Likening Cross Country Canada to deceitful Lord of the Rings wizard Saruman and claiming he was “chewed up and spat out” by the sport in a five-minute feature video wasn’t how Kevin Sandau expected to open the 2015-16 domestic ski season in Canmore, but that’s exactly what the star skier has done.
In the film on his web site www.sandau.ca, Sandau, 27, uses humour, pathos and violence to express his frustration with getting cut from the team. In his blog post, he calls out Cross Country Canada for a lack of professionalism and for its treatment of older skiers.
“Last season I started to see an unsettling path Cross Country Canada was guiding our sport towards. With their new focus on supporting the ‘next generation’ of skiers, they have also begun to ignore and deliberately push out older skiers,” he said.
The video caused ripples through the ski community; drawing support from many frustrated skiers upset with what they see as a lack of opportunity and an unfair playing field in the sport. Many have expressed their dissatisfaction after retirement, however, Sandau decided he had to speak out now, as he fights for a spot on the Ski Tour Canada roster.
Sandau was unceremoniously cut from the Canadian national team in spring after a five-year stint, as he failed to meet criteria laid out by CCC’s high performance committee. He didn’t receive the news directly from CCC, but instead from an Alberta World Cup Academy coach he’d never worked with directly before.
“In April, when I was kicked off the team, I was told by Chris Jeffries, who has never been my coach. That responsibility should have been from (high performance director) Thom Holland or (head coach) Justin Wadsworth,” Sandau said. “There was no official announcement. It was done silently.”
In response, Holland offered his apologies for the way Sandau was cut from the team, stating standard protocol is to have a face-to-face meeting with the athlete. Due to the timing, that was impossible last spring. He plans to reach out to Sandau this week.
“That was a mistake, and I’m happy to apologize to Kevin. In late April, it was not an option and it slipped through the cracks,” Holland said.
Sandau, Banff’s Heidi Widmer and Michael Somppi of Thunder Bay were all cut from the team at the end of last season. Widmer, 25, said she “lost faith” in the Canadian system and went to ski for Team Switzerland. Somppi, 27, like Sandau, said his exclusion from the team made no sense after he posted the best season of his career, while winning the NorAm title.
Sandau said he and other older skiers weren’t given the chance to succeed internationally, as Cross Country Canada chose not to use all of its quota spots at world championships, while domestic results were basically discarded as meaningless. When they did get a shot, it was usually under less than ideal conditions.
Sandau had three world cup starts last season in which to achieve a top-30 result. His best result was a 61st in Lahti, Finland. His top international result is a fifth at U23 championships in 2011.
As for world champs, Cross Country Canada chose to take smaller teams to world championships to lessen the burden on wax techs – a lesson they said they learned in Sochi.
“There are things like world championships, where they had the quota spots but didn’t want to take guys, but made excuses for others that benefitted what they wanted to do,” Sandau said. “In the video, it says ‘if we can limit an athletes’ opportunities, we can also limit their chances of success.’ That is exactly how I felt.”
Regarding team selections, Holland says Sandau was given many opportunities to meet criteria. Since 2012-13, Sandau has had 11 world cup starts, where his best result was a 34th-place finish – which he achieved three times.
“These are hard decisions. There is a written criteria, there is a high performance committee. There is input from the coaches. The reasons were explained to him. It’s not just about last year. We are looking at the last three years. These are not random things that are done,” Holland said. “Kevin is an exemplary athlete. He has a lot of pluses.”
Sandau said he understands by not reaching criteria he doesn’t deserve to be on the team, but said there isn’t a level playing field when it comes to selections.
“I realize CCC gave me chances, but I feel the opportunities were lacking. I didn’t meet criteria and I’m not upset about that. I think there is a double standard. You could tell they want to keep some guys, and get rid of the rest,” Sandau said.
Holland again denies any sort of favouritism in the selection process, and says benchmarks are tied to research and solid data, based on world cup medals.
“People are moving ahead because they met international benchmarks. There is a path. We’re selecting based on the information we have. There is not always room for everybody,” Holland said. “There is no animosity. I understand where he’s coming from. We get funded to do a job and we wrap our principles around that. We have to put our best people forward. That is not a choice.”
Former AWCA coach Mike Cavaliere said Canadian skiers take longer to develop because they don’t have the same network of racing as the European countries. Often, they must perform in near impossible conditions, he said.
“You can say with Kevin he’s had opportunities, but how many of those opportunities was he well prepared for? Was he going to Europe with a gun to his head and told he had to perform? Or was there a process? Had he just done a ton of competition, then told to take the red eye to Europe and told the next day this is your shot at a top 30?” Cavaliere said.
He said Canada is doing many things right, but athletes are showing increasing discontentment. Many, who should be ambassadors for the sport, have left with bitter feelings, feeling unwelcome and unappreciated after 10 years of commitment.
“The system we have is very good. The challenge is it is becoming very discouraging,” Cavaliere said. “What is missing is encouragement. And that’s free.”
Sandau said he would return to the national team program, but said changes must come to improve the sport first.
“My solution is to get a conversation going. There is no simple solution, but the direction we are heading is not the solution. Now, we have guys at the top who are only looking at the short term.”
“Funnily enough, being kicked off the national team, the way they went about it, that is what motivates me. I won’t give CCC credit if it’s a rebirth of my career. I want to prove them wrong. It’s a huge motivational factor for me,” Sandau said.
