Coaching keeps education grad young

World Cup champion in freestyle skiing. nine national titles, 12-year member of Canada's national freestyle team, coach to the fourth-place finisher at 2002 Salt Lake Olympics. Oh, and a new master's degree in education from UVic.

This is just a sampling of the accomplishments Murray Cluff has under his belt.

As a teen growing up in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Cluff had a passion for downhill skiing. The trouble was, the closest mountain was a five-hour car trip away. His father would drive the young athlete to the mountain each weekend. "We went to where the snow was," says Cluff.

An accident left Cluff unable to continue downhill, so when a friend suggested freestyle skiing, he jumped at the chance. He competed in his first national competition in 1976 and enjoyed a successful career until retiring in 1994.

"I was 34 at that time and I went through withdrawal," he says. "I'd been in a sports bubble for 18 years, and my father, who was a principal, suggested I go to school and take an education degree."

He graduated with a BA from the University of Calgary in 1996 and, at the same time, turned his attention to coaching freestyle. He led the national team and worked with Olympic Gold medalist Jean Luc Brassard.

As a way to improve his coaching, he began his master's degree at UVic in 1996, studying during the summers and coaching in the winters. "I know what sports did for me," he says. "I learned lifelong skills, things I apply everyday in other areas of my life. I want to give kids the chance to experience what I did."

Cluff is currently training a 21-year old athlete on the national team, who placed fourth at Salt Lake. This year, she became the first Canadian female to win the freestyle Grand Prix title in moguls, and is an early gold medal favourite for 2006.

"Coaching is an amazing experience," he says. "No matter where you are in life, the kids keep you young. They have so much enthusiasm - there's nothing like it."