Even in June, young racers are gunning for the future

By Published On: June 16th, 2006Comments Off on Even in June, young racers are gunning for the future

Even in June, young racers are gunning for the futureCOPPER MOUNTAIN, Colorado — About 50 of the nation’s top young ski racers set their alarms for 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning and had their race suits on a few minutes later. They uploaded onto the chairlift at 6 a.m. and put down their best June efforts, turning gates for three hours.

In an effort to maintain a powerful framework for the future of ski racing, the U.S. Ski Team is running its National Development System camp at Copper Mountain this week.

The NDS selects the nation’s top junior racers — most are between the ages of 14 and 21 — for the 10-day camp at Copper, which involves both on-snow and dryland training. Amazingly, Copper has upheld and farmed enough snow to put down giant slalom courses on its Ptarmigan and Copperopolis runs on the upper part of the mountain.

Most racers were invited to the camp based on their Junior Olympics results from last season, many of which amounted to gold and silver medals.

“The goals of this camp have been giant slalom tactics,” said USSA National Competition Director Walt Evans. “We look at skiing in two ways. There’s technical fundamentals — how you ski — and then tactics — where you ski. We’ve been working on where to ski in the course and how to use the terrain.”

As one might expect of mid-June conditions, the terrain was not easy to maneuver.

“We’ve been able to use variable terrain and variable conditions to really understand the differences in tactical approaches,” Evans said. “We use two aides: self-discovery, where athletes discover what’s faster for them on steep pitches and flatter terrain; and video feedback. We video every run and time every run.”

The lessons were clearly absorbed by the young racers.

“I’ve learned to adjust my line to the conditions,” said Mount Bachelor racer Tommy Ford, 17, who won four gold medals at the 2006 JOs and whose father, Mark, earned an NCAA title for the University of Colorado at Boulder before coaching at Dartmouth.

“A few days ago, the snow was very unpredictable and difficult to hold an edge on,” Tommy Ford said. “Very few people could hold their line in those conditions.”

Along with club coaches from around the country, recently retired U.S. Ski Team racer and World Championships medalist Jonna Mendes and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Debbie Armstrong were on hand to explain tactics to the junior racers.

“I loved skiing with Jonna,” said Ski Club Vail racer Erika Ghent. “She knows what she’s talking about and was able to explain it in a way we understood.”

Team Summit racer Katie Hartman spent a good chunk of her week training with Armstrong, and agreed that the former racer’s insight came in handy.

“She’s been there and done that,” Hartman said. “It was a great help just to sit on the lift with her and pick her brain.”

Some racers in the NDS crew have histories of racing in the Whistler Cup, and all are vying for a spot on the world juniors team. The development system has its eagle eye on young talent, starting at the J4 level (11- and 12-year-olds), with the intent of tracking and molding racers into World Cup and Olympic athletes.

“I have 17 staff members all over the country made up of directors, coaches and development managers. They’re all talent scouts and coaches. And they’re all putting together projects like this, but at a grassroots, regional level,” Evans said. “These athletes have all come through that system. As the athletes get older, we start to really watch those J2 (15- and 16-year-old) Junior Olympic results. Any athlete that gets a gold medal at the J2s, we give them a scholarship and an automatic invitation to the U.S. nationals. In terms of long-term possibilities, we’re going to be focused on 2014 and beyond for the Olympic Winter Games.”

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About the Author: Pete Rugh