Featured Picture: Marie- Ève Boulianne and Leslie Firstbrook in El Colorado, Chile.
When the Canadian ladies’s alpine improvement staff opened its first coaching camp in Chile, the athletes weren’t the one ones starting a brand new chapter. This season marks the primary time this system might be led by an all-female teaching staff, with Marie-Ève Boulianne returning as head coach and Leslie Firstbrook stepping in as assistant coach. Technician Katja Kač rounds out the all-female employees.
Complementary Strengths
Boulianne led the staff final season on her personal, and she or he knew that including Leslie would elevate this system. “Leslie was my first selection,” Boulianne says. Firstbrook, entering into the assistant function, describes their connection as seamless: “Mutual respect is what makes this relationship sturdy. We every carry totally different abilities, and collectively we fill the gaps.”
Boulianne thrives on dialogue and big-picture considering, whereas Firstbrook brings construction, regular steering, and a deal with supporting the athletes’ long-term development.
Collectively, they cowl all of the bases, from on-snow technique to gymnasium classes, making a cohesive setting that permits the athletes to carry out and develop with out the friction that usually comes with high-level applications.
Constructing Extra Than Skiers
The duo is obvious: Success isn’t simply measured in podiums. Their imaginative and prescient extends to life abilities, resilience, and confidence.
“We’re the event staff, however what are we really growing?” Boulianne asks. “It’s about greater than outcomes. These athletes ought to go away with the power to take possession of their careers and navigate challenges.”
Firstbrook echoes this deal with tradition: “The athletes need to form the values themselves. Purchase-in has to return from the staff, not simply from us.” Their method encourages athletes to replicate on their very own video, take initiative in coaching, and push one another in each snowboarding and private development.
Uncommon Voices, Shared Objective
Girls in teaching roles stay uncommon, and each Boulianne and Firstbrook have felt the refined challenges of high-performance applications.
On the highest ranges, the place most coaches are males, feminine coaches typically have separate lodging, typically their very own room or they share with a physio, which might go away them out of casual conversations that occur when co-coaches share a room. These on a regular basis dynamics, together with last-minute program adjustments, could make even skilled leaders really feel out of the loop. Boulianne and Firstbrook have used these experiences to foster a extra inclusive, communicative setting for his or her staff.
“It’s by no means been a easy highway,” Boulianne admits. “There’s been discouragement, however that makes us stronger.” Firstbrook provides, “Marie-Ève sees me as an individual—not as a feminine coach, not as somebody filling a field—however due to what I carry to the desk.”
Collectively, their partnership fashions respect, collaboration, and shared function, not only for athletes however for the broader ski group.
Teaching Superpowers and Workforce Identification
Each coach brings her personal “superpower.” For Boulianne, it’s her unwavering ardour and dedication to the athletes and this system. Firstbrook’s energy lies in her curiosity and relentless drive to study, always discovering artistic methods to help the staff’s development.
If somebody watched the staff this season, Boulianne says, they’d see athletes who’re “good folks, who encourage others, and take possession of their improvement.” Firstbrook provides, “A staff that works onerous, laughs collectively, and enjoys what they’re doing. That’s the Canadian ladies’s improvement staff.”
What Success Seems to be Like
Neither coach defines success strictly by podiums. As a substitute, they discuss character.
“On the finish of the season, if these ladies stroll away with stronger self-confidence, in the event that they know how one can talk and push their limits, that’s success,” says Boulianne.
Firstbrook agrees: “We’re growing folks, and ski racing is the software. Profitable issues, however the larger aim is creating resilient, well-rounded athletes who can thrive in no matter comes subsequent.” She emphasizes the final word job of a coach is to equip athletes to maneuver ahead towards their objectives. True improvement means giving them the abilities and confidence to progress, not holding them again.
A Season of Risk
With an expanded camp schedule this fall, the teaching duo is offering athletes with extra stability and continuity than ever earlier than. Every athlete comes from a distinct background, and the coaches embrace that variety as a chance to innovate, adapt and develop.
“These are actually cool folks,” Boulianne says. “All of them carry one thing distinctive.”
“They’ve come from totally different paths,” provides Firstbrook. “That exhibits there’s no single strategy to develop expertise. The extra open-minded we’re, the stronger our staff might be.”
Collectively, Boulianne and Firstbrook are shaping greater than ski racers. They’re constructing assured, succesful younger ladies and proving that considerate, collaborative management can remodel a high-performance program from the within out.
