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A Short Ski Biography
A good one sentence summary is that I'm an ex-basketball player who fell in love with cross country skiing. Actually, I hadn't played "buckets" in years but had graduated to other inside sports, like volleyball and racquetball. But, did I hate the winter!
Then one cold and fateful day in 1978 (it was only about 5 ºF), I went skiing with some friends from work. Several hours later I was drenched with sweat, bone tired but exhilarated, and hooked for life. Within a week the whole family had ski packages.
When we entered some races my son and daughter immediately did very well. Racing was in its infancy in SE Wisconsin, so I realized that if my kids got coaching, it'd have to be me... and I'd have to get up to speed. A summer camp in Bend Oregon, run by Peter Davis, was the start we needed.
Soon I realized that there were about a dozen highly motivated youngsters in our area, which had expanded to include the lower half of Wisconsin and northern Illinois. It didn't seem right to let them flounder, so our informal "Banana Belt Team" was formed. And along the way we picked up quite a few masters racers.
Amazingly, from that first group, nearly every single junior won a national championship, or was named All-American, in some category. Terry Daley, had the earliest success when he became USSA National Collegiate Skier of the Year. Peter Gallenz became an Olympian in biathlon. Scott Oberbreckling won the first four Birkie Elite Sprints. And over the years, the masters skiers did as well as the youngsters, many of them becoming World and National age group champions.
Our second generation of juniors was headed by Luke Bodensteiner. At the same time, I was John Bauer's technique coach for a couple of years. Luke was national champion so many times through his junior and adult days that I never could keep track. John won numerous national championships. Both went on to the Olympic Team, John having a great Olympics at Salt Lake, finishing the first leg of the relay right with the leaders. Interestingly, Luke had become the Director of the US Nordic Ski Team.
Over the years, many of the skiers I've coached have gone on to obtain college athletic scholarships. If you follow the major sports, you know how rare that is. I guess you'd call it "old school," but to me education still ranks above sports. But luckily, as these student-skiers can verify, the two can go together quite nicely.
But what about the writing? It sort of "just evolved." Somewhere along the way, I published my first technique article in The Ski Coaches Journal. That led to my book: Ski Faster, Easier (which was part of the US Ski Team's Sports Medicine Series). One thing led to another and soon I was writing many articles and producing instructional videos. This website is the latest project.
I've always felt the written word, and even illustrated articles, were inadequate when describing technique. So hopefully these video clips, and other added illustrations, will complete the understanding of what I'm trying to say in the original articles.
Lee Borowski
1989 USSA Nordic Coach of the Year.
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