Colorado University Athletics
Photo by: DC
LeRoy Participates In Annual Media Day
October 19, 2021 | Skiing
BOULDER – Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team head coach Andy LeRoy took part in CU's annual Winter Sports Media Day Tuesday at the CU Events Center along with the men's and women's basketball programs.
LeRoy touched on the success of the 50th Annual Ski Ball, which took place Friday, Oct. 15, and based on early feedback the event was a great success, as are the look at early returns for the fundraising part of the night.
LeRoy was asked about a variety of topics during the press conference, including the importance of keeping the alpine and Nordic teams training together as much as possible, Magnus Boee, and about his transition from Denver to CU.
He was also asked about potential Olympic hopefuls from the team and how that would work during a collegiate season.
"There are a couple of athletes, (Magdalena Luczak), an incoming freshman who is over in Austria right now awaiting the start of the World Cup season this weekend," LeRoy said. "She is likely to go. We have a couple of athletes who took this year off from CU, Cassidy Gray and Stef Fleckenstein, who are back with their national team in Canada hopeful to race in Beijing. Filip Forejtek is hopeful to make an appearance. On the Nordic side, Weronika Kaleta took an extra class this summer to get some extra training done this fall and hopefully she can show up, and maybe Magnus (Boee)."
Forejtek and Boee both competed in PyeongChang in 2018, as did former Buffs Petra Hyncicova and Joanne Reid. Hyncicova, Reid, and several other former Buffs are in a solid position to compete for a spot in Beijing in February.
Here's the transcript from LeRoy's full press conference:
Opening statement:
"Our annual ski ball took place this last Friday, and although COVID kept us from doing an in-person event last year, which would have been our 50th, this was our 50th. I will have the official numbers this evening, but it was hugely successful, not just for the awards that we gave out, Dale Pearson, and Lee Sevison, and Richard Rokos got a chance to say thank you to all of the people who have been supporting him and this program over the last 31 years. At the end of the day, the money that we raised quite possibly could have been twice as much as our very best ski ball in history. We will tally all of those numbers in the coming days, but it was awesome. The team will be skiing at Copper (Mountain) this weekend, and it is time to transition to snow. We are excited for the next step, and we are off to a good start."
On challenges of becoming CU's head coach
"I'm not sure I've come across many challenges quite yet, to be honest, it has been more of a breath of fresh air here to be at CU and see all of the support. I've been spending most of my time trying to learn the history of this program and learn from some of the mistakes that have been made in the past. I have been spending a lot of time with Richie (Richard Rokos). He has actually agreed to be our volunteer assistant coach this upcoming season, so he is out training, and he is with us almost all of the time. We're excited to charge forward and use his expertise that he has over the years trying to make this program better. As far as challenges, I haven't come across too many yet. This is a good program, and it has been run well for a long time."
On how he would describe his coaching style
"My coaching style is a little bit more technical than most other coaches. I was raised by a lot of coaches that instilled that in me, instilled the basic movements and patterns, and spent a lot of time trying to show the importance of those. At the end of the day, those are the movements and patterns that we need to instill in these athletes. They have come with a lot of great skill sets from their other programs, and now if we can put those altogether along with the fact that they have become bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter, I think we will be in good shape. I think my coaching style breaks down the fundamentals more than anything. Hopefully, I can instill that with the athletes. We had a good chalk talk this morning and I hope that will translate onto the first days of snow this week."
On keeping alpine and Nordic teams together
"I think that when we look at our sport we are an individual sport in all respects and in all other levels until college. College combines for the first time and the only time combined men and women, alpine and Nordic. I think that Richard (Rokos) is right on with the fact that that it has to be stressed, it has to be shown as important. We have had a number of team-building activities that we have done in the past. We did an orienteering day at Richard Rokos's house. We did the Green Mountain time trial this past weekend. We did the Buff Bicycle Classic where we rode bikes to the top of Rollins Pass. We have done as many of those activities as possible to get them familiar. They all know each other, but at the end of the day when you crunch the scores at the NCAA Championship, the winner separates themselves by about one place per person per event. If all of our athletes can be one place faster, that is about what it takes to win a title. Showing your support for the other guys just might push them to just that one more place that is going to matter."
On Magnus Boee
"That is hard for me to speak of because he is training with the Nordic team so I don't see him near as often as I would like to. He just seems like a regular athlete on our team, you wouldn't know the success that he had this last year because he just shows up and puts a smile on and he goes to work. You wouldn't know anything different between him and a walk-on. I think that he's not showing that confidence that maybe you would think from somebody that has had that success. I am looking forward to seeing him in competition, but in training, I haven't quite had the chance."
