Interview: Phil Dixon, Olympic Development Programme Coach

Words & Images: Joolze Dymond

I've spent quite a bit of 2007 watching Britain's best young Cross-Country riders in action, both at races and at training camps with the GB Team's Olympic Development Programme (ODP). Aimed at riders in the Junior category, the ODP for Cross-Country Mountain Biking is only just a year old, yet it already has a world championship medal to its credit, thanks to David Fletcher's memorable bronze at Fort William. I recently spoke to the ODP's Cross-Country Coach, Phil Dixon and found out what the programme is all about.

Joolze: It's very early days for the ODP as far as XC racing goes; do you think you're on the right path?

Phil: I think we have the basis of a very successful programme and I believe we have a good group of very talented mountain bikers on that programme at the moment that we are working with.

JD: Have the bare bones for the programme have been 'borrowed' from the successful track programme?

PD: Yes and no really. We have borrowed some aspects but we've also introduced some of our own ideas as well. Across all aspects of the sport, we communicate well and share ideas. If something is working we all share our ideas to improve the programmes accordingly to get the best for both the riders and the programme.

Phil and the riders discuss training at a Fort William camp in August

JD: Are you the sole coach on this programme at the moment?

PD: Yes, but I have a strong selection of back up staff and of course the Programme's Manager, Helen Mortimer, who coordinates the ODO across all disciplines. It's good to have not only Helen's input but also the coaches from the other ODP disciplines; its healthy and sharing ideas is incredibly useful.

JD: You are a very hands-on coach. Having raced to a very high standard yourself, do think you are in a great position to pass on your experiences to the younger riders?

PD: Yes, I do have my," been there, done that got the t-shirt" but I back that up with my degree in Physical Education with sport. I'm now putting some of my experience into this role but I also listen quite a lot to my riders as well and the team in general. I believe in a two way process.

JD: I have noticed that you are very patient in your approach to the riders and you are very keen to praise them but you also keep a very positive outlook even if something doesn't go to plan.

PD: I find with my riders now, if they do something wrong they know it themselves. I don't need to rub their noses in it. You have to be firm at times, over punctuality for example, but they learn quickly.

JD: What are the aims of the ODP?

PD: The aim of the ODP is to get the rider up to the next level, which is the Academy programme, and they in turn aim to move that rider on to the Podium programme: the Podium programme is all about getting the riders onto the podium at Senior World Championship and Olympic level. What we try to do is give them a package, a grounding, teach them to look after themselves, get a professional outlook, get some good fitness, work their technical skills and enjoy themselves whilst doing this. Then the next stage is giving them aims and then you start to load them a bit more with the training and then take them to the next level. Most of them will still be involved in a school environment, however we expect the riders to commit heavily to the ODP around the school timetables. It's not easy, but it's part of the process of turning the riders from good riders into world class riders.

JD: Do you get many problems, as the riders are quite young and most are at school when they are accepted on the ODP?

PD: Being on the ODP is a big commitment and the riders have to plan and balance school work with being a bike rider. The majority do very well, but some struggle at times. However if they want to be become world class bike riders they need to understand it will never be easy. Many people think I'm working with juniors on the ODP. I don't see it like that - I believe that I'm working with young adults and treat them accordingly. That's a very different scenario. Say they are struggling to turn up on time for training and their bags were all over the room they weren't at all organised. It's no wonder they didn't turn up on time. Now if you point that out to them in a discussion, it's much more positive than if you shout your head off at them. Shouting they won't respond. Talk it through and they take responsibility and learn. Generally!

JD: It's all about life skills then?

PD: Yes we think that's very important. If you look at any World Champions, yeah they have a talent but they are also very disciplined and very committed. Teaching our riders life skills enables them to integrate into a professional team, if they get the chance, and that's where discipline and commitment have to be second nature. We want them to feel they can fend for themselves.

And life skills overlap with bike racer skills too. They have to learn how to get the most out of themselves despite travel and stress. They've got to learn to be organised, to rest when they can, use trolleys at the airport, all those little things which make their lives as stress free and as restful as possible.
.
Earlier in the year they raced the European Champs in 47 degree heat and it took a lot out of them, then the following week they were racing the Nationals. But they all did very well, because they approached each race with a professional outlook, none of them were stressed and everything fell into place. It proved the point for them.

Contrasting images of Phil and ODP Manager Helen Mortimer - left, looking worried, probably by the Fort William weather and right, checking rider data back in the office

JD: It's been said that mountain biking is the poor cousin to Track and Road in the GB Team. Is that true?

PD: I don't think it is, we are getting fresh talent in every year and the national series seems to be growing year on year. Our aims are to make GB a force to be reckoned with on the world stage and I would like to see us qualifying three places for the men at least at the London Olympics. Most of the current juniors I'm working with will be elite then, along with the under 23 Academy riders, so we should have a better representation at the top end.

Hopefully our riders will progress onto pro teams and become like Oli and Liam. Ideally you bring the rider on and educate them and they graduate to riding for pro teams, except at the major championships. We'll still benefit from their points won, but their teams support them and we channel our funding into bringing on more young riders.

JD: How is the ODP funded?

