A contensious one as a whole heap of connotations have been added to each of the expressions above. Core Programmes often requiring a minimum commitment or a set programmed number of weeks, meanwhile ‘Full Time’ being an all encompassing type programme.

Before we get into the nitty, gritty of this, I should caveat this blog post by saying that A) It contains the thoughts and opinions of one coach and B) At Ambition we actually offer 4 different programme subscriptions currently from ‘Sleep Out’ & ‘Flexible’ right through to ‘Full Time’ and whilst we don’t cater for everyone (we are not interested in the team becoming an ad hoch free for all) there is generally something within that range that will suit almost anyone.

Core Programmes; each club or ‘Academy will have their own version of this but ours is a fixed programme, of 12 weeks, that Ambition have put together and tried to base around the main races / championships as well as taking into consideration half term breaks, Christmas breaks and Easter. We see this type of programme as being the minimum that an athlete taking ski racing seriously, from U12 onward, would need to do. The aim of these programmes are to take into account key training periods, to give athletes on them a chance of peaking at the right time around race events. It is not lost on us that young athletes LOVE to compete – they get to challenge themselves, compare themselves against their friends / peers and often, this is where the real buzz / passion for ski racing shines through. We absolutely do our best to ensure we give these guys a chance to experience all of that in a positive way.

Full Time Programmes meanwhile, will again differ from club to club but within Ambition, this is more of a “right, I want to dedicate more time to this and see how far I can go” type programme. Our current full time offering at the time of writing is 21-22 weeks long, starting in Octobber and finishing toward the end of April. Athletes involved in this type of programme usually then add Spring / Summer (and even indoor) training to this also, so at times end up skiing for around 25-30 weeks annually.

Now, all of this sounds like a lot but lets break this down & give the absolute most favourable conditions to each ‘week’ and see how the numbers come out. I imagine a few people reading this will be shocked at the numbers & also, might subsequently manage their expectations accordingly;

Core Programme = 

• 12x weeks or 84 days.
• Minumum of 1x travel or rest day / week = 72 days remaining.
• On average 1x illness / injury / bad weather day / week = 60 days remaining.
• So at this point of 60 days, we are talking about 5x ‘good days’ to use each week.

As mentioned we all also LOVE to compete (no bad thing, its what the sport is about). So if we consider days invested in the British Champs (3), English Champs (3), Xmas races (4-5), GB Internationals + a few local events / Nations Cup / Atomic kids trophy or similar. That’s another 12 days gone easily.

• At this point, once we subtract our race days it is looking like = 48 days remaining.
• On average we try to do 1x day / week of focused free skiing / drills = 36 days remaining.
• We would probably (during the winter) spend another 2-3 powder days = 33 days remaining

Within those 33 days, we have 3x disciplines to manage training for (for most athletes). Usuaslly most teams will sacrifice a little SG or do a smaller percentage of training days but we definitely want to do some before we race. 

• So lets assume 5x days of SG = 28 days remaining.
• And with those 28 days, we split across Slalom and GS training = 14x days / sessions of each.

When you think about that across a year (28 training days), you are training Slalom or GS roughly once every 2x weeks on average through your Core Programme volume only. For ‘Full Time’ you can roughly double the numbers (not an exact science but something like that). 

In summary, even with a Core Programme, there is limited time on snow. What can we / should we take from this? Well, firstly that every moment on snow is important but also, that if you are doing a Core Programme or anything less, then you also definitely need to supplement that training in other creative ways also as the snow time alone (on a prolonged basis) will unlikely be enough.

All sorts of questions then come out of these conversations; What about movement literacy? What about other sports? What about UK training sessions? What about burn out? What about early specialization? What about just doing 1 discipline? All valid and surely gives us something else to talk about in the next blog 😉

Thanks for reading, 

Marc.

Moving on from the previous blog post, there are probably a million directions that could be taken / discussed. My personal opinion is that young (British) athletes are very likely a million miles away from overtraining and that as skiing is a complex skill performed in an open environment, it is the volume (frequency of practice) that truly makes a difference – in essence you have to get seriously good across an ever changing list of parameter / considerations. There is nothing wrong with the sport of swimming & to be good at is is a skill in itself however, ski racing & the variables involved are a long way from laps in a pool where by and large, the environment remains consistent.

Are the youngsters that are currently the fastest now, truly the best talents in the world? Or have they simply practiced more, for longer? Have they always been ‘good’ or have they simply gained confidence & self belief from being at the front of the pack from a young age? Without a parallel universe it would seem hard to conclude with any certainty however, there would certainly seem to be a correlation between those investing more time into ski racing (volume / practice) and the perceived outcomes of success.

The question is, why do you need so much practice in ski racing & how does that differ from other sports?

Firslty, the fact that ski racing is performed in an open environment, with so many variables (weather, terrain, snow type, course setting, temperature) compared to swimming for example is what makes it so interesting to compete at &  / or coach. No two days are ever the same (even if they feel like it at times) and no two athletes ever respond in the exact same way. That is the most important thing and is essentially why so many people are drawn to it or, in a coaching sense, addicted to it!

In order to “get good” you therefore need a decent amount of practice and exposure to all that this open environment sport has to throw at you. You need to ski on ice, soft snow, new snow, artificial snow, slush & salted snow. You need to ski on steeps, flats, side hills, rollers, jumps. You need to ski in the day, night, bright, dark, and flat light conditions & of course you need to ski when its warm, cold, snowing, raining and more. Then there the course setting; tight, straight, open, swingy, combinations, shimmy’s and more & last but not least, you need to learn all of the above on Slalom skis, GS skis and possibly SG & DH skis too.

Due to the above, at Ambition, we tend not to spend a great deal of time investing in sessions that take time away from us being on the skis. We are of the opinion that snow time is like gold dust and that we have more than enough to be getting on with (with the variety provided for us) to truly challenge the athletes through everyday training, to develop the skills necessary to improve and succeed.

More to follow, thanks for reading!

Marc.