Athlete, coach, educator, scholar: UH Hilo alumnus Andy Liebner runs Athens Marathon while doctoral student in Greece
Quintessential athlete Andy Liebner earned his master of arts in teaching at UH Hilo and is now a doctoral student in the sports psychology program at the University of Thessaly, Greece.
Andy Liebner, a University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo alumnus, emailed Chancellor Bonnie Irwin in November with some exciting news. The two met back in 2022 while Liebner was earning his master of arts in teaching. He is now attending the University of Thessaly in Greece pursuing his doctoral degree in sports psychology. But as exciting as that is, that’s not the reason he emailed.
“I wanted to share a recent event,” Liebner wrote to the chancellor. “Over this past weekend (Sunday, November 10th 2024) I completed a lifelong goal of running the Athens Marathon. The significance of this even is that it follows the original historic footsteps of the first recorded person to run a marathon distance in 490 BC. It goes from the city of Marathon to the historic Panathenaic marble stadium where the first Olympic games were held in Athens. UTH doesn’t have any sports teams, so athletic clothing is not available. I wore my UHH shirt bought at the book store!”
“I finished with a time of 2:59:20 in 256th place out of 21,000 participants,” he added.
A life story infused with sports as an athlete (NCAA to pro), a coach, an educator and scholar
Prior to arriving at UH Hilo in 2021 to earn a master of arts in teaching, Liebner, who hails from a small village in Alaska, had been a four time NCAA All-American in cross-country skiing. Initially competing for the University of Alaska, he’d left school in 2009 to move to Austria where he trained with Austrian, Italian, and Slovenian ski coaches to compete professionally.
During this time, he noticed a pattern to a ski skate technique called the V2. He says he “began studying the movement and timing for various grades of terrain for energy efficiency and power application to performance.” He shared some of his observations in a ski journal in 2010 and then in his book titled, Wild Shot: Life Lessons of a Cross Country Skier Turned Biathlete (Second Edition, 2011). “Since then, it’s been a discussion among U.S. ski team coaches; it was adopted as the method of instruction across the U.S.,” he says.
Further, these V2 observations would provide Liebner with the foundation for later research.
In 2010, Liebner returned to college at Northern Michigan University for a year before putting his studies on pause again to focus on a career in Olympic ski coaching. He was Peru’s head ski coach for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. After the Olympics, he finished his degree at Northern Michigan University, graduating in 2015.
Next: UH Hilo and launch of a new career
After competing and coaching at the highest levels of the sport, Liebner was ready for a change of pace. Aiming to become a high school ski coach, he enrolled in UH Hilo’s master of arts in teaching program in 2021. He liked the accelerated pace of the program which he found useful for “those who find themselves with a teaching degree, but without a teaching license.”
After completing their first year of the MAT program, students are eligible for teacher licensure through the Hawai’i Teacher Standards Board in their respective fields; the licensure is then accepted in all 50 states through a reciprocity program. The second year of the MAT program is remote, which allows students to study while working in a full time teaching position.
Liebner says he enjoyed that UH Hilo offered him a totally different environment.
“I had always lived in the snow belt region of North America and wanted to experience island life and understand more of the Hawaiian culture,” he says. “No other place that I know of that you can be studying on campus, then in less than 20 minutes be swimming with the sea turtles on a study break. It was unreal and I met a lot of interesting people on and off campus.”
He also felt that despite the change in climate, the culture of Hawaiʻi was very similar to the small Alaska community he’d grown up in.
“I found out about the deep roots between the connections Alaskans and Hawaiians have; we tend to pride ourselves in being outsiders compared to the continental 48 states,” he says.
Liebner completed his master’s research — on the impact of introducing skiing to Alaska kindergarten students — under the guidance of UH Hilo Professor of Education Jan Ray. He also notes the importance of his mentors Associate Professor of Education Margary Martin and education instructor Colby McNaugton. He particularly remembers the inspirational and comical teaching style of Associate Professor and Direct of the School of Education Tobias Irish that “allowed for learning to occur in a fun, positive way.”
This video introducing Coach Liebner was made for a class at UH Hilo:
Completing UH Hilo’s master’s in teaching program propelled Liebner into a full-time position as a physical education teacher in the Anchorage school district. While teaching, he also served as an assistant coach for Alaska’s ski team, helping to prepare them for the 2023 U.S. Junior National Championships that took place in Fairbanks, Alaska.
“It was extra special to coach the team as 20 years prior at the same venue, I competed as a junior in the Championships earning a few medals in the events,” he says.
He also coached high school cross country. “It’s always fun to be a part of youth sports and help them strive for greater successes.”
Doctoral research: Building on his research at UH Hilo and experiences within competitive skiing
Liebner’s interest in building on his work and theories he iterated through his 2010 observations on the V2 and education research at UH Hilo has now led him to Greece where he found a sports psychology doctoral program at the University of Thessaly. He’s putting in as much effort to completing the doctoral degree as he does into his athletic training.
His dissertation on applying the Optimized Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning (OPTIMAL) Theory to skiing builds upon his past research at UH Hilo and his experiences within competitive skiing. (Liebner notes that OPTIMAL, a theory of motor building that suggests motivation and attention contribute to performance and learning, was founded by Gabriele Wulf and Rebecca Lewthwaite, learn more.)
Liebner says completing a doctoral degree is an opportunity to verify everything he’s learned about skiing as a former athlete, a coach, and a teacher. He will conduct several experiments based around a series of observational tools he’s created and improved ski techniques he’s learned throughout his career. This work will be validated by other doctoral ski experts based in Norway and Sweden.
“This is my chance to get some real academic research and results to back up my concept, theory, and methods,” he says. “I am very passionate about it.”
When Liebner isn’t conducting research, he’s completing cardio workouts to maintain his health and improve his sleep quality. He notes the main purpose of his athletic training these days is enjoying nature, breathing fresh air, and watching sunsets, while sometimes focusing his training regimen on preparing for local sporting events like the Athens Marathon.
This past spring, he participated in the 2024 Homer Epic, a 100 kilometer ski race that took place in Alaska. Here’s a mini documentary produced by Liebner on the race showcasing Alaska’s beauty and race highlights.
“I always feel better after my workouts no matter what stress occurred in my day,” says Liebner, “Carrying this fitness into events like the Homer Epic 100K and Athens Marathon is great and keeps me feeling more connected with memories as an athlete, which now help me as a sports psychologist.”
Learn more
Coach Andy Liebner on Facebook
Andy Liebner on YouTube.
Story by Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan, a graduate student in library science and information at UH Mānoa.
