British Ski and Snowboard - Learning from the best… A day with Jon Nolting, Sport Education Director at USSA
In September, British Ski and Snowboard (BSS) brought over the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA)’s Sport Education Director, Jon Nolting, to share with BSS, the Home Nations, UK Sport and a group of the country’s top coaches, his approach to Skills-Based Learning (Skills Quest).
BSS, along with the support of Snowsport England, made this innovative move in order to try and learn from the world’s best, potentially shape future programmes, and adapt the approach to coaching and learning, specifically in Alpine. It was felt that to hear about skills-based learning and the USSA’s approach, and to be able to ask questions of one of the world’s leading coaching experts, was invaluable.
Jon Nolting’s background is in Alpine ski racing, but in his role as Sport Education Director at the USSA he is responsible for all snowsports disciplines. In his current role, Jon works in coaching and sports teaching, and also with clubs and parents.
The day was focussed around the USSA’s approach to the development of a skills-based programme, to talk about why they went the direction they went, the process they went through, and the investment in to long term performance.
The day was deemed a huge success by all attendees with many of them thankful for the opportunity to discuss new ideas and learn about the skills-based approach.
Marc Telling, Coaches Representative for BSS Alpine, Speed & Telemark Committee said of the day: “Today was awesome. It was great to hear ideas from another nation, especially one with a proven record of success. As USSA are a few years further along with this process than we are in Great Britain, the advice and guidance will prove invaluable for improving our own coaching processes and selection policies.
“I have taken away from the day the importance of credibility in the process. Having trained or accredited assessors makes the Skills Quest program from USSA hugely credible and professional. Making sure we 'weight' the importance of results & skills at different ages or stages will be key to providing the right focus at the right ages for both athletes and coaches. The idea is to complement race results with information on skill level and ability to complete challenges.
“To adopt the Skills Quest system effectively in GBR we would need a strategy - when will we use it, how will we use it, what is the overall aim with it. For me as a coach, it is about improving the athletes as best we can and I believe a system like this will help give coaches a structured process to follow and athletes another focus alongside racing that is measurable.”
Jon Nolting felt it was important to share his knowledge with other snowsports federations. He said of the link-up: “It is a great message to share because it’s universal, it doesn’t matter what type of slopes you’re skiing on, what type of club you are, what type of background you have. This approach is almost more important in a place like the UK, where you have to have variety and be creative with how you develop your skiers. I spent three years out in the Mid-West, overseeing the skills-based program on small hills, in a place where they were viewed as being handicapped with the environment they were in. I wish I had had this program and approach when I was working there, because that’s really the group that most benefit from this approach because it gives you something to do, in addition to the racing, and it will improve your performance when you’re outside that level”.
When asked what he thought about the approach from British Ski and Snowboard and the willingness to learn, Nolting commented that: “What I observed here today was fantastic. The questions were spot on, and they were questions that we considered in our process. This group was thinking on track with the questions that were asked, hopefully they got some good information and figured out how to apply it to their system. The program won’t be applied exactly like the USSA’s, as we have some unique aspects, but it can be adapted and applied to the British system, similar to us now adapting the Alpine program to apply to our other disciplines.
How does Nolting see the future of British snowsports: “I think if you develop skiers that have a solid platform, then when they are at the point where they really have to commit to the sport, they have a stronger skills base to call upon. Whereas if you don’t have that base there, too much time is spent at a point in the athlete’s career where if they are not seeing improvement in their results, the cost, the commitment, the time…they are going to judge it to not be worth it. If they have the base so that when they are exposed to that environment they continue to improve, it will be worth the cost, the commitment, the sacrifice, because they will be seeing the performance gains.”
Paddy Mortimer said “Skills Quest will undoubtedly enhance the great work that is currently being done and will create a solid foundation for our future skiers at the engagement, foundation and sub-FIS stages of development. If we take the experiences of the USSA and apply it to our culture we can create World and Olympic podium athletes.
Our skiers and ski organisations can run skills competitions alongside their gate competitions and maximise the skiers’ development time.
The Skills Quest philosophy can also be filmed and shared from anywhere and by anybody. It can then be assessed by any trained assessor. All in all I am very excited about the philosophy and its potential for Alpine Skiing. ”
Below gives more of a history and background on the USSA’s skill-based programme and discussion on the day with BSS:
Skills Quest
The USSA identified the need for a skills-based programme in 2010/2011 following the development of an Alpine Training System - a framework for long term athlete development through identified areas of focus. Working on a set up that was already in place in the Eastern Region, Jon and his team created the Skills Quest, building a skiing assessment which would provide a resource where fundamental skills can be taught, measured, and tracked over time, with a rewards system. The idea was focussed around developing exercises to develop a skills set.
The assessment design worked around five key elements:
- making the assessment age and ability appropriate,
- making it progressively more difficult,
- score skill and task execution rather than technique,
- strengths and weaknesses will be apparent,
- making it simple and streamlined.
Jon spoke about the development and roll out of Skills Quest in the US in to a Skills Quest Tournament where clubs could come together to be assessed and implement the skills they have learned in training.
Jon Nolting said: “It allows for a training component in clubs, evaluation and feedback for parents and racers, competition element at events and an online information and reward tracking system. Last season (2013/14), over 40 Skills Quest tournaments took place, with over 3000 competitors throughout the season.”
Jon also clarified that this was not just a skills development process for the racers, it allowed for education for coaches – creating a bridge between ski instructors and coaches and tapping in to expertise. It also operates as a talent ID opportunity with coaches who are accredited for the Skills Quest assessments.
He also identified the need for top level ambassadors in the sport to encourage participation at grassroots level explaining that in the US, the success of the program has been helped by the ambassadorial role of Mikaela Shiffrin who actively implements Skills Quest assessments in to her training program.
Neasa Russell from UK Sport who was attending the session also identified the success of skills testing within other sports in GBR such as GB Canoeing and GB Rowing. Neasa highlighted the advantages of being able to integrate both competition and skills, and outlined the success of the program within these other sports where they have been able to track the progress.
Within his summary, Jon outlined the steps for moving forward with the program they have already implemented in US. With regards to GBR and the steps that will be taken following the meeting for working on a program for British skiing, Jon noted that Skills Quest does not replace race results, it complements them – he identified it as a pathway, giving athletes the opportunity to make these adjustments ahead. “Helping kids to become great skiers first, so they have a chance to become great racers”.
For more information on BSS visit www.teambss.org.uk and for more information on USSA visit www.ussa.org
