age skiers being willing to figure it out even if they are at a school without an official team?</p><p>It's also worth noting that before graduation my approach to the whole post-collegiate scene was exactly like what I request of high-end XC Oregon skiers nowadays. I actually sat down in the spring of my senior year of college and scripted a six year plan for skiing after college. I didn't put any fixed requirements that I'd have to make Olympic or World Championship teams, but I knew I was going to do everything I possibly could do to race as fast as I humanly could go every one of those years. In the end I didn't make any of the big teams, but I went further than I think almost anyone ever thought possible. </p><p>Looking back at my physiological make-up during the years on the elite scene, I'd for sure say in retrospect I was a prototype overachiever. Undersized, not a huge motor, etc….but I worked really hard, I'm persistent to a fault, and I had incredible supporters around me so it worked out. I basically had to will myself to produce results which often put me on the ragged edge with health. Ultimately I was often frustrated because I always felt I could and should do even better. Sometimes an athlete needs to realize that a magnificent day should be celebrated for what it is …and not dismissed for what it isn't.</p><p>My last post-collegiate year was a bit of a train wreck as my lower back literally just gave out as I entered the late fall. I got to the 1994 Olympic Trials and had absolutely nothing left in the tank. Knowing the gig was up, I put the skis away and focused on completing my job with Auburn Ski Club with junior development. I am very, very proud of playing a small role in setting the stage for what Far West has done at all levels since the mid-90’s. No other division can claim as much progress the past fifteen years. It's cool thinking I was there when process started. For the rest of my life I will always remember and respect the people that surrounded me down there. </p><p>The big upside of my skiing career ending when it did was that I met my wife on a trip up here to Bend and given she had a good job and I was soon to be an unemployed ex-XC ski racer…well, moving up to Bend sounded like a really good idea at the time. It turned out to be another GREAT decision!</p><p>I kind of floated around for a few years doing a few coaching/instructing gigs and getting xcskiworld.com off the ground. Then in Fall '97 the big three started with XC Oregon, American Cross Country Skiers, and the American Ski Marathon Series joining the website. From there it has just been a big blur for the past 10 years.</p><p><B>You seem to be always scheming about ways to make the sport better for everyone. What’s cookin’ these days?</B></p><p>I did a few pieces this summer/fall in various other XC media about where I think the sport is going and/or should go. The big things are very simple to talk about…but INCREDIBLY hard to make happen.</p><p>Internationally, I am truly worried about what is going to happen with the sport over the next 5-10 years. Just like in the States, pockets of the international scene are doing great. Those pockets are sustaining events, keeping skiers on snow, selling product, etc. But we all need to face the fact that we simply do not have the market base to keep supporting the extraordinary efforts that places are increasingly having to go to put on XC events. It'll work for a few years, but if weather/snow becomes a constant battle…we need to be prepared.</p></div><div class=)
I was in Pragelato, Italy for the first week of the 2006 Games and I was flat out shocked at not only the lack of crowds for the XC races, but the utter lack of energy compared to Salt Lake 2002. Some of it was probably the venue and the relative cost/hassle. But I have to believe part of the story (something I'm not hearing anyone else talk about) is that our sport doesn't have the numbers to ride out trouble spots.
For example, look at road cycling. It’s been flat-out beaten up by doping and yet every year the numbers of people out riding are hanging in there, the numbers for TV worldwide are hanging in there…the sport is still doing fine. Road running? Light's out. I ran the Portland Marathon this past fall and there were 9,000 entrants in a race with zero top names. We could only wish a relatively under-the-radar XC ski marathon could draw 9,000!
Idea-wise I know I'm sort of a lone wolf, but I still fundamentally believe the old school national team structure is crippling the sport's chances to grow as an international marketing spectacle. That shouldn't be taken — at all — as a negative in terms of the US program. I have high regard for what's going on and the people involved. I'm talking about the bigger picture and that the whole international scene is still built around an archaic structure of national programs versus true pro-teams.
The simple fact is that XC skiing is the only “major” endurance sport that isn't based around pro-teams . Running, mountain bike, road bike, triathlon, even adventure racing…all pro. XC skiing is also — by far — the most restrictive of these sports in terms of rules, venues, courses, etc. Heck, we even still have logo restrictions on uniforms internationally! Why?
Companies want to own teams. Promoters and venues don't always fit the FIS manual. Programs and communities want to get full recognition if they put the cash out there to develop athletes. Athletes want opportunities to ski in exciting and interesting events, not just where they are told to go. It's a global marketplace now and spectators want to cheer for athletes regardless of citizenship. There's a whole lot of good things that would happen if our sport went pro overnight.
