Mike Jankowski, (born 1976) known as "Coach Janks," is a

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ...

and

snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Ma ...

ing coach.

Early life

Jankowski is from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

, the youngest child of Madaline and Len Jankowski. He graduated from Christian Brothers High School, and attended

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

Coaching career

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Jankowski was a snowboarding instructor at

Arizona Snowbowl Arizona Snowbowl is an alpine ski resort in the southwest United States, located on the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona, north of Flagstaff. The Snowbowl ski area covers approximately one percent of the San Francisco Peaks, and its s ...

near Flagstaff. He was coach of the U.S. Junior National Team, then promoted to assistant coach of the Olympic Team, before being given the head coaching job. Jankowski was the Head U.S. Freeskiing and U.S. Snowboarding Coach, and the U.S. Snowboarding

Halfpipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave r ...

and

Slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. The disc ...

Head Coach, for the 2014 U.S. Snowboarding Team at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

in Sochi, Russia. He has coached

Gretchen Bleiler Gretchen Elisabeth Bleiler (born April 10, 1981) is an American former professional halfpipe snowboarder. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics. Career Born in Toledo, Ohio, Bleiler aspired to compete in the Winter X Games from a very ...

Kelly Clark Kelly Clark (born July 26, 1983) is an American snowboarder who won halfpipe gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Clark was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She started snowboarding when she was 7 years old, began competing in 1999, and became a me ...

Arielle Gold Arielle Townsend Gold (born May 4, 1996) is an American Olympic medalist snowboarder. In 2012, she won the gold medal in the halfpipe at the FIS Junior Snowboarding World Championships, at the age of 15. The next year, she won the gold medal in ...

Taylor Gold Taylor Gold (born November 17, 1993) is an American Olympian snowboarder. He competes in the halfpipe. He is a two-time U.S. Revolution Tour champion, 2013 Copper Mountain Grand Prix/World Cup champion, 2014 Burton US Open champion, and 201 ...

Danny Kass Daniel "Danny" Kass (born September 21, 1982) is an American professional snowboarder who has competed at the Olympic level. Kass was born in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, and began snowboarding in the area at the age of twelve. His home slopes a ...

, Scotty Lago,

Hannah Teter Hannah Teter (born January 27, 1987) is an American snowboarder. She is an Olympic champion, having won the gold medal in the halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy and silver at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.< ...

, and

Shaun White Shaun Roger White (born September 3, 1986) is an American former professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He is a five-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. He holds the world record for the most X ...

, and as of February 2014 had coached athletes to 19 Olympic medals since 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jankowski, Mike Living people Sportspeople from Memphis, Tennessee Northern Arizona University alumni Snowboarding in the United States Skiing in the United States 1976 births