Mark Birdseye Has Been An Unsung Hero For U.S. Para Nordic Skiing For Years

Mark Birdseye can name a long list of Winter Paralympians who’ve slept in his basement while they were training with him in Winter Park, Colorado.

They include Paralympic gold medalists Dan Cnossen and Kendall Gretsch, as well as Oksana Masters, the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time.

Birdseye said he has felt like a father watching Para Nordic skiers who’ve stayed in his home go on to have success on the world’s largest stage. He also convinced 2018 Paralympian Joy Rondeau to give skiing a try after meeting her at church.

Birdseye has served as the coach of the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) competitive Nordic skiing and biathlon program since it was started a little more than a decade ago. He estimated close to 100 adaptive athletes have come through the program since then.

He’s now looking to grow the program after he recently retired from his position as a physical education teacher.

“I’m like the grandpa of the (Nordic skiing) program for the U.S., I feel like in some ways,” Birdseye said. “So that’s pretty awesome to see those people achieve things that maybe they didn’t realize they had in them, and I get to be a part of that.”

In 2010, the NSCD received a grant to start a competitive Nordic skiing and biathlon program. Birdseye was asked to oversee the program since he was a skier and had experience as an administrator of a Nordic skiing center.

The program, which is based in the Fraser Valley in northern Colorado, has helped to train Paralympians — both in the U.S. and across the globe. The elevation in the valley is more than 8,500 feet, giving athletes the opportunity to ski at a high altitude.

Birdseye said the British Para Nordic skiing team held its first training camp with the NSCD. He has also coached Para Nordic skiers from Brazil and Finland, and he has worked year-round with American skiers who have the goal of someday qualifying for the Winter Paralympics.

“I’ve worked with athletes who they think they want to race and then maybe change their mind,” Birdseye said. “But they’re like ‘I’m going places I never thought I’d go again after I got injured — like skiing out and climbing hills and going into the forest.’

“And then you see the person who sets the goal of making the (U.S.) team, and they end up doing that. That brings me a lot of joy seeing them achieve a goal that they set before them.”

The NSCD program currently has two athletes training full time in the Fraser Valley and a handful of adaptive athletes who ski periodically with Birdseye.

Gretsch introduced Michael Stone, who’s visually impaired, to Birdseye after she met Stone when she visited a multisport store that Stone owns in Boulder, Colorado. While Stone was a triathlete like Gretsch, he told her that his true passion was Nordic skiing.

Gretsch encouraged Stone to contact Birdseye and BethAnn Chamberlain, a development coach with U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing. Stone now competes in Para Nordic skiing.

“Mark was my first go-to five going on six years ago. He took me to another level,” Stone said. “He pointed out deficiencies in my (ski) technique, and he took me under his wing with a dotted line to BethAnn.”

Stone said Birdseye is “essential” to the Para Nordic skiing community in the Winter Park area. Stone, along with sit skier Craig Towler, are now working with Birdseye to help expand the NSCD program after its roster of athletes declined some over the past few years.

The program got a boost several years ago when Cnossen, now a seven-time Paralympic medalist, moved to the Fraser Valley and started training with Birdseye.

Cnossen was new to Para Nordic skiing at the time, and he was still adjusting after losing both of his legs in an explosion while serving as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan.

When Cnossen traveled to Argentina to ski, he told several Brazilian athletes about the NSCD program. The introduction led to Birdseye serving as a Para Nordic skiing coach for Brazil at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics, where Cnossen also made his Paralympic debut for the U.S.

“I’ve got kind of a compassionate heart along with that competitive side, and I feel like that fits adaptive sport really well trying to understand the athlete and what they’re going through,” Birdseye said. “And then if they want to compete, it’s like, ‘OK, we’re going to train like we’re competitive.’”

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordicSkiing.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.