Men's & Women's Assistant Cross Country Coach
Sherwood Center, Whitman College
Walla Walla, WA 99362
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – After launching his coaching career with assistant positions at Montana State and Colby and Bowdoin colleges, Nathan Alsobrook has taken the coaching reins of the nordic ski teams at Whitman College.
Alsobrook, a Vermont native who recently completed his master’s degree in exercise physiology at Montana State, is also serving as the assistant coach of the cross country running teams at Whitman.
Alsobrook is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate of Bowdoin (Brunswick, Me.), where he majored in English and was a four-year competitor on the nordic ski team. He also ran track for three seasons and cross country for two. After teaching at a cross country ski center in Maine for two years, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for the 1999-2000 academic year.
“Marty Hall, the head nordic coach at Bowdoin, is a former U.S. National Team coach,” Alsobrook says. “The chance to work at my alma mater with a coach of Marty’s caliber was a great way to break into the coaching profession.”
After serving as an assistant coach at Colby College (Waterville, Me.) for the 2000-01 academic year, Alsobrook worked the next two years as the head coach for the Pocatello (Idaho) Cross Country Ski Foundation. At Pocatello, he coached about 20 young skiers between the ages of 10 and 18.
In the fall of 2003, Alsobrook enrolled in the master’s program at Montana State and joined the ski team coaching staff as an assistant coach. “It was a very busy two years, but it was a great opportunity to complete my master’s degree while continuing to gain experience and develop as a coach.”
Alsobrook focused his master’s thesis research on the relationship of upper body power to nordic skiing performance. “I learned a great deal about the latest in strength training for cross country ski athletes, and it’s had a major influence on what I tell my athletes about their training programs. My knowledge as a coach is far ahead of where it would be had I not gone through the process of finishing my master’s degree.”
With completion of his degree last summer, Alsobrook was ready to fill the head coaching vacancy at Whitman. “I feel very comfortable with the atmosphere that NCAA Division III schools provide for their athletes,” he says. “Whitman is a school very similar in nature to Bowdoin, where I studied and competed as an undergraduate, and to Colby, where I coached for one season. Whitman is a good fit for me.”
Alsobrook bases his coaching philosophy on the concept of training young skiers to train themselves. “A good college ski program should focus on giving athletes the knowledge and skills they need to train independently,” he says. “If you do a good job as a coach over time, you eventually become unnecessary. By the time skiers leave college, they should be able to coach themselves and continue to train and improve on their own.”
Skiing is definitely a life-long sport, Alsobrook adds. “Once a college skier graduates, if they live anywhere near snow, they will have many opportunities to continue as a competitive skier. Depending on their skill level, the opportunities range from competing in local community races to pursuing a spot on the national ski team.”
Alsobrook’s first Whitman teams are just now kicking their dry-land training programs into high gear. “To be successful in this sport, you need to be training 12 months a year, but we’re to the point of raising the level of intensity,” he says.
His men’s and women’s teams will gather in late November in West Yellowstone, Mont., for a week-long training camp on snow. A member of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, Whitman will compete in its first NCAA college races Jan. 7-8 at Soldier Hollow, Utah, as part of the U.S. National Championships. “Everyone competes against everyone else, but in the end we break out the college results,” Alsobrook says. “It’s a great opportunity to see how you stack up against the other colleges as well as the best skiers in the country.”
Laura Valaas, a senior All-American, leads the Whitman nordic teams this winter. Competing last winter against an international field at the NCAA Skiing Championships (Divisions I, II, III), Valaas placed fifth in the 5-kilometer classic and ninth in the 15-kilometer freestyle, earning All-American honors in both events. A mathematics major, she also was named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District Team.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information, (509) 527-5902
Email: holden@whitman.edu