On the importance of conditioning
"Conditioning is a huge part of our sport. If you look at the level of the best college skiers, they are training year-round. When they finished in May, they were in the middle of a progression with strength, power, and endurance. There is a little bit more aerobic that time of year, that will transition towards explosion and aerobic by this time of year. There is really no time off, and these athletes have to plan for their skiing and their conditioning throughout the whole summer. None of them have taken time off, so they are showing up at school not underprepared for the weight room. They lifted back at home the day before they hopped on the plane and got here. There is no break in our sport, not at this level. Our athletes are showing up here ready to go, and the transition onto snow is a transition into the ski shape that you look for during the year, versus the weight room shape. We will still be in the weight room a day or two each week through the fall, and about a day or two a week through the winter. Conditioning is a year-round thing at this level."
On if knowing athletes has helped transition from DU to CU
"I knew most of the athletes before, but I think the relationship started over completely with all of them. I think our relationships started completely over after the press conference that I had with all of you (when I was hired). Then it was meeting with all of the athletes and spending a couple hours getting to know them differently from the time when I am recruiting an athlete and giving them an offer. I explained to most of them that I inherited them. They were given this decision to join the program by somebody else and I want to live up to that commitment that Colorado had made out to them but at the same time it's got to be about the relationship that I have with them. It is very individual and very personal, and something that I really enjoyed doing from a different standpoint than I have before where those conversations happened after I made the offer. Now they are from an inherited factor, which has been fun too. I think that it has been positive for them and it has been positive for my side."
On athletes going to Beijing this winter
"There are a couple of athletes, (Magdalena Luczak), an incoming freshman who is actually over in Austria right now. She is likely to go, she raced in the World Championships last year. We have a couple athletes who took this year off from CU, Cassidy Gray and Stef Fleckenstein that are back with their national team in Canada hopeful to race in Beijing. Current athletes like Filip Forejtek is hopeful to make his appearance. We will see if some of the Nordic athletes are able to make it. Weronika Kaleta took an extra class over the summer to get some extra training here in the fall, and hopefully, she can show up, and maybe Magnus (Boee). We'll see, it is a little ways away, but we are aware of all the criteria for all of the national teams and hopefully, they can punch it through into the Olympics. The Olympics fit really well into our collegiate schedule, they wouldn't miss many races and they could qualify for Championships before Beijing, go to Beijing and return to CU and compete with us at Championships. Hopefully,
LeRoy touched on the success of the 50th Annual Ski Ball, which took place Friday, Oct. 15, and based on early feedback the event was a great success, as are the look at early returns for the fundraising part of the night.
LeRoy was asked about a variety of topics during the press conference, including the importance of keeping the alpine and Nordic teams training together as much as possible, Magnus Boee, and about his transition from Denver to CU.
He was also asked about potential Olympic hopefuls from the team and how that would work during a collegiate season.
"There are a couple of athletes, (Magdalena Luczak), an incoming freshman who is over in Austria right now awaiting the start of the World Cup season this weekend," LeRoy said. "She is likely to go. We have a couple of athletes who took this year off from CU, Cassidy Gray and Stef Fleckenstein, who are back with their national team in Canada hopeful to race in Beijing. Filip Forejtek is hopeful to make an appearance. On the Nordic side, Weronika Kaleta took an extra class this summer to get some extra training done this fall and hopefully she can show up, and maybe Magnus (Boee)."
Forejtek and Boee both competed in PyeongChang in 2018, as did former Buffs Petra Hyncicova and Joanne Reid. Hyncicova, Reid, and several other former Buffs are in a solid position to compete for a spot in Beijing in February.
Here's the transcript from LeRoy's full press conference:
Opening statement:
"Our annual ski ball took place this last Friday, and although COVID kept us from doing an in-person event last year, which would have been our 50th, this was our 50th. I will have the official numbers this evening, but it was hugely successful, not just for the awards that we gave out, Dale Pearson, and Lee Sevison, and Richard Rokos got a chance to say thank you to all of the people who have been supporting him and this program over the last 31 years. At the end of the day, the money that we raised quite possibly could have been twice as much as our very best ski ball in history. We will tally all of those numbers in the coming days, but it was awesome. The team will be skiing at Copper (Mountain) this weekend, and it is time to transition to snow. We are excited for the next step, and we are off to a good start."
On challenges of becoming CU's head coach
"I'm not sure I've come across many challenges quite yet, to be honest, it has been more of a breath of fresh air here to be at CU and see all of the support. I've been spending most of my time trying to learn the history of this program and learn from some of the mistakes that have been made in the past. I have been spending a lot of time with Richie (Richard Rokos). He has actually agreed to be our volunteer assistant coach this upcoming season, so he is out training, and he is with us almost all of the time. We're excited to charge forward and use his expertise that he has over the years trying to make this program better. As far as challenges, I haven't come across too many yet. This is a good program, and it has been run well for a long time."
