All too often, we take our way of doing things for granted. It works well and we don’t second guess ourselves. And everything does go well, as long as everyone is satisfied. But when there’s a major event like the pandemic, it forces us to take a long hard look at how we do things. We have to reinvent ourselves.

Having said that, I’ll add that most of the adaptations we’ve made to work with this situation have complicated enormously what we do. Others, however, are very interesting. First off, we reformatted our training program so our youngsters and coaches didn’t have to be exposed to the virus at the Grand Manitou at lunch.

Before, our schedule was 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. We modified the scheduled to 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a 15-minute break to warm up or use the toilets. The kids brought a snack and a bottle of water that they could have out on the run or inside while they warmed up.

The new schedule removed one hour of training, but lengthening the session allowed the skiers to remain focused throughout their training. Two sessions a day had meant two activation periods. There was, as a result, time lost. The youngsters also have the benefit of an afternoon when they can free ski without supervision, or have more time to rest.

Private coaching

Compared to a ski school, which is not permitted to teach private lessons in a red zone, the ski clubs have received a go-ahead from the public health authorities. We have never done this before. It’s been a fantastic discovery for both coaches and athletes. We can organize a private training/coaching session an hour and a half long with a young person or a family cell (brother and sister).

The skiers get the benefit of having a coach who works with them according to their needs. Then they have tasks to do before the next session. Because we had to shorten the time spent indoors, we also had to stop doing the video analysis sessions during training.

The new technologies allowed us to film our kids and have them see their performances directly on the slope using tablets with a wifi connection to the cameras. Direct video feedback is much more effective. We then download the day’s videos onto our video analysis web platform. This way the kids can watch them at home after the training session.

Like everyone else, I can hardly wait for this time to be over so we can get on with our lives. But as is the case with many other ventures which have had to adapt to survive, Covid has pushed us all to question ourselves.

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