B.C. resident enjoying ‘dream coaching job’ with U.S. ski team

After an amazing run as head coach of Freestyle B.C.’s moguls team, Josh Kober of Penticton has landed the job of his dreams.

The 28-year-old alumnus of the Apex Freestyle Club was selected last spring to take on the head coach role of the United States National Development Team.

Now, at the midway point of his first season, he admitted there’s considerably more stress — but it’s a challenge he’s loving.

“You have all the eyes on you being at the World Cup with the U.S. team, the biggest and strongest team in the world, so all the pressure is on you for sure,” he said during an interview last weekend at the Nor-Am competition at Apex.

“You feel that pressure and it’s a fun challenge, but (the U.S. skiers) are laying it down and making me look good. It’s been an awesome start.”

It was his father, Rob Kober — who coached Canada’s national team for more than 15 years and is now the AFC head coach — who brought the job to his son’s attention while on a family vacation in Mexico.

“I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m pretty happy with the B.C. team and I see myself still doing that but you know, why not? So I’ll throw my name into the hat and wait to see what happens,’” he recalled about starting the process.

“The next thing I knew I was getting an offer to do the job.”

Kober added: “I was pretty surprised and I actually wasn’t really prepared to take the job. I mean, I’m confident in my own coaching abilities but I just didn’t think they would hire a Canadian.”

His future bosses at the United States Ski and Snowboard Association obviously liked what they saw on his resume from his last five years at the helm of the B.C. team.

During that time, Kober produced the best conversion rate in the country with the most provincial skiers rising to the Canadian national team.

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Added to that was the high percentage of athlete retention and the low percentage of injury in a sport with inherent risk.

In announcing that Kober was leaving, Freestyle B.C. wrote: “Josh built on our culture of excellence in a very measured and pragmatic way. His presence will be missed; however, his legacy will live on through our team.”

Taking this next step up the ladder of his coaching career has had an added bonus for him personally.

“Getting to the World Cup was always my goal as an athlete and one I was never able to crack; I wasn’t good enough,” said Kober.

“We’ve had a few World Cup opportunities, my first as a coach, and now to get to that level, it feels really good.”

And when he needs some advice, he only has to turn to his father.

“I think he listens to his dad,” Rob said with a smile. “It’s been fun for me talking shop with him. He’s pretty good about asking for advice and pretty good about not always taking it when he thinks it’s dumb. He definitely thinks for himself.

“Josh, for better or worse, has had a similar path into coaching as I did but he wasn’t blessed with the body type, he should have played hockey.”

He described his son’s relationship with his new team as still in the ‘honeymoon stage’ and thinks the true test of his coaching ability is yet to come.

“For sure, at that level, when things go sideways and expectations aren’t met — inevitably, he’ll experience that — we’ll see how he negotiates those waters,” said Rob.

“He’s had some of that testing as B.C. coach and he handled those situations quite well. But in this job, the stakes are much higher, so it will be interesting. I have all the confidence he can do the job and I think he still has some unfinished business in this sport.”

Moguls skiing is deeply rooted in the Kober family. Josh’s brother, Jordan, is a World Cup silver medalist and his sister, Chloe, is a former B.C. team member.

For Josh, his new job is an opportunity to expand his passion for coaching and developing young talent and maybe one day of following in his father’s footsteps all the way to Olympic gold.