An Open Letter from the Performance Director - BSS Alpine

Dear All,

There has been a lot of recent correspondence focusing upon the Alpine performance strategy of British Ski and Snowboard (BSS) and the individuals engaged in defining and supporting the programmes. 

British athletes have historically achieved major international podium results at U16 level but little is then achieved at senior level.  If athletes, parents and academies are satisfied with success only at U16 level then this letter is not for you.  If however you are interested in Junior, Senior Olympic and World Cup success then please read on.  If you are still reading then you probably recognise that fundamental change in the way that we do things is necessary.

Let me first clear up the very public accusations and defamatory comments flying around about BSS staff. These are unfounded and are based upon incomplete facts.  On a positive note, a great deal of Alpine people have told me that they are disgusted with the nature of these attacks. This letter will go a long way to explaining how I, as BSS Performance Director, came to recruit and build phase one, of our Alpine development.  If after reading this note certain individuals still feel that personal attacks are the positive way forward then direct your frustration and anger at me. 

Some of the issues that have been raised recently deserve attention for the good of developing senior podium skiers.  As an external and after checking my personal read of the 17+ pages of comment I have come to the following conclusions and actions.

Within my roles as Performance Director for BSS I have to challenge and create performance strategies that will advance us to a different level.  We are not Austria or North America but we are British and that counts for a great deal. 

So in attempt to explain the evidence based process and steps I have taken I will address;

• Finance

I am told that the Alpine Discipline received over £0.5m per annum for three of the four years running up to the Vancouver Olympics mainly in grants from UK Sport, TASS and the Home Nations with some major sponsorship.  I also understand that the Alpine Discipline spent around £0.75m per annum during this period.  UK Sport made very clear in 2010 that they would NOT fund any Snowsport athletes unless they could see strong evidence that those athletes had a good chance of achieving podium success in either 2014 or 2018.  BSS has managed to raise some sponsorship directly for Alpine but funding to the Discipline has necessarily been slashed compared with previous years.  We aspire to provide programmes and funds for the best British Athletes but the reality is that without funds we are not able to do so, and without Senior International success generating funds is incredibly difficult.

• Children's Head Coach Recruitment.

The role was advertised on a number of websites.  Over ten people applied and the people responsible for selecting the appropriate candidate eventually selected Sean as the best candidate.  During 2012 I asked the Alpine Committee and Sean if he could also take on the role of Performance Manager assisting me in the Alpine discipline.  A model used successfully in other sports. 

• Performance Managers recruitment and agreement.

This is a part-time role as Sean was already working within BSS and represented an ideal solution.

One of the bones of contention has been the fact that some BSS staff work part time outside of their roles within BSS. BSS, with its current forecast on future funds, is only able to award short-term contracts in the Alpine Discipline.  These are designed to provide the least amount of overhead and restriction. Due to the unstable nature and history of the National Governing Body (NGB) it was very difficult to recruit anyone to the roles I was looking for, which has not changed as we can see from the candour of the e-mails being posted. To aid security in a historically unstable environment, then part-time staff are allowed to continue other lines of work in case of failure.  When we can provide greater security then I will be able to secure full-time posts. Each of these initiatives has been sanctioned by the Alpine Discipline committee and has been sourced from research evidence and a working party of Alpine coaches, CEO, Alpine volunteers and paid Home Nations staff.

• Child protection

Our BSS code demands very high standards of care and thus we have very stringent Child Protection procedures (www.teambss.org.uk/governance/child-welfare/).  As part of that process we send out a 'Welcome Pack' (an example is available) to assist the introduction of aspects of the programme explaining the structure. This is not a guarantee of good behaviour, but a set of working rules and procedures to ensure all bases are covered.

• Selection to the U16 and U14 squads

This is a joint effort involving a number of specialists inside our sport and outwith - So let's make it clear that the Children's Team policies, including race allocations, are not created by the Performance Manager or Children's Team Head Coach.  One of the many initiatives Sean has encouraged is that our U14's will be part of a BSS training programme. They will be tracked by BSS but will be advised to work with their Home Nations and their chosen club or Home Nations programme.  The BCST will now become an U16 and U18 programme.  The structure of the U18 process is yet to be finalised and when it is we will broadcast that to all the Alpine population. We aim to create, help, prepare and develop international FIS performance.

