Next Level Skiing S7 E7 | The perfect turn is the next turn with Willie Volckhausen
Next Level Skiing S7 E7 | The Perfect Turn is the Next Turn with Willie Volckhausen
Willie Volckhausen clicked into skis at the age of 2 and spent more than a decade racing with Sunlight’s local ski club. He went on to coach young skiers for 18 years with the Aspen Valley Ski Club, where he focused on developing not just fast racers, but well-rounded athletes with a lifelong love for the sport. These days, he’s a ski instructor with the Aspen Ski School and spends his summers working on his family’s farm near Paonia.
With decades of experience—both as an athlete and a coach—Willie has collected a deep well of techniques to help skiers sharpen their turns. Tune in as he shares his favorite drills, what makes someone the best coach in the world, how farming has shaped his skiing, and the secret to finding that perfect turn.
Topics
1:00 - 18 years skiing with the Bad News Bears of ski racing at Ski Sunlight
3:10 - Transitioning to alpine racing coach for U12s for the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club
6:20 - Balancing performance and victory with sustaining a passion for skiing
7:00 - The best year for winning at Aspen Valley Ski Club wasn’t about the podiums
10:10 - No pedestals for elite skiers
12:10 - What coaching and young racers taught him about skiing
16:00 - Skiing is the easy part” about being a ski instructor
17:00 - Standing on the outside ski
19:40 - The up and over drill
20:20 - The best coach in the world “should be totally deaf and totally mute.”
26:00 - How learning patience through farming helps with skiing
30:50 - How can you identify the perfect turn? Wait.
Quotes
“Ski racing is an individual sport that is dominated by teams.” - Willie Volckhausen
“It’s not all about that one person. Only one person’s gonna win and there’s ten of us. So what are the other nine kids supposed to do the day that so-and-so wins the race? That’s what we focused on a lot.” - Willie Volckhausen
“Coaches and mentors have that opportunity every day to not put their elite athletes on a pedestal. The kids who win know they’re good. They know they’re going to win again. They know they’re expected to win. I think that’s some of the worst pressure we could possibly put on junior athletes.” - Willie Volckhausen
“If you tuck and roll, get your feet back below you, and you stand up without ever stopping, technically that's not a crash; that’s a ground trick.” - Willie Volckhausen
Resources
For more listening, check out our full collection of "Next Level Skiing" podcasts here.
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Next Level Skiing Recorded by Jason Blevins.
