2019 AST Coach Journal: Jonas Haehlen
Hello all!
This is my first season as a coach with the Alberta Ski Team and what a ride it’s been so far. I was an athlete with the team for four years between 2010 and 2014 before I transitioned into coaching. Over the past four years, I coached at the FIS, U16 and U14 levels while getting my undergrad in Physical Literacy at Mount Royal University. I knew once I had completed my degree I wanted to coach in the high-performance stream so when an opportunity with the Alberta Team came up it was the perfect fit. I have been with the team since September and am enjoying working with the awesome staff and athletes here.
Most recently, November saw the boys at Alberta Alpine trying to grow upper lip sweaters in support of the Movember Foundation. It was fairly successful for some; others….well it’s a good thing we’re here to ski. The team has been on the road for the last little while and is currently in Panorama. With the early season Sun Peaks and Norquay races in the bag, it was time to switch gears to NorAms. Everyone has been putting in work in the gym over the summer months and has had some focused time on snow in the fall which resulted in some podium results for both Claire and Tora at Sun Peaks and Norquay respectively. With these recent results, there is definitely an excitement surrounding the start of the NorAm season. Andrew, Angus, Claire and Ashleigh made their way to Lake Louise following the World Cups for a week of speed NorAms while Caeden and Tora spent the week hitting the books in anticipation of our current two-week push in Panorama. Racing this time of year can be a challenge as it is quite a full schedule. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the athletes will have raced 17 times in 21 days!
The group as a whole has been skiing well and confidence is high coming into these races. Ashleigh, unfortunately, had a crash our first day here in Panorama and is currently at home recovering. She is doing well and should be back with the team soon. We are sending you healing vibes Ash! Seeing a teammate go down is always tough but the team rallied during the first two days of SG which saw some results for the crew as a whole and a NorAm junior podium for Claire. We are looking forward to keeping this momentum rolling into the next five days of tech races. Following the NorAms this week the team will have a day off before the Panorama Christmas FIS Series. Following the FIS Series, the team will have some time off at home to recharge before we head out east for the next series of tech NorAms.
If you’d like to keep up to date on the team and current happenings check us out on Instagram @albertaskiteam.
Thank you for reading and I hope to see you out on the slopes!
Cheers, Jonas