Steven Gaskill — December 8, 2025

STEVEN GASKILL
Missoula, MT
Steven.Gaskill@mso.umt.edu

An Atypical Coaches Meeting

It was 1981, springtime in northern Finland, just south of the Arctic Circle. The Nordic Combined team was in Rovaniemi for one of the final events of the season. It was my first time in Rovaniemi, which is so far north that in early April, it seems to be light 20 hours per day and barely gets dark at night.

We had arrived the day before, along with the rest of the world’s best Nordic Combined skiers, and had spent the day training on the K90 (called a 70M hill at the time). During the afternoon, the athletes had toured the XC course. Following a strategy discussion for the events the following day and review of the jumping “Polarvision” film from training, the athletes headed off to dinner, and I waited for the van that was supposed to pick me up for the coaches’ meeting.

About 6 pm I joined the other 15 or so coaches, expecting a short ride to the meeting. When we turned north out of town on a narrow snow road, I should have known that this was not just a simple coach’s meeting to hold the draw and discuss issues before the competition. It was at least an hour later when an announcement was made in multiple languages that we had crossed the Arctic Circle. Another half hour passed, and we arrived at a large wooden log building close to 8 o’clock. As we stepped off the bus, we were handed a flaming liqueur to welcome us to the north.

Inside, it was much larger than expected, with a row of tables around the outside wall and the center of the room wide open. There were already many guests and dignitaries there, and we were led to the remaining seats, interspersed along the wall. At each seat was a small plate and 6 glasses, in descending order of size, all filled with some form of alcoholic liquor, from two beer glasses down to a small shot of Cloudberry liqueur. The contents of the other glasses can only be guessed at, but I recall vodka, Sima, and something that tasted like licorice. On each plate were a few slices of cheese and thin Finnish Rye bread.

Luckily, we were all seated between community members who could converse in our language, and fueled by the continually refilled glasses and limited food, before long, the room was a mix of languages from around the ski world. If you sipped any glass, it was quickly refilled. Our hosts were great toasters and kept the conversation moving. 8 pm became 11 pm – still with no coach’s meeting and no refilling of the food plates. I was hungry and quite tipsy when the coaches were all called to the center of the room and given lasso-like ropes. We were instructed that reindeer would soon be released into the room, and the first three coaches to capture a reindeer would win prizes. All I remember is fun and chaos as we ran around the room chasing the reindeer with the guests along the wall, waving jackets and flags to keep them moving. I got a lucky break and managed to get my rope around a neck. Expecting a fight, I dug in my heels, but to my surprise, once caught, the reindeer became quiet and quite calm. Not long after the other two were “captured,” and we each received a beautiful pair of Finnish reindeer skin beaded boots.

A real dinner was then served, and the party continued with the arrival of more townsfolk, a band, and dancing through the night and into the morning. No rides were offered home, so we stayed, danced, talked, laughed, and had a very memorable party – but no coaches meeting.

Sometime after 8 am, we were loaded back on a bus and driven directly to the jumping hill for the 10 am competition. Our athletes had been instructed to bring their coaches’ coats, hats, and mittens. So, there we were, all the international coaches, well hungover, watching the competition from the coach’s box. I do not recall much of the meeting, and I expect the same of the other coaches. The American Team had a good day, according to the results list. It was a team competition, and we ended the jumping in 2^nd place. By the afternoon of the XC race, I was even more worthless, following a night of no sleep and too much fun. The athletes did all the wax testing and ski prep for the XC race and went on to a 2^nd place finish, their best of the year. Just shows that they could do just fine without any coaches. What a great group of athletes.

I returned three more times to Rovaniemi for competitions. Forewarned should mean prepared. I always looked forward to the best non-coach’s meetings ever. I usually brought some extra food and tried to be well rested before the endless party. Each year, the activity for the coaches was new. One year, the coaches all got to ride on Santa’s Sleigh – or at least on a sled behind reindeer – and they could cruise. I managed to fall off my sled to the delight of the locals. It was always a great time to get to know the other coaches, some of whom I keep in touch with more than 40 years later.