SSWSC Nordic Coaching Staff

Todd in Calgary

Program Director & Nordic Facilities Manager

USSA 2007 winner of Al Merrill Memorial Award for outstanding service to his sport.

Todd is also the primary coach for the Age Class Nordic Combined Team. Todd oversees a professional staff of thirty coaches involved in the training of over 150 athletes in the Nordic sports of ski jumping, cross-country, Nordic combined and biathlon. He started jumping with the Winter Park, Colorado Jumping Program at the age of five, and took his first jumps at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs at age eight. In 1984 he was named to the U.S. Nordic Combined Team and competed internationally for nine seasons, which included the Winter Olympics in 1988 and 1992, and the World Championships in 1985 and 1987. Todd began coaching with the SSWSC in 1993 while he attended college at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat. His first tour of duty was as development team coach and then he was named Nordic Combined Head Coach the following year. In 2000 he was named as the club’s Nordic Program Director. This is Todd’s fifteenth season with the SSWSC organization. He and his wife, Stephanie and their first child, Maggie, live in downtown Steamboat Springs.

Head Ability Coach

USSA 2007 Nordic Combined/Jumping Domestic Coach of the Year.

Martin Bayer, 33, a Slovak native, has joined the SSWSC Nordic staff as the new Ability Head Coach for the ski jumping and Nordic combined programs. Bayer is a two time Olympian (’92, ’94), Slovak National Champion in Nordic Combined and son of a lifetime national coach. He brings to the table an impressive educational background including secondary specialized education in athletic training and coaching. In 1997, he moved to the US and started coaching in Ishpeming, MI. During the last four and a half years Martin has coached for the Itasca Ski Club in Coleraine, MN. Bayer, who started with the SSWSC on June 1, will take over a young but talented group of 14 to 17 year olds, three of which have a good chance of making the World Junior Team this winter.

The head coach for the Development Plus / Development team in his thirteenth season is Gary Crawford. Gary is a former SSWSC athlete, and U.S. Ski Team member. He started jumping with the SSWSC at age 5 and took his first jumps at Howelsen Hill in competition at age 6. He skied for Western State College for two and a half years, then in 1976, was named to the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team and competed internationally for twelve seasons including two Olympic Winter Games in 1980, and 1988, and a World Championships in 1982. He began coaching in 1994, with the Ability Team. He held that position for three years, when in 1997 he was named the Head Golf Professional at the Sheraton Steamboat Golf Club. At that time he moved to coaching the Development Team.