After an incredible journey as the head coach of the BC Freestyle mogul team, Josh Kober from Penticton has landed his dream job.
The alumni is 28 years old Peak Freestyle Club was selected last spring to take on the role of head coach of the United States National Development Team.
Now, halfway through his first season, he admits there’s more pressure – but it’s a challenge he loves.
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“You have all eyes to be in the World Cup with team USA, the biggest and strongest team in the world, so all the pressure must be on you,” he said during an interview last weekend at Nor-Am. competition at Apex.
“You feel the pressure and it’s a fun challenge, but (US skiers) put it down and made me look good. It’s a great start.”
It was his father, Rob Kober – who coached the Canadian national team for more than 15 years and is now head coach of the AFC – who caught his son’s attention while on a family vacation in Mexico.
“I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m pretty happy with the BC team and I see myself still doing that but you know, why not? So I’ll just put my name in the hat and wait to see what happens,’” he recalls of starting the process.
“Next thing I knew I was getting offered to do the job.”
Kober added: “I was quite shocked and I wasn’t really ready to take the job. I mean, I’m confident in my own coaching abilities, but I don’t think they’re going to hire Canadians.”
His future bosses at the United States Ski and Snowboard Association clearly liked what they saw on his resume from the last five years leading the BC team.
During that time, Kober produced the best conversion rate in the country with the most provincial skiers moving up to the Canadian national team.
In addition, the high percentage of athletes retains and the low percentage of injuries in sports with inherent risk.
Announcing Kober’s departure, Freestyle BC wrote: “Josh built our culture of excellence in a very measured and pragmatic way. His presence will be missed; however, his legacy will live on through our team.”
Taking the next step up the ladder of his coaching career has an added bonus for him personally.
“Reaching the World Cup has always been my goal as an athlete and one I can never break; I wasn’t good enough,” Kober said.
“We had some World Cup chances, my first as a coach, and now to get to that level it feels really good.”
And when he needed advice, he had only to turn to his father.
“I think he listens to his dad,” Rob said with a smile. “It was really fun for me to talk about the shop with him. He’s pretty good at asking for advice and good enough at not always taking it when he thinks it’s stupid. He must be thinking to himself.
“Josh, for better or for worse, has had the same path in coaching as I do, but he wasn’t blessed with a body type, he should be playing hockey.”
He describes his son’s relationship with his new team as still in the ‘honeymoon stage’ and thinks the true test of his coaching abilities is yet to come.
“For sure, at that level, when things don’t go smoothly and expectations aren’t met – whether he wants it or not, he’s going to have that – we’ll see how he negotiates the situation,” said Rob.
“He had some of those tests as a BC coach and he handled those situations pretty well. But in this job, the stakes are much higher, so it will be interesting. I believe he can do the job and I think he still has unfinished business in this sport.”
Mogul skiing is deeply rooted in the Kober family. Josh’s brother Jordan is a World Cup silver medalist and his sister Chloe is a former member of the BC team.
For Josh, his new job is an opportunity to expand his passion to coach and develop young talent and perhaps one day follow in his father’s footsteps to win an Olympic gold medal.
© 2023 Penticton Herald
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