Peter McNiel, a mathematics and statistics graduate from the University of Melbourne, found himself at a pivotal moment in his career. While juggling part-time moguls coaching with a promising future in financial services, he faced a stark reality: the development space in Australian moguls skiing lacked significant opportunities and financial backing.
“We were funded well for the high-performance team, but I was in a development space and we didn’t have a lot of… there wasn’t a lot of opportunity in that space just because moguls is more of a niche sport,” McNiel shared with ABC Sport. “There was not a lot of money floating around, so I kind of had to pay my own way for quite a long time before I ended up working with the National Team Program. I wasn’t really making any money from ski coaching and there wasn’t any available positions in Australia for me to do that.”
An offer to coach in Canada, which included the chance to work alongside moguls legend Mikaël Kingsbury, presented a tempting prospect. However, McNiel felt a profound commitment to fostering the growth of Australian moguls skiing.
“But I guess I had a really deep connection with wanting to help make the pathway in Australia more successful and help create the opportunity to have other people make it to this level, the Olympic level,” he explained. “Now, at that point in time, I was in the development space, but I was just trying to play my part and help give people the opportunity to move up to a level where they could qualify on our national team and then get their shot at being an Olympic athlete.”
McNiel had witnessed the transformative impact of a successful program firsthand. He was present when Dale Begg-Smith, coached by Steve Desovich, clinched a Winter Olympic gold medal in 2006, a moment that ignited his own passion for coaching development. Yet, the allure of a more established career path loomed.
What ultimately anchored McNiel to Australia were the promising young athletes he was mentoring. “My final decision was more around, I was working with a couple of athletes at that time,” he revealed. “One was called Cooper Woods. And one was Jakara Anthony.” The rest, as the saying goes, is now history.
The Power of a Dedicated Team
Following the Australian moguls team’s historic achievement as the most successful Australian contingent at a Winter Olympics, McNiel, met in a cafe in Vignola, immediately emphasised the collective nature of their success.
“There’s a lot of people involved in that journey,” McNiel stated, reflecting the same humility that permeates his entire squad. “I’m the head coach of the National Team Program and as a head coach, in this instance, there’s recognition and people are talking about it because the whole team performs so well. If we’d had a massive failure here, I’d be copping a lot of recognition personally as being the person responsible for that. But ultimately, I’m just a figurehead for a whole group of people that work all at the same level of intensity and commitment that I do. They say it takes a village. In this instance, it takes a small team of really dedicated people and really motivated people that are willing to go to the nth degree.”
His sentiment was echoed by Australia’s Chef de Mission, Alisa Camplin-Warner, and Snow Australia President, Daniel Bosco.
“Pete McNiel, Kate, they spend 320 days of the year away from home on the road with the athletes, totally invested in what they’re doing,” Bosco remarked. “They leave no stone unturned when it comes to technical outcomes. I’m almost a believer that those guys could pick up anyone off the street at a young age and turn them into good athletes, they’re so good at what they do.”
Camplin-Warner described the coaching setup as “elite,” singling out McNiel for his leadership. “He leads with his heart,” she said. “He’s a really passionate and committed coach… I’ve talked about the great humans in this team, it’s not just about the athletes that are remarkable role models, but it’s the coaches. The investment and the cohesiveness and collaboration of all the staff that have to work in these bubbles. It’s been pretty special.”
The Art and Science of Coaching Moguls
McNiel’s perspective on coaching extends beyond technical prowess to the psychological fortitude required in a sport as demanding as moguls.
“Coaching’s a funny thing,” McNiel mused. “You’re talking about people, working with people. When you do a sport like moguls or any of these winter sports, you’re putting yourself out there, you’re doing really hard things against other people in the world that are trying to beat you and be the best in the world — you’re all trying to be the best in the world. You have to do the work, you have to have the skills, all these things, but you have to have the self-belief to be able to push yourself to your limit or beyond. And it’s hard to carry that self-belief on your own. Some people can do it and hats off to them, but I think coaches and the team can help you believe in the moments of doubt, keep maintaining that self-belief and even build it to a higher level to give you the belief that you need to go and execute your skills and your performance in the critical moments. Why? Because you’re not just out there on your own. You’ve got a whole team of people holding you up and helping you get there. That’s kind of my philosophy for coaching. I’m just one person… but the group of people that we’ve amassed around the athletes and that we work together with are able to all bring that kind of mentality to the table.”
His own journey into coaching began with a passion for the sport rather than a predetermined career path. “I was really inspired by some opportunities I had as a junior coach, someone who was doing it just because I enjoyed the sport,” McNiel recalled. “I wasn’t a great athlete but I kind of had this pull towards moguls skiing and I wanted to give back a little bit. I never saw myself as a coach. Somewhere along the way, it kind of snowballed into a passion.”
