Interview: Rick Kapala, Head Coach SVSEF
Posted on December 6th, 2006
By: Eric Jensen, SWIX Tech Team
www.swixracing.us
Rick Kapala has been the Head Nordic Coach for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) for 20 years.?Ǭ† Rick has been the heart and soul of building what is one of the strongest junior programs in the US.?Ǭ† What is remarkable is his pool of talent is drawn from Idaho?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Wood River Valley with a population of 15,000 residents.
His youthful grin, humor, and intensity for developing the next Olympic hopeful remains as consistent as his crop of talent that shows up for spring dryland sessions to begin a new ski year.?Ǭ† As a coach he is brutally honest, motivating and under his direction many athletes have achieved greatness, and the 100?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s or possibly 1000?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s of kid?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s he has coached have received guidance to become successful in life beyond skiing.
Rick Kapala and SVSEF will be hosting the US Supertour events on December 6, 9, & 10th?Ǭ† at their infamously difficult Lake Creek Trail System.
Eric Jensen: Based on the fact that you will not shut up about the Detroit Tigers we all know you are originally from Michigan.?Ǭ† What lead you to Sun Valley, Idaho?
Rick Kapala:?Ǭ† The round-about path of the early days of coaching. I knew I wanted to live in the West, so once I left Michigan Tech I spent two years coaching Nordic and ALPINE at Pacific Lutheran University. Then I went to Anchorage for 3 years where I was the HC for West Anchorage HS and the likes of Nina Kemppel, D?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢Anna Dorris, and Chris Grover among others. At some point I heard that the SV Head Coach job was open, I applied and was lucky enough to get it. I never thought the gig would go so long or be so fun and rewarding, but it has.
EJ: How many kids are currently in the SVSEF Nordic Program and what variety of programs do you offer?
RK:?Ǭ† We have 4 different teams. Our base is built upon our elementary age program called our Devo Team. This year we have 95 kids in that program ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú grades 2 through 5
This is the most we have ever had by about 20 kids
The Prep Team is for Middle school kids, J3-4?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s and again, this is our biggest year ever with 35 kids, grades 6-8.
The Comp Team is our high school aged program. This year we have 28 skiers in that program plus three more that have opted for a Post-grad year of training before they go off to college. That size is about normal, in as much as every year we have somewhere around that number on the Comp Team. I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t think I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d want too many more as coaching kids year round requires a lot of communication and planning and that gets hard to do well if the top group gets too big.
Finally, we also have what we call our Olympic Development Team. We started this to provide a training and support structure for our kids who aspire to keep racing in an effort to achieve national and international success beyond the junior ranks. So many of our kids go to college to continue their skiing, which can be great. But we want to have a program where we support our own kids beyond what they can get from collegiate skiing. We run year round training, provide top level training camp opportunities, ensure the best sport science and medical support we can along with top quality tech services. We just have to have the structure their so that someone like Mike Sinnott, Morgan Arritola and now maybe Alexa Turzian or others can keep moving ahead. In addition to our home grown talent, we add to the mix by bringing a few targeted seniors who are also looking for a training base as well. These include Colin Rodgers, Zach Simons, Nicole DeYong, Kate Underwood and Kate Whitcomb.?Ǭ† These guys help by raising the standard and adding to dynamic of a great team environment. All told we have 5 full time year round seniors training and another 7 part time ODT?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ers who are also in college. We hope to have several skiers from this program become successful on the international stage- whether that means the Olympic Games or Worlds.
EJ: How many kids existed in the program when you took over?
RK:?Ǭ† 25
EJ: Living at the base of one of the best alpine resorts in the World, how do you continue to draw kids to cross country that might otherwise be interesting in snowboarding or the alpine race program? What advice can you give to others who struggle to promote our sport to youth as a ?¢‚Ǩ?ìCool thing to do?¢‚Ǩ??
