HIGH ACHIEVERS: All-encompassing Joey Lavigne enters Canadian Ski Hall of Fame as alpine coach

By Martin Cleary

When it comes to alpine skiing, Ottawa’s Joey Lavigne has experienced it all.

Whether it’s learn-to-ski lessons at Camp Fortune as a child, racing for Canada on the World Cup circuit, performing provincial and national administrative jobs or developing future local skiers, he has enjoyed every moment of his snow journey.

And he has done it so well the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame inducted him into its circle of honour during a ceremony last month in Montreal. He entered the hall in the coaching category.

“It was a humbling experience,” Lavigne, 68, said in a recent phone interview. “I’ve been involved so long, but there are people who have had an impact on me and they deserve to be there (in the hall) before me.

“It’s kind of exciting. I’m not the kind of coach that looks for accolades, but for the performances of the athletes I work with. I’m happy so many people felt they should recognize the 46 years I’ve been doing this.”

Lavigne strapped on a pair of skis for the first time in the early 1960s. His father wanted the family to try that other Canadian winter sport and not the one with sticks, skates and pucks. He made the right choice.

“The Ottawa Ski Club, which was the largest ski club in the world and operated at Camp Fortune, was run by John Clifford at the time,” Lavigne recounted. “It was a great place for families to be.

“Every Canadian boy starts with skates on an outdoor rink. But we were going to go skiing. We started skiing every weekend at Camp Fortune and learned how to ski (in classes). It was like a giant day care.”

The next thing Lavigne knew he was racing locally from 1969-73, and placing well enough on the elite NORAM and Can-Am circuits that he was promoted to the Canadian men’s national team as a downhill racer. He competed on the World Cup circuit in 1976-76 with the likes of teammates Jim Hunter, Ken Read and Dave Irwin and against skiers like Franz Klammer, Bernhard Russi and Herbert Plank.

After a year of travelling with friends to pro races during the 1976-77 season, racing quickly transitioned to coaching for Lavigne as he became head coach and program director for the Alberta provincial team for one year.

But Lavigne regained his connection with the Canadian national team a year later as he became an assistant coach on the Europa Cup circuit from 1978-82 and a World Cup downhill coach from 1982-84.

During that time, his coaching skills were recognized in the highest manner as he was named to the Canadian team for the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid and Sarajevo respectively.

For the past 37 years, he has shifted back and forth between being an on-snow and an in-office worker at the provincial and national levels – Southern Ontario Division, head coach and program director, 1986-90; Ontario ski team, head coach, 1991-92; Alpine Ontario, managing director, 1992-93; Canadian alpine ski team, program director, 1994-2005; and Ontario ski team, athletic director, 2006-2010.

Since August 2010, Lavigne has put down deep roots with the National Capital Outaouais ski team as its head coach and program director. It’s a job he finds so rewarding that retirement is a distant thought.

“To me, I’ve been doing it so long, it almost gets easier and I can focus on the things I care about – the kids and making them more successful,” Lavigne said.

The job comes so naturally for him, it hardly seems like work.

“I’m not sure I’ve worked a day in my life. I do what I like. I consider myself fortunate,” he added.

When he was introduced to skiing back in the 1960s, it was all about families getting together to enjoy recreational alpine skiing. Today, families still play a big role in his dual job with the NCO team.

“The proximity of the hills to the city makes its affordable for the families to drive up to the ski hills. They don’t need a second home,” Lavigne said. “Driving to the hill gives them a reduced financial aspect to the sport.

“The community involved really gets it. It’s all athlete-centred and focused to do the best for the athletes. It falls in line with what I believe.”

He also believes he would like to be the head coach and program director of the NCO team for another four years.

“It’s funny. Getting up and going to the hill I find gets harder and harder. But once I’m at the hill and interact, everything falls into place. This is where I need to be. If I can help and contribute … it just feels right.”

When Alpine Ontario executive director Patrick Biggs of Ottawa had Lavigne as a coach, he saw a man who not only had skiing expertise, but also someone who was able “to connect and build trust with his athletes.”

“He is a patient teacher, whose message is simple, well understood, and falls in line with a well thought-out, long-term master development strategy he’s concocted for each of his athletes,” said Biggs, a former World Cup technical racer.

“He’s empathetic when needed, taking the time to speak at length with athletes as they work through the emotional challenges. He’s direct when conveying important values that build respect amongst others and builds a team and culture of excellence.

“Year after year, he continues his life’s work of developing great skiers, building community and pathways, guiding athletes along their journey and opening doors and opportunities for them to succeed in the sport and life.”

Former Canadian racer Mikaela Tommy of Wakefield, PQ., also has a high level of respect for Lavigne.

“(Joey) had a way of making you feel like you could trust him from Day 1, and since, I have never felt different,” she said. “The way he spoke about skiing just made everything feel so simple. Simple to say that being coached by Joey made skiing feel enjoyable.”