It was very clear that by just selecting upon race performance we were ignoring other important factors that have been evidenced as important for senior world class athletes.  Therefore, the strategy for U16 selection now takes into consideration the mental, physical and the movement vocabulary required to become a world-class senior athlete.

• Allocations for International Races

These allocations are carried out by a selection panel. Minutes are made for each meeting and decisions that are made are tracked. The selection panel are a representative group of coaches, chaired by Paul Trayner. Conversations have been reported to me that have revealed the perception of 'pre-selection' to races.  This has been levelled at BSS coaches and I will ask our staff to be more careful in the personal communication and hill conversations in future.  The selection committee is the only group who can award races and selection to any athlete.

The point about the post-Christmas races not being considered for selection to either Race or U16 squad selection is valid and deserves attention.  I will deal with U16 Selection first. 

To satisfy the athletic requirements for senior podiums (technical, tactical, mental, physical, nutritional and lifestyle) we have developed a more thorough selection process. In May, selection will be made by a two part process 1) British Championships finish, and 2) physical multi skill assessment ( www.teambss.org.uk/media/94155/bss%20alpine%20u18%20u16%20u14%20additional%20selection%20info.pdf ).  Selecting purely upon race finishes alone is an incomplete picture.  To achieve greater conversion from international level U16 skier to world class senior podium we need to evaluate and assess the skiers 5 Rings of Improvement (see The Rationale for the Alpine Evolution).  Each will provide evidence to make more informed decisions for athletes to be selected to GB Squads.  I would hope you'd agree this is a more thorough and evidence based process than before. 

U16 Athlete Reports (BSS Alpine Essential Skills)

 

 

 

Winter race allocation has been based upon those athletes who have been selected in May and their current form in the summer training camps, and Christmas races. It does not allow for late U16 developers or those that have worked hard to improve upon their previous skill.  There is a need to change this selection anomaly.  We need a second entry point to the U16 squad. I will ask the Chairman of Selectors to action the work immediately.

• BSS Ski Camp and UK based Athletic Capacity Camps.

Finally with reference to the BCST camp being compulsory, this is not true. Only 15 days were compulsory over the whole 7-month off season period. I notice that other private organisations do this. As a member of a national team I think the time comes when you have to choose between your hockey team, dance classes or being a ski racer. The research is also clear that at some point you have to focus.

It is evident that the some private academies do not wish their athletes to train with the national team. We are encouraging the parents of athletes to choose what training system suits their needs and goals. If you want early success then go somewhere where you get as many gates in as possible and forget developing athletic capacity. If your goal is World Class and Olympic Podium you need to be an all-round athlete, which demands a varied diet of athletic activity on and off snow.  Thus selection will look at factors developed off snow. Some might come with the National Team program and some might not.

There were questions raised about the Children's Team summer programme. BSS has investigated this. The training was adequately supervised (4 coaches for 19 athletes). There were tough conditions, but the team did not miss any training days. The injury rate was low and the Laax Capacity Camp was supervised and all of the athletes received a safety course. There seems to be praise and support for these camps one minute (see below) and criticism the next.

The U16 U14 Open Camp was open to all. Sean was keen to encourage later selections in to the team, and fought hard to select 3 deserving athletes from this camp. At the time the management decided that they could not accept these recommendations for selection as they had two appeals on-going.

Further discussion has focussed upon the costs of training camps. Camps are built with a low coach to athlete ratio, and costs are built to cater for all the camps including Landgraaf and Laax. The amount charged was a management decision.

We have received support and compliments from the Academy practitioners in the very recent past, including, Mr Erskine. While support may vary from time to time depending on which way the wind is blowing, I hope that we can work together to always offer athletes high quality and most importantly varied training. The camps have remained the same content and process. Identifying what has stimulated this turnaround is the key.

• The Rationale for the Alpine Evolution

We have to be different and evolutionary in our approach or we will continue to make no impression at Senior Podium level.  Research evidence and practical evidence supports the fact that the fastest U16 racers are not necessarily the best senior racers.

