Time to go Beyond
Team Aker Dæhlie has an ambition to go "Beyond".
What does this actually entail ?
The foundation of the concept is based on creating equal opportunities and inclusion. Team Aker Dæhlie wants to create one team, without regard to disability, gender, age or nationality.
For the 2023-2023 ski season, Team Aker Dæhlie (TAD) decided that the all-round team was to become one integrated team consisting of both Norwegian and international athletes. During the 2022-2023 season, the British cross-country skiing team was part of Team Aker Dæhlie, but the athletes, nor the coaches, paricipated in any joint training sessions or training camps with the other parts of TAD. Fast forward to the ongoing season, and the team has 16 athletes from 8 nations. The athletes have trained together on a daily basis and during training camps. At the camps, also athletes from the long-distance Ski Classics team, and the NextGen team, including Paralympic athletes, took part.
An important goal for TAD has been to create gender balance in cross country skiing, i.e. to give as many women, as men, the opportunity to pursue their dreams. Today the team has 9 men and 7 women. We have a way to go, but we are not too far away from achieving gender balance.
Team Aker Dæhlie has succeeded in creating an environment where the coaches cooperate, regardless of whether the athlete is Norwegian, American, British, Irish, Latvian, Chinese, female, male, Olympic athlete, Paralympic athlete, all-rounder or long-distance skier. We believe the team’s ability to work together is a strength. It gives a broader understanding and more perspective on all factors related to preparing for the season, as well as the possibility of seeking support and advice if challenges arise. We have not reached our goal of creating equal opportunities to achieve, but we believe we are heading in the right direction. Although the athletes represent their respective nations at the World Cup races, they travel and live together as much as possible. In addition, the team collaborates on ski service, giving splits, GPS- analytics and more. We are one family that works towards common and individual goals, despite our differences.
We genuinely believe that working together as one team is important to achieve at any level of sports, especially at the highest level. The goal is to lead by example and to hopefully inspire others to take part in further developing the sport we all love. Teamwork and cooperation provide the opportunity for knowledge to be shared between the many unique athletes and training cultures, beyond the learning from international matching during each training sessions. It does something to the athletes when they hear different languages and opinions on a daily basis, while at the same time working towards shared goals and dreams.
The slogan "strong together" is often communicated by companies and teams. We also strongly believe in this statement, and we therefore actively try to live up to being one team through our actions. One specific example of just this was when Thomas Maloney Westgaard, who races for Ireland, finished number 11 at the first World Cup race in Ruka. For the first time, he became the best “trønder” (area around Trondheim with historically many great skiers) in a World Cup race. The skis were prepared together with the British national team, and the skis were borrowed from his teammate and competitor, Wang Qiang from China. When Thomas does not participate in World Cup races, he lives and trains in Trondheim with other TAD athletes. The group of athletes, with different colors on their passports, has had weekly training sessions together, where both long-distance skiers, all-rounders, women and men participate. In our opinion, Thomas, Astrid Øyre Slind and Andrew Musgrave have all benefited from preparing for the season by training regularly together.
The example above also shows that going "Beyond" is something that develops and evolve as a consequence of daring to do something new and out of the ordinary. It shows that positive outcomes can happen when one use and utilize the strengths of athletes without regard to athletic ability, gender or nationality. Have we reached our goal? Have we succeeded? Unfortunately not yet. We must admit that it is still a long way to go before there is full equality and inclusivity in our sport. More must be done to ensure that women have equal opportunities, and even more must be done to give Paralympic athletes the attention, recognition and respect they deserve. If Team Aker Dæhlie is to succeed, more people must get involved and engaged in creating equal opportunities to achieve We cannot do this alone. The race has just begun, and there is still a long way to go. We hope our small efforts can inspire and motivate more people to participate in making cross-country skiing BEYOND. Everyone will benefit from a sport where more teams share, collaborate and work like “one team”.
Written by Knut Nystad, Jostein Vinjerui and Hans Kristian Stadheim