Scott Elliot wrote:
I believe you are looking at the wrong end of the problem.

All your suggestions deal with the existing elite racers and how to improve
their performance. These are short term solutions since eventually these
athletes will retire and you haven't developed a system to replace them.

In my opinion, the key to long term success is to start with programs that
recruit lots of very young children, get them involved in the pure enjoyment
of the sport and perfect their technique. From that point there should be a
progression of development from fun, to fun racing, to fun training, to
serious racing, to serious training and so on until you have successful
elite racers and a stream of replacements following them. At all stages
skiers must have competent coaching with coaches who have received adequate
training for the level of skiers they are working with. Skiers should be
encouraged to participate to their level of ability and commitment. If they
don't progress to the elite level they should be encouraged to stay in the
system as recreational skiers or racers and ideally to help with coaching
and pass on the skills that they have learned.

It takes a community to produce elite competitors. Very few of them spring
fully developed out of nowhere.

Scott


I agree. Last Wednsday I went to a local club race. There are at least
5 other ski clubs in the area, with a population of about 50,000. There
were at least 25 kids there. The other clubs are the same. With a
little creative extrapolation, that means that here in Norway on
Wednesdays which are popular for club races there are 10,000 kids doing
a ski race. How many kids participated in an XC race in the US last
week?

Even if my estimate is off by an order of magnitude, it still shows the
huge number of kids to tap into. That's the secret. Once you get the
raw material, the rest is almost easy!

Joseph