The key factors from our discussion within the group and outside have led me and others to believe that British Alpine needs to think outside the box.  Take the best practices and evidenced based systems around the world from Snowsports and non-snowsport and update and modernize if it is going to be competitive with the rest of the world. Simply, we need a British philosophy and model for a British athlete, which gives them the best chance to succeed in the long term.

Where we are now: …… same as most sports.

•       Young athletes under-train, over-compete

•       We have Adult competition superimposed on young adults

•       Training in early years focuses on outcomes (winning) rather than processes (optimal training)

•       We have limited athletic movement vocabulary

•       Chronological age dominates training rather than biological age

•       The critical or sensitive periods of accelerated adaptation to training are not utilized

•       The under development between 6-16 years can't be fully overcome

•       The best coaches are encouraged to work at the Elite level

•       Limited coaching education provided to those working at the youngest age groups

•       Parent's education is neglected with regards to TiD knowledge

•       Lack of integration of sport science, sport medicine and sport specific tech/tact activities

This is not a paper to antagonise people. It is a set of explanations and recommendations to achieve evolutionary change.  However, I have no doubt that it will challenge some people's ideas and views. Thus this document is about information and evidence to support the learning and reasons why these recommendations are being made.  It's all about education, in some cases it's about self-education; focusing on how to make things work, not the problems. The point here is not about carrying out races for the sake of racing, but what's best for the racers long term development.  As many know the current system does not work. The BOA and UK Sport has been telling us this for years so why would we continue to operate as before. The answers to these proposals should not be a straight 'no' it should be yes or what's the alternative.

Over the past 11 months a GB Alpine representative group has met 4 times and had numerous sub meetings to chew over the current research and the programmes of nations with sole purpose to evolve our Talent Identification (TiD) process.  Specialist/expert TiD knowledge was brought to the group by Professor Dave Collins who has collated, trailed and created research. 

This group has taken on-board evidence from research, other successful International Sports and fellow International Alpine Countries to produce a series of recommendations and steps to evolve our current status. 

In order to create a coherent language and dialogue for continued evolution of our TiD programmes I would like all Snowsport participants to familiarise themselves with the 5 Rings model (Collins, 2003).

 

Over the next few months each of the 5 Ring of Improvement (5RI) will be discussed and described on the BSS and Home Nations web sites.  But for starters I would like us to start to look at our Alpine, Indoor and Dry slope Race Structures.  Please be cognisant of the fact that many race organisers have booked events and race calendars have been or are being produced and thus we may miss the window of opportunity to make changes and evolutionary progress immediately.  So please park your anxiety when it comes to the implementation timelines.

What I can confirm is that BSS will be changing its selection policy for U16 programmes to include the new events, the BSS U16 programme will continue with 'Race Schools' events and the British Championships will include the new formats of races.  It is up to the HN, BARSC and privateer race organisers to decide if they are able or indeed willing to adopt the modifications.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't seems to the best phase to sum up the processes of change. The playing field that we were upon has disappeared and we are facing a new dawn.  It is without doubt a mountain of huge proportion to climb, but not insurmountable.

There are early signs of development and change that is going in the right direction. Some of the new initiatives in Alpine at Children (mentioned above), Junior and Senior levels are setting the foundations. We are currently focusing on adding valuable services to our athletes in strength and conditioning and physiotherapy. We have a base with full time staff and facilities in the Alps with the Dutch Ski Team. We have in the Athlete Tracker a programme to monitor and track our athlete's development, and to set a clear pathway to Olympic medals. Most of all our athletes are achieving personal bests across the board from Children to World Cup.

The key principles for the children which we must address are;

• All mountain skiing and play in snow can be replaced by trampoline, gymnastics and judo.
• We can get the movement skills that Alpine children get through trampoline and judo in the UK.

At present, whatever we do will be viewed as either we're not listening or we're climbing down.  The fact is we're evolving.  Please make up your own mind. We're building a new path.  You can either take the path, which will make you an U16 Champion or the one that will make you the best in the world.

Thank you for reading and thank you to those that have been extremely supportive.  In addition I will be running two Alpine forums in Meribel.  The first will be on the or around the 31^st  March, (senior and juniors pathways), and the second will be on or around the 2^nd April,  (U16 Pathways), in Meribel.  These dates will be firmed up and moved to fit when the majority of folks are around.

Warm regards

Paddy Mortimer

BSS Performance Director