RK:?Ǭ† Create your own team ethic. We train hard but we emphasize process. Results come from day in day out work and commitment and spirit. We don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t want to CONVINCE anyone to do anything. Our sport already is so bad-ass. It is not for everyone and that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s okay. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s so amazing to see kids get pulled into the ethic of busting your ass because they understand it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s about pushing physical and mental limits. So much of today?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s hip sports are just pop culture manufactured ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú image driven entertainment. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m a fan of sport, but I think that sport is supposed top have a way bigger role in society than entertainment.?Ǭ† I mean, I used to be a high school wrestler and let me tell you, now there is a sport that is definitely way brutal and way not cool. But, the folks in that sport bleed wrestling because it is true to itself.?Ǭ† Now, before someone looses it on me, I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll say I know it is way hard to throw those huge tricks in the pipes and that sport takes dedication and tons of skill and commitment. But our XC kids are no more interested in doing that then the jibbers are in XC skiing. And again, that is fine. We try to make training fun and adventurous by climbing peaks, doing mega backpack trips, doing crazy workouts like ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSave the Baby King?¢‚Ǩ? and Paul Bunyan Olympics.?Ǭ† You can get a great workout carrying a truck tire on your shoulder for five mile run ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú try it. The deal is that we need as many different sports as possible out there so as many kids as possible can hopefully find that one thing they can connect to, if it is XC skiing then great. But the deal is still every kid connects somewhere with some positive program
EJ: You have always run a development program for elite skiers in addition to the junior and youth programs.?Ǭ† In the past few years this has evolved into the Olympic Development Team Program.?Ǭ† What has motivated this commitment?
RK:?Ǭ†?Ǭ† I think we have had a few of our best kids in years past not have the opportunity or structure provided to keep going in the sport beyond college and I wanted to fix that. It was a natural extension of the program once we got the junior team rolling. The best skiers don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really hit their stride until their mid-twenties so we want to do all we can to give our Wood River homegrowns the best chance possible to get to the top.
EJ: To give our readers a taste of the talent that have made stops in Sun Valley, who are some of these former and current athletes?
RK:?Ǭ† I know I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll miss some and maybe some folks won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t recognize the names, but Junior National Champs have included Abi Holt, Morgan Hogue, Mike Lloyd, Pat Casey, Catherine Glaccum, Jess and Kaelin Kiesel, Jedd?Ǭ† Young,?Ǭ† Heidi Poehling, Mike Sinnott, Lars Flora,?Ǭ† Ntala and Ian Skinner, Luke Pletcher, Morgan Arritola, Alexa Turzian and other really good skiers like Adam Heaney, Chris Hall, Ashley McQueen,?Ǭ† Hilary Patzer and I know there are some others,?¢‚Ǩ¬¶. sorry. And before my tenure the valley had skiers like Nat?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢l Champ Greg Stone, 3 time Nat?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢l Champ Kevin Swigert and Nat?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢l Junior Champ Kim Czimazia ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú so I think it might have something to do with the water or some such thing.
EJ: To cut the chase, what day or event (so far) in your long coaching career was the pinnacle? When you realized all of this commitment was worth it.
RK: Watching Morgan Arritola get onto the senior national podium twice last season as a junior in just her 4th year of skiing. She has come so far and is such a great person and competitor.?Ǭ† It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s been really fun to watch her grow from that day when she first put on skis to now.
EJ: Without spilling your guts or stepping on toes, what are a few things the US cross country skiing community needs to do to create consistently competitive World Cup athletes??Ǭ† And are we on the right road?
RK:?Ǭ†?Ǭ† We have enough athletes, we just need more consistent training and development of technical and physical capacities through the critical ages of 17 through 22 maybe 23.
We can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really expect to compete if we are not, at the very least, training as effectively and as diligently as our competition overseas.?Ǭ† To provide a specific example, and I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll keep it short, two years ago I was US Team leader to World Jr Champs. We had great kids with a lot of talent. But, they all arrived at Worlds with incredibly diverse and inconsistent approaches to preparing for the pinnacle of Junior Competition. One skier actually arrived at Worlds having pulled TWO consecutive all-nighters to get college work done before the next day traveling around the World to then race at WORLDS in five days. This skier was toast and did not start skiing well until races 2 weeks after Worlds.?Ǭ† Meanwhile, the Norgies arrived at Worlds having just completed 4 days of rest after a unified ten day training camp with the whole team. And this was after their identified National Junior Squad with 15ish kids had already met for 6 training camps through the year starting back in May.?Ǭ† Their best guy ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Northrug trained 70 hours the January?Ǭ† before March Worlds ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Our guys were up to their necks in classes and my bet is no one was able to muster more than 30-40 hours in the winter months leading up to the races.?Ǭ† The point is not that we need to do it like Norway ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú but it would be more effective if we actually identified talent in a big enough pool to be sure to get best talent and then actually develop and follow through with a plan that focused on preparing EVERYONE with a chance to medal.
