Alpine Race Coaches Institute
Coach Education & CertificationAlpine Ski Race Coach Education
2026 / 27 International Program
ARCI educates and certifies alpine ski race coaches, from junior racing to international high-performance competition.
Three Certification Levels · One Professional Pathway
Now Open
ARCI Masterclass Series — now open
World Cup, Olympic and national-team coaches live, online. Certified ARCI coaches attend free of charge.
Upcoming
Next courses and events
Open Education
Ski Racing Foundations
Thursdays 5 November to 10 December 2026 · Live online
Register by 29 October 2026
Open Education
Parents Guide to Young Athlete Development
Tuesdays 10 and 17 November 2026 · Live online
Register by 3 November 2026
Open Education
Mental Training Fundamentals for Young Athletes
Wednesday 11 November 2026 · Live online
Register by 4 November 2026
Open Education
Mental Training for High Performance
Wednesdays 18 and 25 November 2026 · Live online
Register by 11 November 2026
The professional development of alpine ski race coaches.
Race coaching is a profession requiring judgment across technical, tactical, physiological and psychological domains. ARCI structures that development across three certification levels, from developing racers to high-performance international competition, on a single international standard.
Education, assessment, certification and continuing professional development form the framework that supports a coach's career progression.
International Coach Education
The International Transfer of Coaching Knowledge
Alpine ski race coaching is taught almost entirely within national systems. Each national qualification reflects the tradition, the terrain and the competitive structure of the country that issues it, and its content is designed to serve that country’s athletes.
At the highest level, coaching knowledge does move between countries. World Cup coaches change teams and nations across a career, and each appointment carries methods from one racing culture into another. That exchange involves a small number of programs and a small number of people, and it reaches few of the environments in which most coaching takes place.
ARCI was established to address this. It teaches alpine ski race coaching as a single international subject across the whole pathway, independent of any national federation, so that the practice developed at the top of the sport is available to coaches working at every level and in any country.
The institute was created by coaches whose careers have been spent at Olympic and World Cup level, in order to make that experience available beyond the programs and the nations in which it was accumulated.
Our Purpose
To advance alpine ski racing through the education, assessment and certification of race coaches, from developing-racer environments to high-performance international competition.
Our Vision
An international professional community of certified race coaches, supported through structured education, mentoring and continuing professional development.
Our Values
Excellence
High professional standards across education and assessment.
People
Athletes, coaches, mentors and the coaching community.
Development
Continuing professional development throughout a coach's career.
Integrity
Professional ethics and conduct.
International community
An international community of certified race coaches.
The Institute
ARCI is structured as a university for alpine ski race coaching: a formal course of education, with a curriculum, examinations and a qualification, through which the practice developed at World Cup and Olympic level is taught down through every level of the sport to the base. It is an international professional education and certification institute for alpine ski race coaching, based in Zug, Switzerland, providing a structured certification pathway covering developing-racer coaching, competitive and FIS athlete development, and high-performance national-team, World Cup and Olympic environments.
ARCI Education Integrates
Faculty Includes
Education, field practice and assessment, aligned to the demands of coaching competitive alpine ski racers.
A certification pathway for alpine ski race coaches, from developing-racer environments to high-performance international competition.
Certification Levels
Each qualification corresponds to a defined coaching environment, from junior race groups through to national-team, World Cup and Olympic programs.
First level
ARCI Alpine Ski Race Coach
Ski, see and coach developing racers in free skiing and gate training.
Second level
ARCI Advanced Alpine Ski Race Coach
Analyze, diagnose and develop competitive athletes across technical and speed disciplines.
Third level
ARCI Elite Alpine Ski Race Coach
Integrate, optimize and lead in national-team, World Cup and Olympic environments.
Every certified ARCI coach is assigned a mentor. Mentoring continues at every qualification level.
Open Education · Short Courses
ARCI Open Education
Six short courses taught live online between late October and mid December 2026, for parents, for teachers and chaperones, and for racers and their coaches. Registration opens 1 October.
Parents Guide to Young Athlete Development
What to expect from a child’s racing years, and the boundaries of a parent’s role.
For teachers and chaperones
Ski Racing Foundations
The knowledge and the responsibilities involved in taking young skiers to the mountain.
Mental Training Fundamentals for Young Athletes
The mental skills a young racer applies in training and in competition.
FIS level and onward
Mental Training for High Performance
Applied sport psychology for FIS-level and international competition.
World Cup practice
High Performance Ski Preparation & Boot Fitting
Ski service and boot fitting as practised at World Cup level.
FIS level and onward
Speed — Training and Racing Fundamentals
The determinants of performance in super-G and downhill, and the preparation they require.
