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Steamboat Magazine

Banishing Burnout

03/01/2022 01:03PM ● By Suzi Mitchell

Xander Tatar-Brown executes a cork 1080 at Mount Hood, Oregon. Photo courtesy of Xander Tatar-Brown.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO – At the start gate on race day at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs, mogul skier Xander Tatar-Brown gets a two-fist bump and a “Hey, you got this,” from coach Ann Battelle. Tatar-Brown is not one for music or motivational talks – he’s in his own zone, and that’s the way he likes it. “Ann is great like that. She’s one of the best coaches, always the motivator and knows what you need,” he says.

On any given day, winter sports coaches are a multifaceted force. They play the role of cheerleader, analyst, disciplinarian, medic, mechanic and mentor. The old mentality of “no pain, no gain,” is no longer the mantra.

Tatar-Brown, a senior at Steamboat Mountain School, is one of many athletes under Battelle’s tutelage. A four-time Olympian, world champion and six-time national champion, Battelle is the interim freestyle director for the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. She and many coaches at SSWSC once performed at an elite level. They, more than most, know the dangers of not protecting their athletes.

The day before Battelle, who ranked number one in the world as a mogul skier, left for the 1998 Olympics in Japan, she cartwheeled in the air and essentially knocked herself out during a training run at a World Cup in Breckenridge. “I got on the lift for the second run (she won the first), and when I got off it, I didn’t know where the course was,” she says. “I had to follow someone else to find the course, did the second run, then went to Vail for a CT scan.” When Battelle got to Japan, she was too sore and scared to ski and had to face the media’s wrath. “It was not a good experience,” she says.

Ann Battelle, four-time Olympian and interim freestyle director for the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, fist bumps athlete Ella Walker after a bump run during training at Howelsen Hill. Andy Barnhart Photography.

 

Battelle’s philosophy on coaching is a holistic one. She invests time on understanding what makes each athlete tick so she can maximize motivation. “I talk to my athletes a lot,” she says. “Not just about skiing, but about life. ‘How was school? What did you do last night? I like your shirt.’ I want to know them as a person before I know them as an athlete.” Battelle encourages them to try other sports and be well rounded to avoid the pitfalls of burnout.

Until recently, mental health has largely been overlooked and dogged by stigma. No one questions when an athlete takes a break to recover from physical injury, but gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka can attest to what happens when mental health is at stake. Mikaela Shiffrin, America’s current number-one Alpine racer, said the loss of her father in 2020 was the greatest injury she’d ever had. Heidi Berend, therapist and mother of Steamboat-raised Olympian Ben Berend, said she often heard Ben express the need to share his day as an athlete on social media, when all he wanted to do after a hard training session was sleep and regroup. Sponsors and fans expect updates. “A lot of these pressures have always been there; it’s just that now, athletes are more open to sharing the pressures they feel,” says Dave Stewart, SSWSC athletic director.

Battelle says her own rise to fame in sport was a lucky one. She was a well-rounded athlete who benefitted from playing multiple sports and didn’t get into mogul skiing until after college.

“It’s not enough to be a champion in your sport,” Stewart says. “Athletes need to have a greater understanding of the broader role sports play in our lives, including tactical and social skills.”

Olympian Bobby Aldighieri, SSWSC’s former freestyle program director, was the first mogul skier in history to win a World Cup mogul event and a pro tour event. He went on to coach the Canadian National Ski Team through two Olympic Games. “I was more of a single-minded athlete, whose entire existence was my sport,” Aldighieri says. “I wasn’t interested in proms or homecoming necessarily. I was much more interested in training and maximizing my opportunities to meet my goals. For me, training was really fun and I found my peer group within my team.” As a former coach at various levels within his sport, he developed a greater perspective. “I see how important it is to find the right balance in your coaching methods based on the individual’s goals,” he says. “Some want stats and constant analysis, while others need more coaching on an emotional level. Are there still athletes out there that want a singular focus? Sure, but we’ve learned it is important to find a balance.”

Tatar-Brown hasn’t decided what he will do after he graduates high school, but he’s debating between college and opportunities in his sport. He will see where the cards fall, which in today’s world of athletes is the most balanced way to be.