X Factor camp preps top junior girls for success

Raising the bar for junior success — specifically girls — is the main goal for the USSA alpine department, so having a camp just for the J2 girls seems like a good way to get started.     
    “We’re calling it the X Factor. Do you know why? Because women have an X chromosome,” said USSA Competition Director Walt Evans.
    Last week, five of the top female juniors in the country — Lauren Samuels, Abby Ghent, Foreste Peterson, Rose Caston, Jackie Meier — met at Mammoth for the “X Factor” camp.
    At USSA’s annual meeting the week before, USSA Alpine Director Jesse Hunt pointed out that there is concern that the female juniors aren’t posting results like the males at international contests. “Though we didn’t have World Junior [success] on the women’s side we certainly have potential — as in Kiley [Staples], as in Laurenne [Ross], as in Julia [Ford],” he said.

RAISING THE BAR for junior success — specifically girls — is the main goal for the USSA alpine department, so having a camp just for the J2 girls seems like a good way to get started.     
    “We’re calling it the X Factor. Do you know why? Because women have an X chromosome,” said USSA Competition Director Walt Evans.
    Last week, five of the top female juniors in the country — Lauren Samuels, Abby Ghent, Foreste Peterson, Rose Caston and Jackie Meier — met at Mammoth for the “X Factor” camp. (Click here to get Rose Caston's thoughts on her first season racing on the J2 level in her "Flower Power" column .)  
    At USSA’s annual meeting the week before, USSA Alpine Director Jesse Hunt pointed out that there is concern that the female juniors aren’t posting results like the males at international contests. “Though we didn’t have World Junior [success] on the women’s side we certainly have potential — as in Kiley [Staples], as in Laurenne [Ross], as in Julia [Ford],” he said.    
    The main goal at the junior level continues to be broadening the skills base, but at the same time moving the athletes forward, which was the purpose of X Factor.
    Karen Ghent, one of the coaches at the Mammoth X Factor camp, said one of the ways to improve this problem is hold camps like this one on a regular basis.
    “They [the girls] are thoroughly involved in their clubs but don’t have NorAms so they don’t get together until J2 nationals,” she said. “I think getting them together [at camps like this] is a way to raise the bar and see success.”
    Though competitors, the five girls came to this camp open to new experiences and came away with better skills and new friends, Ghent said. “It was a really positive environment amongst the five of them,” said Ghent, who is the alpine director at Ski and Snowboard Club Vail. “They were really open to learning and that was part of the success, too.”
    The girls fined tuned the fundamentals, focusing on balance and stance, specifically for giant slalom and super G races. They were also able to work in with the Development team, which was training during that week, and be exposed to the athletes and take away pointers from the D team coaches.
    “That was the most valuable part about the camp, that they were exposed to those guys,” Ghent said. “I think a couple light bulbs went off mainly in balance. That was the main theme.”
    To build team strength, the girls spent their rest day sightseeing at an old ghost town nearby. “When I was on the ski team,” said Ghent, also a former U.S. Ski Teamer who has three junior racer daughters, “one of the important parts of team building was seeing the culture. That’s all part of building a strong team.”
    According to Ghent, the X Factor will be back next year and likely include more invitees.