PLUS WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A COACH AND TRAINING PROGRAM:
August 23, 2025.
Ski racing is a sport for life! This is my long-time motto and the basis of my coaching philosophy. My overarching goal is to create a positive, supportive athletic environment, both on and off the ski slopes, that promotes a lifelong love and participation in skiing and ski racing. Everyone’s athletic goals are important, regardless of their age and experience. I care. I want you to learn, improve, reach your goals, and have fun. Whatever coach you work with should, too.
Let’s dig a little deeper to help you understand how to find a coach that has your goals as an adult athlete at heart:
Lisa Ballard’s Coaching Philosophy
I try to incorporate the following elements into the way I run my masters race camps and how I coach any other time I’m on the ski slopes, whether for a one-day clinic or a season-long program:
1. Developing the Whole Athlete
Certainly, improving each athlete’s technique, tactics, and the other physical aspects of ski racing are among my goals as a coach, but I also try to communicate the importance of the mental, social, and team aspects of ski racing. Think of ski racing as a three-legged stool, with the physical, mental, and social/team elements of our sport as the stool’s three legs, supporting the top of the stool (the ski racer). If the three legs of the stool are strong and balanced, the skier will have a solid basis for success and enjoyment.
2. Coaching Individuals
Each athlete is unique in terms of what they need to work on and how they learn. The training plan, drills, and feedback should be tailored as much as possible to each athlete’s personal needs and goals.
When giving feedback, I feel it’s important to not just tell an athlete what they need to do differently (what to work on), but also what they are doing right so they feel encouraged and don’t change it.
While I make a point to understand each athlete’s ski racing goals, I don’t focus on their results in my day-to-day coaching. I believe that results come as a person develops as an athlete (strengthens the legs of their stool). I’m just as likely to congratulate an athlete on a break-through in a training session as at a race. What’s a good race result? That’s specific to each athlete, too, and not necessarily getting on the podium.
I also try to help athletes recognize that getting better at ski racing takes time, and that your pace of improvement might be different than your friend’s. Another analogy I use compares developing as a ski racer to eating a multi-course gourmet dinner. If you savor each bite, you benefit from that moment. Then, when you look back over the entire “meal”, you’ll treasure the breadth of experiences and learning, and see how far you’ve come.
3. Keeping it fun!
If you’re having fun, you’ll be faster, and you’ll stick with it. When you enjoy what you’re doing, you’re looser and more fluid. I always begin my camps and clinics by telling people that if they are not having fun, please tell me, so I can fix it!
4. Paying Attention to Safety
Ski racing has inherent risk of injury. As a coach, I feel it’s my responsibility to do everything I can to make the training or racing venue as a safe as possible. When athletes know you’ve got their best interests at heart, especially their safety, they trust and respect you as a coach, and they are better able to learn and perform at their best.
5. Communicating Clearly
As I look back over my own ski racing career, the coaches that were the best communicators taught me the most. It’s an element of coaching that extends across all aspects of coach-athlete, coach-club, coach-supplier/sponsor, and coach-resort relationships. We are all on the same team. Good communications leads to good teamwork, which in turn, elevates everyone in a program and makes them feel valued and respected.
6. Nurturing the Team
Ski racing is an individual sport in that one person races alone on a course against the clock, however it happens within a team structure, whether in a season long program or at a camp. As a coach-athlete, it’s part of my job to create and nurture this sense of team. Members of a team support each other, raise the group’s performance, and make training and racing more fun.
As importantly, the friendships that I’ve gained over my shared ski racing experiences are among the most treasured and long-lasting in my life. Great coaches provide the framework to make that happen.
7. Giving Athlete Feedback
When giving feedback on the hill or during video analysis, I keep it focused on one, maybe two things to think about during any run. I look for whatever will have the biggest impact, which will hopefully correct other issues as well. If a coach gives too much info at once, the athlete might like the dissertation, but they can’t possibly incorporate it all into their next run.
8. Being a Good Ambassador
I strive to be that person who the ski racing community, my national governing body, my ski club, the athletes I coach, my family, my sponsors, and my fellow competitors respect and want to be on the slopes with. Ski racing has always been at the center of my life. I try to be a good role model and mentor. I wish to give back to my sport as much as I have received from it.
These are my core beliefs when it comes to being a great masters ski racing coach. Now let’s see if another coach or program matches up. If you answer, “yes,” to these 10 questions, you’ve found a great coach, place to train, and team. If you answer “no,” to any of them, you might consider a change:
1. Does your coach take you, masters competition in general, and other masters athletes seriously?
2. Is your coach an advocate for masters racing?
3. Are you learning and improving?
4. Does your coach work on all aspects of ski racing with you, on snow of course, but also the mental aspects of the sport, gear, ski tuning, dryland training, etc.?
5. Are you having fun?
6. Does your coach give you individual feedback?
7. Are your training courses varied and appropriate for your level of ski racing?
8. Is your coach a good communicator?
9. Is your coach well-respected?
10. Overall, is ski racing a positive experience for you?
Having a great coach is the first step toward becoming a great ski racer at any age. You’ll ski faster when you’ve got one.
Got questions or more to add?