Hunt on for ‘right’ ski-ing coach

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 34

Hunt on for ‘right’ ski-ing coach

Wanted: the “right” New Zealander to coach the national ski-ing team for the F.I.S. series at Mount Hutt, Turoa, and Coronet Peak this winter.

Mr Andreas Hefti, the Swiss who coached the national team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, sees his job as the New Zealand Ski Association’s alpine director as purely an administrative one.

He said in Christchurch yesterday that he wanted coaches from New Zealand to take over the national team, and carry out “exactly my programme” under his over-all control.

“It could be an older skier who has raced before or a good ski instructor,” said the Ohakune-based Swiss.

Mr Hefti said that he had “people in my mind” — and the One name he did mention was John Armstrong, the former. Mount Hutt ski school director now based in California as a race coach at Mammoth Mountain. Armstrong, aged 30, spent two seasons as assistant-coach af the national squad under the controversial American, Ron Sargent, in , the . mid--19705. .

Leading New Zealand ski racers who complained last

season, about, the .lack of any training programme to follow should have no such worries this winter.

! Mr Hefti . is. getting the message to ski-racers almost before the snow comes, with two four-day fitness training courses arranged at both Ohakune (17km from his Turoa field) >• and Methven. ■

The Ohakune courses are from May 9 to 12 and May 23 to 26, and the Methven courses from May 16 to 19 and'May 30 to; June‘2. “I ’want to bring everybody interested in competition together,” said Mr Hefti.

He hopes that up to 100 skiers — from novice racers aged over 12 up to New Zealand team members — will attend the North Island course, and 80 at the South Island venue.

Training guidelines — with some “homework” given out -— will be established for both coaches and racers to follow over the coming winter. Mr Hefti said that the courses would include seminars, soccer, a lot of hill training, and perhaps a fourhour walk — walking boats and wet weather clothing are required equipment. Those pre-season courses

will be followed by longer 10-day ones for ski and fitness training at Mount Hutt (June 13 to 22) and Turoa (June 27 to July 6), with a select invited group attending a final course at Mount Hutt, from July 11 to 20, which will be the lead-up to the F.I.S. series starting on July 28. That last course is designated for “training groups 1 and 2” and “training group 3” (ages 12 to 14). “I like to start right from the bottom with youngsters,” Mr Hefti said.