Commando training session bonds Norway’s Alpine ski team
A morning Arctic dip perhaps isn't the way you'd choose to start the day but nine months before the start of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, which start 4 February, this is exactly what the Norwegian ski team did in order to improve team cohesion. But what did it entail and did it work?
Alpine Skiing
“We fought, cried, fought some more. Then they put each of us alone to deal with mother nature. I’m left with an even deeper understanding of how mental and physical duress is best carried as a team.”
So said Alpine skier Kjetil Jansrud on an Instagram post in May detailing his response to an extreme three-day military-style training session in which he and his teammates were guided in mental and physical challenges by the Norwegian Coastal Ranger Commando unit.
The idea behind the exercise, which took place in Harstad, Northern Norway, was to strengthen the team’s bond ahead of the World Cup season and the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Improving team spirit, learning debrief and feedback techniques, developing mental toughness and getting used to dealing with uncertainty were some of the focus points of the exercise.
The physical and mental challenges started each day with a morning swim in the Arctic Ocean, likely one of the times the team wept judging by the picture in Jansrud’s post.
Cold light of day
The first day focused on physical challenges such as orienteering, tackling obstacle courses and boat carrying.
The second day centred around the mental aspect of performing, with skiers solving complex problems in order to learn mind management techniques under pressure.
On the third day, the #AttackingVikings – the team’s self-titled hashtag moniker – were left outside in the cold overnight with only a shelter they'd built themselves and a fire they'd started to sustain them.
A final ranger-style mission encouraged the group to embed the techniques they’d learned and provided one final bonding session for the skiers who had a long, hard season ahead of them in the aptly named ski circuit, the White Circus.
Sleep deprivation
Throughout the challenges, which were presented to the group just prior to carrying them out, the focus for the team was very much on controlling the controllables. The mantra regularly quoted by elite athletes was enforced with the team encouraged to only look at the details they could influence and not waste energy on aspects they could not change.
The athletes also learned how to react to physical and mental stress, better contribute to the team, deal with uncertainty, give feedback and debrief.
“One of the main lessons learned for the athletes is that the human body is able to perform really well even when the mental and physical conditions are not optimal,” said Norwegian Alpine ski team’s strength and conditioning coach and former platoon commander of the Coastal Rangers, Bjørn Ole Fosse.
“In fact, even if they were deprived of sleep and food for three days, all athletes performed better in the physical test right after the training camp than how they did just before this tough experience.”
It appears the ski team now have the Norwegian Army on their side with the commandos equally taken with the team, posting: “In May we in KJK had a visit from the Norwegian alpine national team. Here they got to experience soldier life, which, among other things, deals with survival, teamwork and mental and physical mastery. We thank you for the visit and wish you good luck in the future representation of Norway.”
It wasn’t just the athletes who were being schooled. The skiers also shared their knowledge with the military group in aspects such as performance optimisation.
Life lessons learned
Sadly for Jansrud, an injury curtailed his Olympic ambitions and potentially his career, which he was hoping to conclude at season’s end with another Olympic medal in his pocket to add to the five previously won. However, life happens when you're busy making other plans, as the saying goes, but the lessons learned on the course will no doubt be useful for the participants in all aspects of life, including dealing with the challenge of an injury thwarting a dream ending to a successful career.
One of those newest to the team, meanwhile, Lucas Braathen, was much taken with the experience, appearing to want to forego the skiing bit between commando sessions altogether.
“It was undoubtably the toughest, but coolest week ever. The boys (now men) spent a week with the Coastal Ranger Commando and we’ve become stronger as a team than I ever thought was possible. Can’t wait for next season with the guy.”
The Alpine skiing events at Beijing 2022 take place from 6-19 February.