N.Z. skiers need to ‘believe,’ says coach

Press, 28 November 1979, Page 40

N.Z. skiers need to ‘believe,’ says coach

By

TIM DUNBAR

Persuading New Zealand ski racers to believe in themselves is the first objective of Mr Andreas Hefti, named last week as coach of the national team for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. “They need a lot of psychological help, I think,” said the noted Swiss-born coach and administrator, in Christchurch this week. Mr Hefti, who was the Swiss national Olympic coach from 1962 to 1968, came to New Zealand in 1964 with the Swiss team and returned last year as mountain manager of the new Turoa slci-field on Mount Ruapehu. He says that there is no overwhelming reason for Nev.’ Zealanders to be disheartened about living on the other side of the

world and trying to foot it with the European skiers. “Being far away is a problem. But we are a skiing country and have more mountains than a lot of countries in Europe. “I can’t see why we can’t have a lot of skiers like elsewhere and do well,” said Mr Hefti. He disagrees with the contention that New Zealand skiers will never be a threat to the top Euro-

peans. “Already there are people who can do far better than they are,” he says. The 49-year-old Swiss compares New Zealand’s situation now with that of Liechtenstein and Sweden 10 years ago. “When I was first a coach Sweden was what New Zealand is now. Now they have the best man

(Ingemar Stenmark) in the world,” he said. His firm view is that when a country has a star in a particular sport, such as John Walker in athletics, “the others jump on faster just because they believe.” Mr Hefti says that New Zealanders are generally a

sports type of people. “They’re solid, they’re strong.” And there are further grounds for optimism, he says, with the increasing opportunities New Zealanders have today as more ski-fields emerge. “In Ohakune where I live, 17km from the top of the mountain, there are

school children ski-lng 40 days a season — like the European man does.” New Zealanders might feel disadvantaged in that they are not born to snow in the way the European is. However, Mr Hefti points to the example of the Swiss, Peter Leuscher. "He was a city boy; today

he’s the World Cup winner.” As far as the Olympic team is concerned Mr Hefti hopes that the racers will be getting down a course two or three seconds faster than normally — “already they would improve in one winter.” In the long term, four

years, he would like to see one New Zealand skier among the first 15 in the starting gate — “a very high objective” — and another couple in the second group or “series.” Mr Hefti admitted: “It’s not easy just to jump in and make miracles in a short time.” So he’s keen to guide New Zealand ski teams until at least the 1984 Olympics so that he can "work properly,” giving the full benefits of his experience. As New Zealand coach, Mr Hefti would want things done his way. “I give a line, it’s my line. You have to be a boss, otherwise you can’t run something.” With no Killy or Stenmark obvious on the horizon New Zealand just does

the best with what it has, Mr Hefti says. “What we can do better is my problem from now on.” Mr Hefti’s background is impressive. As Switzerland’s national men’s coach he started with a young team — some only 14-year-olds — “from nothing” and six years later saw the men pick up a giant slalom silver and a downhill bronze at the Grenoble Olympics. And at Sapporo in 1972 Eddie Bruggmann, one of his former charges, won the giant slalom silver. After finishing coaching in 1968, Mr Hefti’s job was finding young ski-ing talent in the French part of Switzerland and from 1973 to 1974 he was a T.D. (technical delegate) for the International Ski Federation.