Advocating for Women Ski Coaches

Green Racing Project biathlete Kelsey Dickinson competing in a race.

Lumi Experience’s Director of Marketing, Lauren Honican caught up with Kelsey Dickinson, Green Racing Project (GRP) biathlete who lives in Craftsbury, VT, as she was getting ready to race her first World Cup to learn more about the Women Ski Coaches Association (WSCA), an organization she dedicates much time to outside of skiing because the mission is her passion: to achieve gender equity at all levels of skiing.

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Kelsey Dickinson, Green Racing Project Biathlete and WSCA Director

Originally from Winthrop, WA, Kelsey competed in biathlon in high school before attending College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN where she obtained a dual major in philosophy and natural sciences with a focus on feminism. As a student, she wrote a paper about why there should be more women in coaching, and competed at the Biathlon World Junior Championships while also competing for the College of St. Scholastica's Varsity Team.

At St. Scholastica, Kelsey and Head Ski Coach Maria Stuber connected on gender equity topics. The idea to create an organization like WSCA had been on Maria's mind for a long time, which paved the way for Maria asking Kelsey if she would help start the WSCA the summer after she graduated. This was around the same time when Kelsey started skiing for the Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s Green Racing Project, which allows Kelsey to volunteer to support organizations like WSCA as a part of their team agreement.

Drawing on much inspiration from fellow women coaches such as Tracey Cote, long-time Head Nordic Ski Coach at Colby College, as well as guidance from Dr. Nicole LaVoi of the Tucker Center, Maria and Kelsey launched the WSCA in 2019. 

Maria Stuber, founder of the WSCA and Head Coach of Nordic Skiing at St. Scholastica College

Currently, at the college level in the U.S., only ⅓* of the Nordic ski coaches are women, and there are even fewer at higher levels of the sport. Because of this, being a woman in coaching can be isolating. At the outset, two key goals for the WSCA were to 1) create a network for solidarity and 2) to collect data to better understand the gender balance in coaching at all levels of the sport in order to position the organization to be a legitimate voice advocating for women ski coaches. *This statistic was based on available team rosters at the time.

The organization doesn’t have any employees, and is led by seven board members with lots of volunteer support from women skiers like Kelsey. Despite being such a small organization, the WSCA has a suite of programs that are making a huge impact. In addition to collecting data, they host webinars, write policy proposals, and collaborate on other programs, including GearUp and the Trail to Gold Fellowship. Kelsey shared some neat stories about their programs with us.

“Waxing and Waning, Closing the Gender Gap” webinar: For a long time in nordic skiing, there has been a gender imbalance in waxing. People would make excuses about why women were bad at waxing, but what it ultimately came down to was a gap in training. When the International Ski Federation (FIS) banned fluorinated waxes, everyone had to learn new waxing techniques. The WSCA jumped on this opportunity to equalize knowledge about waxing and hosted a “Waxing and waning, closing the gender gap” webinar. There were 150 participants!

GearUp: Another inequity in skiing shows up around connections and access. Just recently, a woman coach based in Bozeman, MT was skiing with really old equipment and a male skier told her, “Just call the guy.” He had connections she wasn’t aware of, which is pretty typical. Many women skiers don’t have access to the same connections that male skiers do for equipment. To help address this, the WSCA started GearUp, which matches women coaches early in their careers with ski brands so they have access to gear, mentorship, and the brand’s network. Of 65 applications, 11 skiers were selected to be part of the first cohort.

Our Future Ski Sport Seminar: A big avenue for change that the WSCA is working towards is increasing the number of women coaches at the highest levels of the sport so younger women coaches can see the profession as a viable career path. Sydney Michalak was one of two US coaches invited to Oslo by the WSCA for the 2022 Our Future Ski Sport Seminar, where she and Kristina Revello had the opportunity to network with Norway’s highest-level women ski coaches and learn about initiatives around gender equity in the sport.

A few of the women behind the Women Ski Coaches Association

Policy Proposals: Anna Schulz who works at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center has helped the WSCA write successful policy proposals, including one that led to the creation of the FIS Gender Equity Transitional Working Group which contributed to the new FIS Women’s Bib. More recently, the WSCA is advocating for gender equity to be part of the National Nordic Foundation’s (NNF) mission, strategic plan, and budget. 

Other groups have been making strides in these areas as well: US Biathlon now has their own Gender Equity Working Group and Kelsey serves on their Board as an athlete representative. Kelsey is also a Gender Equity Athlete Ambassador for the IBU and a member of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s Women's Health Task Force.

However, at the time of our conversation, there were no women coaches at the World Cup level for biathlon and for the first time in recent history, five women will be racing for the US Biathlon Team at the IBU World Cup, including Kelsey!

Photo: biathlonworld.com

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Lumi Trip Leader Adele cheering for racers at the Transju Worldloppet in France

We’re cheering for Kelsey as she makes her way around the World Cup circuit this winter and are so grateful for the important work of the Women Ski Coaches Association! You can also support the WSCA with a donation today. If you’re curious to learn more about the WSCA’s collaboration to launch the Trail to Gold Fellowship, stay tuned. We recently caught up with Olympian Nancy Fiddler to chat about the Trail to Gold book, fellowship, and more.

Before then, there’s an exciting opportunity to support the Trail to Gold Fellowship through Lumi! We recently launched a partnership with NNF to benefit the Fellowship. When you sign up for the Lumi World Championships Trip to Planica, Slovenia, Lumi will donate scholarships to the Fellowship so more talented US women coaches have access to World Cup coaching experience. There are only a few spaces left on the trip. Check out the trip details and sign up here!