EJ: Do you feel we should advance our club systems to develop elite skiers rather than relying on the US SKI TEAM?
RK:?Ǭ† The US Team cannot do the whole job. Coaches have to be responsible for self ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äúeducation and we must be committed to helping our best kids arrive at the Team already with a lot of their physical work accomplished. The US Team can have a lot of pull and with the right coaches and right emphasis on team ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú (see Michel Rudigoz ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú US Women?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Alpine Team of the 80?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s) we can have a great squad. But we gotta have way more depth pushing from the regional level. That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s where clubs like Stratton, APU, Maine Winter Sports, CXC, SVSEF all need to step up
EJ: I see the SVSEF logo on the sidebar of the SWIXracing website.?Ǭ† What is SVSEF affiliation with SWIX?
RK:?Ǭ† We are an Official Swix Club and Team. We love the Swix products and our relationship with SWIX goes way back to the early days of XC glide waxing in the US led by Rob Kiesel.?Ǭ† There are lots of great waxes out there and I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m not going to discount any efforts by other companies to make great XC products, but SWIX is an all around fabulous company and the SWIX name is virtually synonymous with the sport of XC skiing.
EJ: Why SWIX when a program of SVSEF?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s magnitude can afford any wax, pole or clothing brand?
RK: One stop shopping is always easiest, especially when all the products are great
EJ: You are hosting the Supertour events at SVSEF?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Lake Creek Trails on Dec.6, 9 & 10th. What advice can you give the elite skiers who have never experienced these very challenging race courses?
RK:?Ǭ† All the big classic climbs face north, look out for the sharp hoar frost crystals on the snow early on skate days, if the sun is out and it is 20F by 9am, be prepared for a big change in the late morning, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t under wax for kick if the South Bench climb is in the course and oh yeah ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú ski even splits ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú or at least try to. Save something for the last two big climbs ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú it will be very interesting to watch the first ever 30km at Lake Creek. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d say, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t skip a feed.
EJ: As a member of the SWIX Tech Team providing race service for the Supertour events at Lake Creek, give me some insight into what glide waxes and structure I should test this in this unusually dry climate of the Wood River Valley.
RK:?Ǭ† Cold Grinds ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú ZR1,?Ǭ† If we haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t had snow in awhile maybe something with a little more depth.?Ǭ† Greatest Intermountain Glide Wax EVER ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Swix LF6, unless it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s super cold, then CH 4. Rub-ons, such as FC1S, can be helpful if we are getting lots of mid morning warming, but know that HF?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s are better by testing, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t just assume. We also sometime get windblown snow at Lake Creek which can be super sandpapery.
EJ: Do you still honor a special SVSEF junior?Ǭ† with the annual NORDO AWARD? Please elaborate?¢‚Ǩ¬¶
RK:?Ǭ† The award is actually the NARDO named after Doug Bernard who graduated from the team in 1990. Doug had more than his fair share of wrecks, miscues and misadventures hence the naming of the award in his honor. The criteria include:
1) Hurt yourself in an incredibly stupid fashion (See Pat Casey ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú ask him where the stick actually penetrated).?Ǭ†
2) Commit some act which greatly inconveniences the team (ask Grover how many times he locked the keys in the van in one day and where the keys actually ended up being.
3) Do so many air headed things in the course of the season that you just can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be denied.?Ǭ† To be forthright about it ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú I have won the award three times and am the only three time winner although Abi Holt has won it twice herself.
EJ:?Ǭ† Rick, I appreciate your time and good luck this season.
RK: Thanks ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú back at ya