The experience of witnessing Steve Desovich coach Dale Begg-Smith to Olympic gold left an indelible mark. “I think from those experiences I had with getting to see someone like Dale Begg-Smith work with Steve Desovich… I got to watch a gold-medal coach, coach a gold-medal athlete and I think at that moment, I was like, ‘Oh, this is amazing.’ I never thought for a second I’d be sitting here. Some people have known what they want from the start. I didn’t follow a conventional path.”
While McNiel’s background in mathematics might suggest a “Moneyball” approach to moguls, he clarifies that his use of statistics is more about informed decision-making than a rigid formula.
“I think the taking of really good statistics gives you an opportunity to make data-driven decisions,” McNiel explained. “See where you’re falling short, where you might be able to make gains, where your opportunities are. It can’t change the coaching, but it can highlight maybe things that you’re missing or areas where you’re doing well that you don’t realise because you’ve got hard evidence. You don’t rely on them, coaching’s more organic, but it’s just another check for you to make sure you’re on the right track or to make sure that you’re working towards the goals that you’re trying to achieve.”
In a judged sport like moguls, where subjective elements are inherent, McNiel prioritises athlete performance over external scoring.
“I have a strong belief that if you’re not getting the scores that you need, then we have to go away and improve your ability level and skill level to be able to execute to get the scores that you need,” McNiel asserted. “I think it’s really easy to get hung up on whether the judges gave you the right scores or not. But the only thing you can control is what you do yourself, your execution of your skills, the performance that you put together. If you get too caught up all the time in wanting to fight against the scores someone else subjectively gave you, there’s no real benefit to that — it’s never going to get you anywhere. Some people will try and game it to a whole other level… I think it’s getting a little bit too serious about things. I’m more about the human performance.”
Resilience and the Pursuit of Excellence
McNiel’s coaching philosophy was put to the ultimate test when Jakara Anthony, a strong favourite, missed out on a medal in the singles event. Her error early in the course dashed hopes of her becoming the first Australian to defend a Winter Olympic title. Despite the immense disappointment, Anthony demonstrated remarkable resilience, not only handling the situation with professionalism but also going on to win gold in the duals event shortly after.
“I was very proud,” McNiel stated. “I think the team’s proud. She represents a lot of things that we stand for as a team. I think in that moment we were all devastated, but you also understand the moment’s now passed. It will leave, maybe, some scars and some wounds that will heal, but there’s nothing you can do in that moment that’s going to actually change what just happened. We all digest things differently, but certainly I’m proud of how she handled herself. I think she carried herself very professionally.”
Another athlete who exemplified resilience under McNiel’s guidance was Matt Graham. McNiel described Graham as “a great ambassador” for moguls skiing, embodying “the values of hard work and grit.”
“I think the resilience that Matt’s shown and just pure toughness is phenomenal, and you can see that filter through our team because it’s infectious,” McNiel said. “Everyone feeds off the positive energy and the joy he brings. It makes you want to be out there. It keeps you accountable. It makes you — on a day when it might be raining and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, this sucks’ — think that this day’s an opportunity, this day’s a gift. He brings that to the team. It’s a phenomenal energy.”
This infectious energy, McNiel believes, is the lifeblood of their success. “I don’t even know if I try and live by that,” he admitted thoughtfully when asked about his effusive passion. “I think it’s one of those funny things, it’s like a cold fusion. Once it starts, once the team starts, the energy continues and it builds. You could see it out there. Everyone’s really into what we do, and the rest of our staff, the coaches and all the support, we feed off each other and we feed off that. It means that although we’re away from home 300 days in the year but it makes it worthwhile.”
McNiel is a firm believer in the importance of hard work, even participating in gym sessions with his team daily. However, he stresses that deriving enjoyment from that hard work is equally crucial.
“Hard work doesn’t have to have a defined look,” McNiel stated. “I’d say a good way to think about it, in my view, is the word fulfilment versus the word fun. Things can be fulfilling — and I personally think as you get older, you’re driven to find fulfilment in things — but doing the actual hard work might not be specifically fun. But the feeling that you gather from it has a deeper meaning. I feel like fun is in that moment and fulfilment is lasting. When you watch these guys at training, sometimes things are hard and hard things don’t always feel fun. I can’t imagine the guys when they’re squatting 150 kilos thinking that that’s fun. But the moment they put the weight down, the fulfilment you derive from achieving something — you can see it on their face. And the energy that it creates is amazing.”
This potent combination of dedication, resilience, and shared energy has propelled Australia’s moguls program to unprecedented heights, with a promising future ahead.
