Change Of Leadership At Stams Ski High School
With over 300 medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships, the Stams Ski High School is a globally recognized training facility that has produced countless successful athletes. Arno Staudacher was at the helm of the school for almost twenty years, but is retiring soon. The school's sports director Harald Haim will take over the management. He will lead the Stams Ski High School into a promising future as a place of excellence, where talents are forged and dreams are realized.
The school was founded in 1967, the first of its kind in the world, as a training ground for Austrian skiing. After initially unsuccessful years – by 1973 only 15 of the 80 alpine skiers had achieved squad membership of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) – the first World Championship medal was won by a graduate in 1975 and the first Olympic gold medal in 1976. Today the school is one of the most successful sports schools in Austria and worldwide.
The school is jointly owned by the Republic of Austria , the state of Tyrol and the Cistercian monastery of Stams . The school is supported by the school association “Stams Boarding School for Skiers”
During Arno Staudacher's term of office, important innovations were made that have made the Stams Ski High School one of the leading educational institutions in Austria: The last challenges were preparing for the central Matura, coping with the difficult times during the Corona pandemic and, most recently, transferring the school to the regular school system: "We know that the school experiment is over. We have submitted our ideas on how Stams can continue to work successfully and have been waiting for a response ever since, but I am optimistic," says Arno Staudacher , hoping that this step can be completed soon.
Arno Staudacher has always been passionate about providing the best possible education for "his" students. The outgoing director is considered to be exceptionally committed. His work was always people-oriented, which is why he campaigned for excellent working conditions at the Stams Ski High School. He also did not shy away from representing his views, which earned him a reputation as a provocateur: "In order to get something done, you have to make a noise. It didn't matter to me whether the president of the ÖSV or a colleague was sitting across from me. In the end, everyone forgave me. And being loud paid off for our students." Arno Staudacher will go down in history as the director with the most construction projects: the girls' and boys' boarding schools were expanded and completely renovated under his aegis, and the sports facilities were also expanded and renovated on a large scale.
Arno Staudacher was already working at the Stams Ski High School before his time as director: from 1987 to 2005 he was a trainer and department head, and from 2000 to 2005 he was also the school's sports director. This was the time when preventive performance training was introduced: "The Stams Ski High School proved its innovative strength. We developed it and established it sustainably," says Arno Staudacher proudly. These approaches are now "state of the art" and have been adopted by the associations.
Harald Haim takes over the management
As a long-term cooperation partner of the Austrian Ski Association, Stams has been providing the best conditions for combining school and top-class sport for decades: "With the change in management from Arno Staudacher to Harald Haim, the school will continue on its successful path and the cooperation with Ski Austria will continue on an equal footing," says ÖSV sports director Mario Stecher . He thanked Arno Staudacher for his commitment and his passion for skiing and the very friendly cooperation. "We look forward to continuing our good cooperation with Stams. The junior sector is our top priority. As snow sports enthusiasts, we have to inspire our community," adds Mario Stecher.
Harald Haim also sees it as a shared responsibility to convey enthusiasm for skiing as early as possible: "The first contact with our sports often takes place in local clubs. Once the children and young people have had their first experiences in sport, it is then a matter of gaining the trust of their parents." Harald Haim, born in 1967, is himself a graduate of the school and has been working as a ski jumping coach in Stams since 1994. In 2000 he was appointed head of the ski jumping division and since 2006 he has also been the sports director of the house. Harald Haim is also chairman of the FIS Youth/Children Subcommittee in ski jumping and Nordic Combined and is the ÖSV's youth representative. "We have to be clear that the Stams Ski High School is not just about sports training. The dual training involves certain hurdles that must be overcome - not so that there is a professional plan B, but because the students have to prove their strength in order to be successful. This personality development is important if you want to become a world champion," Harald Haim is convinced.
The new director is planning on having a certain amount of flexibility in the future in order to successfully develop the Stams Ski High School: "The general conditions for winter sports are changing. The time in which you can train with guaranteed snow is becoming more limited and this is also having an impact on school operations. We have already developed concepts to meet this challenge. We will always be changing... it is never finished, it will always continue." Mario Stecher assures that the ÖSV will support him in these matters: "Winter is changing and so training behavior must also change. We are convinced that we should not limit ourselves here. The ÖSV can be a partner here to communicate this correctly."
School graduation party with the State Sports Councillor
Following the press conference, the traditional end-of-school party took place. In the presence of sports representative Georg Dornauer, the students of the Stams Ski High School were honored for their outstanding sporting and academic achievements:
