PISTE RESPONSIBILITY

GAZ CALDWELL

With the recent reports of fatal skier collisions in the news a 5 year old girl and a 37 year old man it brings into focus our role as a coach in helping to prevent fatal injuries that could involve our students and how we keep the mountain safe for all.

I feel that the role of the coach should change the behaviour of an athlete so that positive skills become ingrained.

It was no fluke that Beckham scored v Greece in October 2001, he had practised hundreds of free kicks with Mike Phelan as coach.

Johnny Wilkinson's drop goal to win the Rugby World Cup was also no fluke. It was part of the 137 kilometres he kicked the ball in his career under the coaching of Dave Alred enough to put the ball into orbit.

Coaching often looks at the ‘micro’ level. On a ‘macro’ level, I believe that an often overlooked aspect of behaviour out of the closed environment constraints over Pitch, Piste, or Arena is the athlete’s responsibility to themselves, the team and others.

There is an increasing need for coaches to formally teach and develop the fundamental life skills of responsibility (and the associated accountability) this could possibly be due to the athletes not having an understanding of what responsibility means or looks like at a practical level. it is easier to understand what a ‘responsibility to themselves’ looks like in an individual sport, (skiing for example), but this doesn't negate the need for responsibility to the team and others.

So what does a wholly responsible athlete look like?

There are the athletes that recognise the power of their own actions and the choices that they make. the choice to put in extra training, put 100% into everything they do, to prepare their kit, not only in a closed environment with close coach monitoring (e.g. on a pitch, closed race Piste, ice rink) the athlete also shows intelligence in a more open environment (ie skiing conservatively on an open Piste) on how their decisions affect the team and others.

The athlete owns the actions and choices they make, and this ultimately sets them up for success.

the modern coach needs increasingly to guide the athletes choices, explain the repercussions of any poor

choice and install a sense of self-discipline to enable positive choices to be made.

Our athletes are a representative not only of themselves, but of the team and the coach, for the time they are a team member, not just when “wearing the jacket”

The most successful athletes choose to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right kit, and the right attitude. They don't need a babysitting service.

As coaches, we are in a privileged position to be able to teach “Responsibility and Accountability” to our athletes. the greater the athlete’s ability, the greater the responsibility and accountability.

We have a chance to make a difference, not only in the short term, but for life. Not only impacting our athletes, but those around them as well.

Gaz Caldwell is an instructor and coach with many years experience within the sport along with many years as a head teacher, working with a cross section of different children.