Vegard Haukoe Sklett: One - Man Band [interview]

Interview: Martyna Ostrowska, Dominika Wiśniowska

BAND Coach, manager, psychologist – these are only some of the roles Vegard Haukoe-Sklett had after ending his career. Although the Norwegian tried many professions, all of them somehow found their way into ski jumping. That ex- ski jumper is the best example of showing that retiring from sports career isn't exactly the end of the world.

You decided to quit ski jumping in 2015. Then, you started to work here in Trondheim. How did it happen?

- I was finishing the bachelor degree at the University and I was asked to become a coach. That’s what I was doing last year, together with Mortem Solem. Now he works in the equipment control at FIS. I started my master education last year. I am writing

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my master thesis, which will be finished in May. Of course, I am writing about ski jumping.

I am also a general manager at Tronderhopp.

Was it clear for you that you will stay with this sport after the end of your career?

issue no 04 | march 2017

Photos: Martyna Ostrowska

- I am so used to this environment.

I love ski jumping. It is my passion and I appreciate that I have an opportunity to work with the athletes and sport in general. Even my master thesis is about sport. I am writing about sport psychology. Last winter I was at Holmenkollen, Vikersund and Trondheim where I was collecting data among World Cup athletes. I measured the psychological factors of athletes performance in ski jumping. At Tronderhopp I take care of everyday duties like sponsors etc. We have a lot of expenses so I have to make everything work properly. For example: we have a cafe in a cabin and a dorm for young athletes, where they live and eat.

I need to take care of those places, check if they have enough supplies of food, skis for the athletes or fabrics for suits.

These are my duties.

You have studied psychology but now you are doing management.

What was the most difficult thing for you at the beginning?

- I wasn't used to do this kind of work.

I wasn’t educated in that field, so the most challenging part for me was to get into routine and understand how things should be done and how it works. Also, reporting to the accountant companies wasn’t easy for me. Learning how to cope with all of that was a little bit difficult, but all in all it is a great experience for me.

You have told us that you are still really into ski jumping. Can you imagine yourself doing something different?

- Not really. Maybe something that would be closer to my education. My goal is to finish the university and become a sports psychologist, particularly in ski jumping. Working with the athletes is something that I want to do.

Hill Size Magazine

Vegard Haukoe-Sklett

What in your opinion is the most important thing when it comes to psychology in ski jumping?

- Ski jumping is psychology. When you get to the highest level everyone trains the same, has the same equipment, technique etc. Things that differ good ones from the best ones is psychology. It was also a thing that I had to work on to perform better, to get rid of stress and gain confidence. I am really curious to find out how to improve and how to use psychology to work with athletes.

Do you think every national team should have their own psychologist or athletes should do it on their own?

- When I was in the national team there was a psychologist, just in case we needed him. I think it is quite embarrassing when you have to go to a psychologist. That can be a problem. It is not easy for a person to go, see someone and start talking about a problem.

I understand that. I would like to see that athletes make a change earlier in their career, not when the problem already exists. I mean, when you start to train systematically, with a power training and technique training, you also should make space for mental aspects.

Psychology is 95% of the performance in performing on the highest level. It can change a lot in one moment. Those mental skills can make you do well at sports but if you don’t have them you cannot be better than just good. According to me, it is really important for the athletes to start the training of their mental skills earlier and become strong mentally.

If the athlete starts to work on the mental aspects early, do you think it is possible to avoid such problems as for example Gregor Schlierenzauer had recently?

- It is quite difficult to say because I don’t know his problem well. It seems to be a motivation problem. He was really successful, so it could be about that.

There is also Rune Velta, what really happened to that guy? He had a wonderful season and after that everything collapsed. I can be a good example as well.

I had a quite good season and then I got totally lost. I’ve never managed to stay there but maybe if I had been focused more on the mental part of training it would be different. Who knows. That is why I am so interested on that side of sport. On the other hand we have also Philipp Sjoeen. He is young and he really hasn’t achieved that much. He was great when he was younger but what happened then? That is the area I really would like to discover more to avoid such situations in the future.

Athletes in general may have a lot of problems but also it is not easy to be a ski jumper in Norway. You are not really popular in your country but you still achieve a lot. What is the reason?

- Ski jumping in Norway is not really popular, definitely less popular than in Germany for example. I don’t really know why it is like that. Maybe it is because cross country skiing is a really big thing in Norway. I think we are the only country in the world that has such a huge interest in that sport. It is our national sport. Everyone is does cross country skiing since he’s a little child.

We have solid and long traditions, also we are among the best in the world in cross country skiing. The media are also really interested in athletes and events.

We have Petter Northug, who is media’s favourite. He is really cocky. He wins a lot and there is a lot of buzz around him. I think this is why ski jumping is not really popular here in Norway.

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During this season you organise that big tournament - RAW AIR. Do you think it can make ski jumping more popular in Norway?

- Yes, I think so. I am 100% certain that Raw Air will be really good for us and a lot of people, also Norwegians, will come to the hills to support our ski jumpers. Now we have our own tournament. This is the hardest tournament in the World, with extreme pace, jumping every day and the ski competitions at the biggest ski jumping hill in the World at the end. It will be really tough. We have already started preparations with announcing the tournament. Everyone will love it. I am quite sure it will be successful. I hope that the interest in ski jumping will rise in our country, of course if the results turn out to be good.

During the tournament, there will be a competition in Trondheim. What will be your role as a manager?

- I won't be directly engaged because we don’t have a lot of jumpers in the national team but we have trial jumpers. Our duty is also to organise attractions for the supporters.

We will have a group of volunteers so we need to take care of them as well. I started my work here in AuWorld Cup gust so it will be my as a manager. There is also another guy, who is responsible for the World Cup in Trondheim. He is going to make a sponsors list, talk with TV producers, media and contact the potential volunteers. He is more experienced than me so he will give me some tasks to do. We will divide our responsibilities during that time, but still I think I will have enough to do.

We are not really involved directly in the tournament but we will help as

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much as possible. Every city works on its own but in general we are one group and we need to have a feedback from each place. We work on logistics, luggage, accommodation etc. mostly together because our goal is to make ski jumpers and all of the people who will come comfortable. We are planning to provide a train for all teams to shorten their time of travel from one competition to another. It is complicated but it sounds like a good idea. Expectations are really high.

Do you think you can organise this tournament on regular basis, like the Four Hills Tournament?

- I really hope that is going to happen but I am not the right person to answer that question. I hope that athletes will manage this hard tournament. I know from my own experience that if I have to jump for 8 days straight and then go ski I would make sure that I get enough rest to be well prepared.

It is going to be really exciting to see how athletes will cope during these days. Also, expectations for our team are really high, especially after such a fantastic last season. We hope to be among the best. In Trondheim we also hope to have some guys from Tronderhopp in the top. For instance Andreas Stjernen, he is in a good shape.

Do you think someone will be able to break the world record this season?

- Yes, I think the world record can be broken in Vikersund. I am really optimistic before those competitions.

Of course, I hope it will be one of our guys who will break the record. If it's not going to be Anders Fannemel, then maybe Tande or Stjernen. Also Forfang would be able to do it, if he’s in a good shape. I think it's possible. ďƒ˘

issue no 04 | march 2017