Interview: Tom Jorgenson

After three years as the head cross country ski coach at St. Olaf, Tom Jorgenson decided to leave this past spring and seek a job as a full-time librarian. The former Roseville High School and St. Olaf College skier has a master’s degree in library science. “Instead the Greggs called me, and here I am,” said Jorgenson, who found himself not in a library but coaching Caitlin and Brian Gregg on the World Cup circuit in Ruka, Finland, Davos, Switzerland and Lillehammer, Norway.

• What is your official coaching title? Is it with the USSA?
  I don't really have an official title. Technically, I'm self-employed as a sort of independent contractor to Team Gregg, which is now set up as its own business. I started out as a coach for both Brian and Caitlin, but after this last World Cup period, we decided together that my strengths as a coach were a better fit for Caitlin. So for the rest of the season I will be coaching Caitlin exclusively. I don't have any official association with the USSA.
  
• What is your relationship with the Greggs, and how did that get started?
  I actually hadn't met the Greggs before they called me this summer. We were friends on Facebook and knew each other by reputation, of course, but I had never met or trained with either of them. To hear them tell it, they saw my post on Facebook about leaving St. Olaf and decided from there to call me about working with them.
• So you’re a paid coach?
  Yes.
• Do you have any stories or anecdotes about coaching the Greggs, something from a workout or a race perhaps?
  Sometime this fall, we did a time trial down in Northfield, (Minnesota). We wanted to get a sense of how Caitlin was able to apply some improvements in her technique to a race setting. Within 24 hours, we had wrangled up about half a dozen people to do this race with her, most of them very good citizen/master skiers, but also a couple guys just out of college or skiing competitively for other teams. Before we started, I told them how special that workout was, simply because they were all willing to drive down on a Saturday morning to hammer with each other and with Caitlin. Because of this, they all own a part of what Caitlin does this year, and she owns a part of what they do. That's the nature of ski racing, and part of what the Greggs do so well: they cultivate these amazing relationships with the skiing community, and get everyone to come together to help pursue each other's goals.
• What makes the Gregg’s special or possibly even difficult given their talent level, to coach? As a coach myself, I often find it easier to point out things to less accomplished skiers than with the better athletes.
  Athletes at this level, especially Brian and Caitlin, are extremely motivated. They are so focused, all day every day, including their rest days. They work hard at the little things that so many people, myself included, might never think of. These little things can add up to make a big difference. It has been a challenge for me, learning to think like an elite athlete and paying attention to the things that they pay attention to, simply because I haven't worked at this level before. It can also be challenging to ride the ups and downs that come with ski racing for a living. There is a lot on the line at every race, and you have to be at your absolute best, as both an athlete and a coach, for the results to show.
• What's it like to coach at a World Cup event? Any stories from your recent stint at World Cup events?
  It's definitely a higher-pressure environment, which leads to a lot more emotions in all directions. The highs are higher, but the lows can be lower. At the same time, the team as a whole does an amazing job of maintaining good relationships through such a long time on the road together. They do things like the Christmas gift/poetry exchange, or celebrating birthdays, or finding other events and activities in each place that help build a positive atmosphere and give them a break from the pressure of ski racing. In Lillehammer, Caitlin organized an art and wine night for Rosie Brennan's birthday, where the whole team painted watercolors together. It sounds cheesy, but I think it was a good way to release some creative energy. Caitlin is an artist herself and has done some really cool artwork on water belts for the team. I really enjoyed getting to know the skiers and coaches and techs that make up the team.
• What’s it like waxing on the World Cup?
  Caitlin’s normal wax tech had the week off, so I stepped in as her wax tech for that week. It’s not that much different than here, only there are more skis to deal with and more skis to test (Jorgenson estimated that Caitlin had about 30 pairs of skis.). I had to learn to coordinate with the U.S. team wax techs. They run a pretty slick machine over there, and we worked as a team. They decided on the wax, and I did the race waxing for her skis. I can’t really get into specifics, but most of the stuff I saw over there is available here in the U.S. – they just know how to use it.
• Caitlin, in particular, has done well recently at that level, not that Brian is a slouch by any means. What sets her apart from other athletes? What do you see as a coach that contributes to her success at that level?
  Caitlin has this very unique ability to write her own story, to ignore all the odds and what other people believe about her or tell her she can or cannot do. I think this is the creative part of her brain, showing up in her skiing. She has had a long career already, with plenty of ups and downs. She has been on the losing side of a lot of decisions about who gets named to what team or who gets to start in what races and all that. But she does not get discouraged. She knows what she needs, and she knows where she wants to be. Then she writes that story herself; she puts the work in and makes things happen. Last year it paid off with a bronze medal at Worlds.
• What’s your schedule for the rest of the year, as well as long term?
  Caitlin is in the process of deciding when it would be most helpful for me to return (to the World Cup circuit). I’m planning on going back for three to four more weeks. Very long term – I’m thinking my career will be in libraries, especially with climate change. I left St. Olaf thinking I would get a full-time librarian job, but working with the Greggs has led to opportunities I wouldn’t have dreamt about at St. Olaf. Maybe I’ll keep being surprised where skiing takes me. Right now, I’m just rolling with it.

About the author... Former member of the Skinnyski.com Race team, Mark Parman lives in Wausau, Wis. and has skied 23 Birkies. He writes mostly about outdoor sports and has written for Sports Afield, Dirt Rag, Bicycle Times, Velonews and Silent Sports.