The Finnish cross-country skier Laura Mononen, who retired from the professional rankings in the spring of 2021, has continued to work with skiing and shares her expertise with others as a coach today.

Mononen works as a coach at the Espoo Ski Club, Finland, where she leads training for 12–14-year-old athletes and on Hiihtokoulu.fi, through which she has also been able to work with recreational skiers.

According to Mononen, transitioning to coaching seemed natural after her skiing career.

“It’s been really fun when you get to interact with skiing in a slightly different way and can offer others things you’ve learned while working with the sport,” says Mononen to Maastohiihto.com.

Despite her competitive skiing career, the coaching job has required Mononen to study things from a new perspective. She also points out that training for children and young people has changed since her junior years.

“Training is more versatile these days. The aim is to keep skill and technique involved in training, and there is more to that side than what I did as a youth. It is important to do new things and be involved in the development of the sport.”

At the Espoo Ski Club, Mononen has been involved in planning weekly and annual training for young people, making her see cross-country skiing in a new dimension. 

“I look at this matter a little differently now. In the elite sports phase, you do your own thing and don’t really think about how the young people are training. Now the whole thing is looked at on a slightly wider scale.”

Mononen wants to teach her athletes that there are many different paths to the top, and there is no one specific formula that everyone should follow. For example, she only made it to the Finnish National Team at the age of 26.

However, there are some things she wishes she had included more in her training.

“I should have invested more in skill and technique training. On the other hand, it is good to be able to reflect on how you have trained and where your career has finally ended. Even with my tactics, I got at least that far, so that’s how it worked.”

Although Mononen enjoys her work as a coach, it has also brought her challenges. 

“You must think about technical things slightly differently, how to say and understand them. If a movement feels natural to you, how do you explain it to someone else? You have to think about why something is done and why it is worth doing it this way and not another way. It has also been instructive for me.”

According to Mononen, her current role as a coach of young people and recreational suits her quite well. For example, working as a National Team coach would not interest her now.

“I’m not saying never, but then we should delve into the subject a little from different perspectives. Working with recreational skiers and young people has been quite rewarding for me, and at least at the moment, it feels right for me.”

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