PD: We're funded by the National Lottery, through UK Sport. The funding is proportionate to the Olympic medal opportunities, so with mountain biking you've got senior men and senior women. That's it. If you look at the track, there's a lot more medals to be won, and therefore more funding. But there's another element to it and that's success - more success also leads to more funding, and we believe that as the programme goes forward we will get more results and then more funding will follow.

JD: How have the ODP riders you coach come on this year?

PD: Since last year the riders have come on very strongly. You could see their strength in the National events where there were some real battles: Alex Paton won a round, Hamish Creber won two (and they're both first year juniors) and Dave Fletcher won two rounds. That's a very healthy event and great competition. You also got other juniors desperate to get onto the ODP, so they were trying to beat the ODP riders. Everyone's levels were going up.

Last year I had a bunch of riders who could ride cross-country okay. Now I have a bunch of riders who can descend incredibly fast and are starting to limit the amount of time that they lose on those descents, but there is another level that we need to get them to. I'm pretty impressed with how far they've progressed in such a short amount of time. I think how fast our juniors are getting, has opened the eyes of a few senior riders.

And of course, the juniors are pushing the under 23s as well and that's taken them out of their comfort zone. If they ease up the juniors will just come along and take over, so we'll see a natural lift in both categories.

JD: Did you get a lot of applicants for the first intake, or was it more a case that you had already chosen who you wanted to work with?

PD: There is a Talent programme below the ODP, so a lot of riders are identified and picked up by Talent team before we see them. We have scouts looking out for talented riders at all levels. The riders currently on the ODP were all Talent Team riders and their development was carefully noted, then they had to apply like anyone else. We chose the final applicants on not only their strength as a bike rider, but also by looking at their commitment and dedication.

Phil watches Academy (Under-23) rider Ian Bibby training on the Fort William course

JD: Are the riders guaranteed to be on the programme for the full 2 years when they first get accepted?

PD: Not at all. Nothing is taken for granted and each rider's performance is reviewed at the end of each year and they have to reapply to get onto the next year. When you get on the ODP it doesn't mean you'll automatically go to the World Champs and doesn't mean you'll get onto the Academy, you still have to earn that right.

We run the ODP as a business, and the business is to ultimately produce riders ready for the Podium programme. You are going to lose some riders on the way and for young people that's pretty hard for them to absorb. When you lose a rider off the it's not because they're a bad bike rider, but to win a World or Olympic medal, you have to be a really special person, the best in the whole world at what you do. You need that 'x' factor.

Unfortunately there aren't many of those around, so to hit the performances that we need to run our business successfully, there will be a lot of disappointment. Hopefully we get to know the riders inside-out, know their strengths and weaknesses and know if they can successfully progress. It's just something you have to prepare the riders for; it's all part of the package we are trying to teach them.

JD: You have many different hats for this job don't you, so what would a typical day be like for you?

PD: Well, mainly talking to riders, looking at emails, talking to logistic people to plan things out, speak to other coaches, exchanging ideas between ourselves. At the moment I'm thinking about how we can secure as many Olympic places as we can. Communication is a very big part of my job and I suppose I do a lot of over viewing, with many projects on the go at any one time! Making sure that each project you have an interest in is going as you planned and keeping a watchful eye on it takes a lot of time.

Most people think that when the Worlds finished that was it, I could take it easy, but it wasn't like that I was straight back to work, calculating how many points we have and how to achieve more for next year and the Olympics. So that means looking at what races we need to attend or deciding that that is all we can get and concentrating on other aspects. The job never stops. After the Worlds, every rider rang me on the Monday and we went through their races then set their training out.

I'm constantly talking to riders. They need to know their training schedules. I don't just bang out schedules for months at a time, each rider has different needs, communication is the key, I listen and work out what is suitable for them at that time. The plan is very flexible as each rider is an individual.

JD: Tell me how the ODP training camps work.

PD: In the run up to the World's in Fort William, for example, we visited that course for 3 camps, which meant our riders were incredibly relaxed about the course, they knew it intimately. This gave them confidence going into the event. The camps are also an important way for the team to bond and get to know each other. Sometimes it's hard for riders to feel they are part of a team: mountain biking really isn't a team sport, it's an individual effort, but behind the scenes our ODP riders are good friends and work well as a team.

Right: Phil can ride a bit himself. He won the National Cyclo-Cross title back in January 2007

Camps are very intensive for all involved, riders, coaches and staff and you have to lead by example. We use up every minute of every day, they get the rest they need but they also work incredibly hard.
There's no point spending money on these camps if we don't get all we can out of them. If the riders go home tired but fired up then we've had a good camp.

After each camp we review how it went and find out what worked and what didn't change the format accordingly. We have quite a challenging program throughout the week. When they're off the bikes I'll nip round to each rider and see how they're doing. By doing that you're building up a picture of that rider all the time and assessing how different riders are responding to the workload. Some cope better than others, so you tweak their workloads accordingly.

JD: Finally, Phil, what's next after your first successful year?

PD: Well our plans have already been drawn up for next year. At the back of our head we have London 2012 and at the front we have Beijing, so all our plans are focussing in on our development towards those two events and developing riders who can take on those challenges and perform accordingly.

JD: Thanks Phil and good luck for 2008!