On how he would describe his coaching style
"My coaching style is a little bit more technical than most other coaches. I was raised by a lot of coaches that instilled that in me, instilled the basic movements and patterns, and spent a lot of time trying to show the importance of those. At the end of the day, those are the movements and patterns that we need to instill in these athletes. They have come with a lot of great skill sets from their other programs, and now if we can put those altogether along with the fact that they have become bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter, I think we will be in good shape. I think my coaching style breaks down the fundamentals more than anything. Hopefully, I can instill that with the athletes. We had a good chalk talk this morning and I hope that will translate onto the first days of snow this week."
On keeping alpine and Nordic teams together
"I think that when we look at our sport we are an individual sport in all respects and in all other levels until college. College combines for the first time and the only time combined men and women, alpine and Nordic. I think that Richard (Rokos) is right on with the fact that that it has to be stressed, it has to be shown as important. We have had a number of team-building activities that we have done in the past. We did an orienteering day at Richard Rokos's house. We did the Green Mountain time trial this past weekend. We did the Buff Bicycle Classic where we rode bikes to the top of Rollins Pass. We have done as many of those activities as possible to get them familiar. They all know each other, but at the end of the day when you crunch the scores at the NCAA Championship, the winner separates themselves by about one place per person per event. If all of our athletes can be one place faster, that is about what it takes to win a title. Showing your support for the other guys just might push them to just that one more place that is going to matter."
On Magnus Boee
"That is hard for me to speak of because he is training with the Nordic team so I don't see him near as often as I would like to. He just seems like a regular athlete on our team, you wouldn't know the success that he had this last year because he just shows up and puts a smile on and he goes to work. You wouldn't know anything different between him and a walk-on. I think that he's not showing that confidence that maybe you would think from somebody that has had that success. I am looking forward to seeing him in competition, but in training, I haven't quite had the chance."
On the importance of conditioning
"Conditioning is a huge part of our sport. If you look at the level of the best college skiers, they are training year-round. When they finished in May, they were in the middle of a progression with strength, power, and endurance. There is a little bit more aerobic that time of year, that will transition towards explosion and aerobic by this time of year. There is really no time off, and these athletes have to plan for their skiing and their conditioning throughout the whole summer. None of them have taken time off, so they are showing up at school not underprepared for the weight room. They lifted back at home the day before they hopped on the plane and got here. There is no break in our sport, not at this level. Our athletes are showing up here ready to go, and the transition onto snow is a transition into the ski shape that you look for during the year, versus the weight room shape. We will still be in the weight room a day or two each week through the fall, and about a day or two a week through the winter. Conditioning is a year-round thing at this level."
On if knowing athletes has helped transition from DU to CU
"I knew most of the athletes before, but I think the relationship started over completely with all of them. I think our relationships started completely over after the press conference that I had with all of you (when I was hired). Then it was meeting with all of the athletes and spending a couple hours getting to know them differently from the time when I am recruiting an athlete and giving them an offer. I explained to most of them that I inherited them. They were given this decision to join the program by somebody else and I want to live up to that commitment that Colorado had made out to them but at the same time it's got to be about the relationship that I have with them. It is very individual and very personal, and something that I really enjoyed doing from a different standpoint than I have before where those conversations happened after I made the offer. Now they are from an inherited factor, which has been fun too. I think that it has been positive for them and it has been positive for my side."
On athletes going to Beijing this winter
"There are a couple of athletes, (Magdalena Luczak), an incoming freshman who is actually over in Austria right now. She is likely to go, she raced in the World Championships last year. We have a couple athletes who took this year off from CU, Cassidy Gray and Stef Fleckenstein that are back with their national team in Canada hopeful to race in Beijing. Current athletes like Filip Forejtek is hopeful to make his appearance. We will see if some of the Nordic athletes are able to make it. Weronika Kaleta took an extra class over the summer to get some extra training here in the fall, and hopefully, she can show up, and maybe Magnus (Boee). We'll see, it is a little ways away, but we are aware of all the criteria for all of the national teams and hopefully, they can punch it through into the Olympics. The Olympics fit really well into our collegiate schedule, they wouldn't miss many races and they could qualify for Championships before Beijing, go to Beijing and return to CU and compete with us at Championships. Hopefully,
Players Mentioned
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
ALPINE
/ Skiing
NORDIC
/ Skiing
ALPINE
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