Another biggie is that FIS still isn't addressing the reality that companies and communities are increasingly getting disillusioned with the World Cup business-as-usual approach to events.
Look at the Tour de Ski. Real interesting idea — but the execution ended up being just a bunch of normal World Cup events crowded into a tighter timeframe. 750 kilometers of travel between venues? Gimme a break. You want something that will captivate Joe Public? Then it needs to be set up more like Ironman Hawaii or Primal Quest adventure racing where there's a lot more continuity between the legs. The cycling tours work as a spectacle because they have that continuity.
I love the move towards urban sprints. But what I'd really like to see is the word “sprint” to actually mean sprint. As in we introduce a track-style formula of a few distances (say 100m, 500m, 1000m) and for the most part we just let organizers do whatever sounds interesting in terms of courses, obstacles, etc. I'd also like to see a lot more 10-30km criteriums both internationally and domestically. Basically anything to create an event that is easy and fun to watch…realistic to set-up….and as close to population centers as possible.
I hate to admit this, but snowboarding has proven to be a brilliant example of where an open market and creative spirit can produce a wickedly cool spectacle. We need to encourage that kind of innovation in XC or else we have no chance to be a viable player in coming years.
Perfect examples….I wrote up a thing last summer about how the sprints/sprint relays for 2010 should be/could be held in downtown Vancouver rather than up at the Callaghan Olympic venue. Years earlier I wrote a piece on how Vancouver totally blew a golden opportunity not having based the XC venue up at Hollyburn Ridge (15 mins or so from downtown). I have full faith in the talents of 2010 course designer John Aalberg mind you. I'm positive the 2010 XC venue will royally kick. But I'm also positive that once the Olympics leave town it'll be the same old story of having a major event venue totally removed from a huge population base. Every time this happens, our sport takes a shot to the gut.
We need a World Championships EVERY non-Olympic year (someone try and explain to me why this isn't happening). We need to cut bait on World Cup venues that aren't generating huge crowds. We need to cluster the World Cups into tighter blocks to make the travel costs more realistic. We need a global marketing agreement guaranteeing same-day web or satellite TV coverage of every single major XC event worldwide. We need a viable and coordinated world-wide “B series” that doesn't have an age-bias.
Domestically? Well one biggie is getting a national effort on track to lend voices of support for man-made facilities and ski programs in our biggest XC region urban areas. I don't live in the Twin Cities and yet I've written a good half dozen letters or articles this year alone to support man-made XC trails in the metro area. Why? Because I'm part of the nationwide ski community and I know first-hand how important it is that we keep those thousands of skiers in the Cities in touch with snow. We need similar efforts in a couple dozen other bigger markets close to snow.
We need our sport to get proactive about going to where people are located. I love skiing anywhere there's snow and interesting trails, but if we are going to break out of our tiny box (that is getting smaller, not larger), the big cities are the key. The Madison sprints, City of Lakes Loppet, and Tour of Anchorage are great examples of the kind of thinking that can make a difference.
Another big item for me is figuring out ways to be more efficient with our domestic elite calendar. Todd Eastman is an XC name many folks know and he was racing when I was on the circuit. Eastman had a great idea 15 years ago to take the whole national points calendar and boil it down to 3-4 periods of 10-15 days each. You pack as many races as possible into a tight timeframe and then you give the athletes 3-5 weeks in between each block to go home, train, work, rest, etc. You can use multiple venues, as long as all of them are within no more than a couple hours drive. The shorter the distances and timelines, the better. Now that I have become the “grizzled veteran” of the elite development coaching ranks, I can safely say I think Eastman's idea is even more important today than it was in the 80’s or 90’s.
The killer thing is that it wouldn't take a whole lot to adapt the current SuperTour and split US Nationals calendars to the “Eastman plan”. We might have to have some compromise on the part of some venues (alternate years for example), but it could be done.
Fuel prices, weather/snow uncertainties, economic realities …I see all these issues and more pushing a critical need for our community to get smart and get creative really fast. The same things are going to create massive changes on the recreational and industry side as well.
The 4 top male skiers on the XC Oregon elite team this year are all ranked in the top 20 of the country. You must be psyched.
