Alpine Skiing

John McBride is called Johno in the White Circus that is the World Cup circuit of alpine skiing.

He could just as easily be called The Cat for the number of lives he seems to have. McBride keeps leaving the ski hill and coming back in a new coaching incarnation.

McBride, 44, of Snowmass, Colo., vows he has to spend more time with his young family, but this winter he's been lured back to his fourth life as a coach, as an assistant with Canada's alpine men's team in speed events. His job is to help the likes of Erik Guay, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, John Kucera, Robbie Dixon and Jan Hudec become Olympic medalists at Whistler. He has joined up with the team this weekend at Lake Louise, Alta.

In previous stints, the American McBride has spent 10 years with the U.S. national team and another two as the guru to maverick Bode Miller. McBride helped Miller, an Olympic double medalist at Salt Lake City in 2002, win his second overall World Cup crown in 2008. McBride was also with the U.S. coaching crew when Daron Rahlves won a dozen World Cup races.

From the Canadian team's point of view, McBride is a hired gun, a coach on a contract of about four months whose presence could make the difference between Canadian skiers being competitive at their home Olympics or grabbing a historic downhill gold on opening day. No Canadian has won gold at an Olympics in Canada.

McBride wants to make use of whatever high-tech advantages the Own the Podium program can provide, such as the Global Positioning System to help skiers find the optimal line down the mountain. But he's also old-school, putting a lot of stock in what a skier thinks, his confidence and his belief in the championship ability of the team around him.

"There's place for science, absolutely," McBride said. "You've got to do your homework on that. ...

"Some athletes respond well to hard-asses. In my time with the U.S. national ski team, the best years I ever had were when I had guys embrace the concept of the team. If somebody dropped the ball, somebody else picked it up. Guys were pushing each other. There was a lot of pride in the team and in the team environment. And when you get to that point, it perpetuates itself."

As an outside observer, he noticed that the Canadian men have a strong base of camaraderie, as teammates and with team staff. Making sure friendliness grows into team solidarity is vital. North American skiers may complain that they spend too much time cooped up in hotels on the road, but enforced togetherness can also be a team-building experience.

"Is that here right now, I don't quite know. ... If it can get to that point, it's a real advantage, because most European teams don't operate that way. They're not about one guy trying to help the other guy, thinking that it's going to pay off down the road for him. It's more about ... they let people have their space and they deal with guys as individuals. It's an individual sport and when they get time off they go home. It's just a different deal. But I think that's actually an advantage for North Americans: if they embrace the concept of team, they can use it to their advantage."

Miller and Rahlves, for instance, were two very different individuals, but as teammates, they helped and fed off each other, McBride said.

"Those guys pushed each other like crazy and were super supportive of each other. They'd stand down at the finish line [connected by radio back to the starter's shed] and say, ‘Hey, this is where you can win the race, and this is where I screwed up, and this is how you're going to win this race.' That was great to see. They helped each other all the time."

McBride had left the World Cup circuit three times before, each time saying he was doing it to spend more time with his wife Sunni and kids Jasper, 1, Ruby, 5 and Lucy, 4. The McBrides have a farm near Vail, Colo. McBride spent the past year working with Challenge Aspen, a Colorado-based ski team for individuals with cognitive or physical challenges. He didn't intend to come back to full-time coaching, but Canadian men's coach Paul Kristofic found the right compromise to fit McBride's life.

"The truth is, I love coaching," McBride said. "Toward the end of my career with the U.S. team, I never lost the passion about coaching, it was just trying to figure out how to be a good dad and be there for my kids. I started making distinctions about how much time I was going to be on the road.

"Then PK [Kristofic] offered me the job with this team. It was going to be a 31/2- month job and it fit into the program better than the standard eight or nine months away from home. ... And I still get to do what I love to do and tell skiers how to reach their potentials."

McBride will be working under men's head coach Kristofic, and men's head speed coach Lionel Finance. The Canadians, he said, have a good staff and youth on their side to become a power in the sport and hold that position.

"There's a lot more years for all these guys," McBride said. "If they stay fit and stay motivated, that's encouraging and I think they work well together with the staff.

"I always noticed, even when I was working with the U.S. guys, they enjoy and have a good time with each other. I think they're pretty proud to be who they are, being on the Canadian national team, and that's important.

"In terms of what I can bring to the table, I'd have to say my strengths, in the past, have been the ability to read people psychologically and help that end of the game a little bit. Obviously all coaches work with technique and tactics, the mechanics of helping people to go fast, but I think the mental end of it is a big part of it as well and maybe there's a role I can play there."