Steve "Des" Desovich is a former US Freestyle Team athlete with 18 World Cup podium results and 9 World Cup victories to his name. After coaching with the Canadian Mogul Team , Des began coaching with the Australian Team in 1999 going on to take Australia's first World Championship medal in mogul skiing with Maria Despas in 2001 held at Blackcomb Whistler. Dale Begg-Smith's Olympic Gold Medal in Turino 2006, places Des in an elite crowd of ski coaches to have ever captured Olympic Gold and we wish him and the Team all the best in Vancouver.

This December, from the Australian Mogul Team training camp in Ruka, Finland, Des kindly takes a few minutes out with Mountainwatch to share his views.

SD: The sport continues to evolve on many different levels. The skiing continues to progress and generally speaking it is faster and technically cleaner. The field sizes in terms of depth has grown stronger as there are now very good skiers in the top 30, so it seems like the sport has grown more competitive with other nations becoming strong who have not been traditional powers in the past. Furthermore, all teams now have a highly involved infrastructure of staff each responsible for their own areas of expertise such as the sport psych, sport conditioning coach, physiotherapists, sports science, aerial coaching and so forth. A greater contribution of expertise is resourced and therefore the level of skiing has lifted, as the skier is able to capitalise on all these specialized experts. Acrobatically speaking all the jumps are executed at a much higher level now as skiers have had the chance to hone their existing tricks. Also, a lot of teams are able to work with an aerial special advisor or full time coach on the water ramps and on snow which can be very useful for anything new in particular say a 'back full' which has a lot to it.

SD: The cypress course is a very nice even pitch and quite long at 250 meters. The bottom jump has had the characteristic of a large drop off going into the bottom air so this requires a very strong approach. The pitch is not severe or flat. You can carry quite a bit of speed but naturally you have to be in a strong position to maintain the quality of your turns. The biggest challenge though will be more snow conditions and visibility as cypress can be quite foggy and wet, snow can be tricky and you have to be able to cope with moderate to flat light, fog, start delays, rain and goggle visibility issues.

SD: Dale's knee has come along quite well to this point. he has been incredibly diligent with his rehab, overall sport conditioning and it has paid dividends. I would guess he will start at the December 12 World Cup opener in Finland. Dale seems to be growing stronger by the week and is skiing quite strong in pieces of the run. As the season goes on I would imagine that he will get stronger each week.

Ramone Cooper, Steve Desovich, Dale Begg-Smith

SD: First off our mogul program is funded by the Australian Institute of Sport and Australian Olympic Committee . Due to this we are able to provide a world class program with all the best recourses available. The Olympic winter Institute manages our program directly and has a proven record of excellence at the international level of competition.
Ramone and Sam continue to make nice progress through the off-season in all aspects. Ramone has finally achieved a level of 'reasonable health' and has very good fitness in general. Over the past two seasons he has had a plethora of middle to minor injuries, which have hampered his competition starts. He is trying to stay healthy now and has become more aware of his body and the key indicators, which may trigger injuries. Ramone is a very good skier and we are hoping he can continue to hone his skills and transfer them into positive personal best performances over time. Sam has adapted quite well to full integration into a high performance program and has made very nice gains in all areas. Both guys have the benefit of working closely with S & C expert John Marsden from the New South Wales Institute of Sport and Ski and Snowboard Australia (NSWIS/SSA) and Rich Bennet sports psychologist for NSWIS/SSA as well. Our NSWIS/SSA program led by Peter "Toppa" Topalovich has been outstanding in developing our youth and these guys have done an outstanding job. (Incidentally we have a strong nucleus of 4-5/ 14-17 year olds right now who are quite advanced for their age who we anticipate to be successful at the next level in future years as we go towards the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

SD: In terms of jumps, the DD has actually decreased since 06 or remained largely the same. Skiers have realised that an increase in DD is mostly a subtraction from a risk point of view. However, there are a few guys capable of really big tricks and they may actually raise the level here and be successful.

SD: Japan looks ready to emerge as a power on the men's side with three guys who are very capable. (Yugo Tsukita, Ossamu Ueno, Nobuyuki Nishi). Naturally the Canadians are also there with Alexandre Bilodeau, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau and Marquis Vincent. Patrick Deneen for the USA along with Tapio Luusua from Finland, Guilbaut Colas from France are also very strong.

SD: Alpine skiing and acrobatic endeavors such as trampoline are vital now as a strong skiing base and acrobatic comfort level are required for high end mogul skiing. The younger the better I guess, as long as it is something the kids want to do and it is a safe progression.

tags: desovich, freestyle, moguls, world, cup, olympic, vancouver, hall, cooper, begg-smith, cypress, feature, features, photo, photos

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