truebluefan

Former U.S. Ski Team Jumping Coach Greg Poirier will return to the Team as the nordic combined Continental Cup/Development coach according to Nordic Director John Farra.

"I am excited to have Greg back with the Team. He brings a tremendous amount of experience into the position from his previous coaching work with us and his ability to identify talent to helping athletes achieve their potential," Farra said. "It's nice to have him back as we ramp up for success at the World Championships this season and the Olympic Games in 2010."

Poirier, who was the ski jumping coach from 1988-1992 and the jumping coach for the nordic combined team from 1993-1996, says he's excited to get back and be able to help young athletes.

"My goal is to get more of our B team athletes to the World Cup," Poirier said. "I'll also be looking at our domestic development and making sure that we have lots of kids in the pipeline and that we're doing what we can to help and support them."

In his 11 years away from the Team, Poirier was the program director for the National Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Training Center in Canada. From there he moved on to be the team leader for the Canadian nordic combined Olympic team before being named executive director for the National Sports Foundation in Park City, UT.

According to Poirier, his experience in helping young athletes grow from the club level on up is his passion and something he plans to continue in his new job.

"The excitement is in watching our young athletes develop and hopefully some day watching them develop to the point where they're marching side by side with you at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics," Poirier said.

A former athlete himself, Poirier plans to use his previous experience with the U.S. Ski Team to aide in further development of the nordic combined program.

"The main thing for me is to do what I can to help our athletes perform the best that they can," Poirier said. "I feel like I was instrumental in bringing U.S. nordic combined to a new level and it's nice to come back to that knowing we have some real talent. I'm excited to be involved in the whole program again."

Poirier, who lives in Heber, UT with his wife Shannon and two daughters Dani and Brie, will begin his position this summer.

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