With the Canadian National Ski Team
The Canadian Womens National Ski Team
The Canadian Womens National Ski Team
Canadian National Ski Team enroute to training in South America
The Canadian National Ski Team plays hockey. Recognize anyone?
Lyn was inducted into Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame Sept 24 2011
While the title was that of “Coach”, the role as coach was much more than just coaching the young skier’s. Dave Irwin tells of Lyn’s contribution to skiing.
“Lyn was the first to develop a system for the ski team, focusing on the “team” concept where when one won, the team won, with all working in that direction. He says that concept, for him contributed to the creation of “The Crazy Canucks”. Lyn as coach, was responsible for virtually everything the team needed, organizing, budgets, etc. When the team travelled to competition’s, Lyn was “dad” to Irwin and the other skier’s making sure they had what they needed to compete.” He says that “ Lyn translated his sprint racing experience from the dirt track to the ski hill” and he found that to be quite brilliant. Irwin in closing said of Lyn McIntosh,” He was one of the coaches that set him in the right direction in his career and was very influential on his career. Lyn taught him how to be part of a team, made sure they had what they needed, organized it and made it work! Also that, Lyn never got the credit he deserved, nor did he seek it either, he really created something in Thunder Bay, and “Mac was the man in Thunder Bay!”
From 1969 to 1972 Lyn would move up as a Coach of Canada’s Women’s Can Am Ski Team, this circuit later was renamed the Nor Am. The Can-Am team was to the National Ski Team what the American Hockey League is to the NHL. The series consisted of around fourty ski races across North America a season, with the travel being done almost exclusively by automobile. Pontiac provided station wagons for the team’s travel, with it being traded in every 5000 miles, one winter Lyn used up four of the station wagons in travel on the tour.
In 1969 Lyn started off with a squad largely depleted with many of the top skier’s being taken on to the World Cup team leaving a thin talent pool. In the beginning the team struggled against the USA, but a strong platform was set to develop the new talent on the team. By the end of Lyn’s tenure with the Can-Am team, a strong foundation had been set with the Canadian skier’s, led by Betsy Clifford they began to dominate the circuit in 1972-73.
In 1969 Lyn would leave a real legacy in Canadian Downhill Skiing being one of the five founding members of the Canadian Ski Coaches Federation. CSCF was/is responsible for establishing coaching standard’s for Canadian Ski coaches, with the goal of producing the best ski racer’s in the world. This goal was reached in the mid 1970’s with the success of both the men and women’s ski team’s winning on the World Cup Ski Circuit. The CSCF has become an organization of approximately 5500 members, providing 4 levels of coach certification, technical seminars, and professional development opportunities.
In 1972-73 Lyn was Assistant Program Director with Canada’s National Ski Team participating in, setting ski team policy, selecting the ski team’s, guiding the team through training in South America and Europe, and helping develop the program that led to the “Crazy Canucks“.
In 1973 to 1976 Lyn McIntosh was the Coach of Canada’s Woman’s National Ski Team. Success at the highest level was achieved in 1974 with Betsy Clifford’s World Championship Gold Medal at St Moritz ,and in 1976, at the Innsbrook Austria Olympic Games, with Kathy Kreiner winning the Gold Medal in the Women’s Giant Slalom, under Lyn’s coaching. Following the Olympics Lyn and the National Ski Team met with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa.
Kathy Kreiner say’s that Lyn “really gave you the feeling he knew what he was talking about, and had a level of trust with him that she never had with other coaches. Lyn also, “ knew the mind of an athlete, had a great awareness of the athlete’s need for attention or the need to be alone to focus.” He was “ very caring with you as a person, more than just as an athlete which gave you the environment to thrive as a young athlete.” Kathy also echoes Dave Irwin in Lyn’s ability to connect his experience on the race track with skiing ” which she also felt was brilliant.
After spending upwards of nine months away from home and his family each year, at the end of the 1976 ski season Lyn retired from the National Ski Team and accepted an offer from Bill Irwin of Loch Lomond ski hill to operate the ski shop and the hill’s ski school. Though retired from the National Ski Team, Lyn stayed very involved in competitive skiing as a Tech Delegate in the International Ski Federation from 1976 to 1982 . As a Tech Delegate Lyn would be responsible to oversee all FIS regulations at the competition, with the final decision on all matters concerning the running of the event, and was the sole official with the power to cancel the event if deemed necessary. In this role he would also act as a liason between and race organizer’s , and competitor’s, assuming this role in many races in Europe and the USA ,as delegates cannot come from the host country.
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