I am indeed very excited and proud to have the athletes we have in the program now, but I can honestly say that about literally every year since 1998. Athletes will tell you my approach to coaching doesn't play favorites. I've been genuinely just as excited about races where we didn't have a single development athlete in the Nationals top ten as days where we've had athletes win National Championships or make Olympic teams.
Our total roster is around two dozen people even though we'd be lucky to get half that number in “A” tier races this season. The skiers you aren't seeing on SuperTour or Nationals ‘page one’ results are highly valued nonetheless, both the program and myself as a coach.
The point of elite development to me is seeing athletes develop to match individual definitions of personal excellence and fulfillment. It's not MY definition of excellence that matters. Not the definition set down by other institutions or people. It's a definition created by each one of our skiers for themselves. As a coach and program director, I set up steps within our program to fit a huge range of interests and abilities…then we go out and let people find the niche that fits.
I would love to continue attracting skiers capable of all sorts of great national and international results. It's undeniably fun to work with athletes that can rock n' roll. We also have an established track record of doing things in such a way that we keep even hyper-talented athletes happy, healthy, grounded, and improving. But for me, it's also undeniably fun (and necessary) to have athletes involved with what we are doing that aren't going to be the next World Cup champion.
Bottomline is that I believe in depth. At XC Oregon we do whatever possible to cultivate depth and — in turn — that depth eventually pushes and benefits the skiers in the top 20 (or higher) to ski better. Ultimately those skiers either crack the glass ceiling or they push the top tier to ski better. THAT is exactly what this program was designed to do.
You also run the non-profit AXCS (American XC Skier). Can you tell us a little bit about it?
If XC Oregon has been a labor of love, AXCS has been a labor of philosophy.
AXCS emerged in 1998 (same year as XC Oregon) as a new national association that would focus on masters, by masters, and for masters.
My gig has been to provide independent contract services for a volunteer board made up of skiers coast-to-coast. Over the years we've been able to maintain a membership in the range of 800-1,000 skiers and we've gained an international reputation as one of the best XC masters associations on the planet. (way cool!)
The thing that I've developed over the years producing nine straight National Masters plus being part of a similar number of World Masters events is a strong appreciation for the value of lifelong racing. There is a beauty to the masters scene that I'm pretty sure many of the masters themselves don't realize. Personally I find it incredible to watch the human body evolve over the decades using our sport as a medium for that evolution.
I also like the message an organization like AXCS sends to younger ages (even if they may not be aware of the message!). The game isn't over when you don't make World Juniors or if you choose Florida State over Fairbanks or if you decide a “real job” is a better fit than chasing the elite circuit. You can realize ski dreams at any age. That's the beauty of our sport.
Can you tell us a little bit about your racing days?
Mostly talked about this earlier in interview, so I'd like to just add one more thing.
Many young adult skiers decide to bag an “elite” career because they view climbing the FIS World Cup/Olympic ladder as a hopeless pursuit. I'm all for accepting reality, but it's a huge mistake for an athlete in their 20’s to think that worldwide racing is limited to either the FIS circuit or “just doing local citizen races”.
Every year there are hundreds of quality events across North America, Europe, Asia, and South Pacific that are well worth experiencing. You also can also be really creative in how to structure a “career” with post-junior/collegiate racing so you don't have to give up racing if you decide to opt for grad school or a “real job”. You'll have to be creative with schedules and workouts, but it can be done…and at a very high level for a long period of time!
For example, within XC Oregon we've had a dozen or so athletes over the years that have done Worldloppets, ASM Series, big citizen events worldwide, and many of them simultaneously got jobs, degrees, maintained relationships, etc., etc. in a way that simply would not have fit the demands of FIS World Cup/Olympic racing. We've seen some impressive results to boot as well. Just because you may not be cut out for the Olympics, doesn't mean you should bag it early.
How do you do it all?
You know, the hard part isn't usually doing all the ski projects themselves. There is a lot of synergy to what I'm doing so one project often is related to another.
The hard part for me is balancing work demands (or what I'd like to see happen with XC Oregon, AXCS, etc.) with my commitments as a father and husband. Sounds corny, but that is the honest truth. I put a firm limit on time away from the family so that means I don't travel with XC Oregon very much and I willingly give up office time so that I can be with my family as much as possible.
There's not a lot of money in anything I'm doing so I can't usually hire help the way I'd like so I've had to learn to accept the natural limitations on what can be done with any project with the resources available. That said, ten years doing all this has shown that you can have success even with limitations. We've done pretty well with what we have. I'm hoping to keep it rolling!
THANKS J.D. !
