In the Swing....

Hey everyone, I’ve been At school for the last couple of weeks and it has been very tiring not skiing. My mountain has just opened and we've done GS for the most of the time but slalom for the last two days. I had two more weeks of GMVS

Now I'm on vacation and Im so excited to go to Buffalo and see my cousins and my grama. Great to see my family because I havent been home for a while.

.)) Eli Swing

Racer Ready!

And the season has officially begun! Following tradition, as a J3 in Intermountain division I raced the Eric Hayes memorial as the start to my season. As we began the race in the cold—single digits, colder than what I have skied in for quite some time, and ended the race in the rain, with even the best rain jackets soaked through, and a foot of powder around us.

With Christmas on the way I’m coming home for some much needed rest before I go back to school and training after Christmas.

.)) Breezy Johnson

Quick note from Serina....

Hey SRD!~ So far my season has been decent. I just had my first race a couple of weeks ago, I did okay with one of the second fastest GS runs but other than that I had trouble in the SL.

I have been training 6 days a week getting ready for the Topo Time Trials! Other than that I have been trying too keep my grades up while trying to stay strong:)

.)) Serina Kidd

Morse Code: Burke Mtn. NDS Camp

Over the past few days I have spent some time on the slopes of Burke at a National Development System fundamentals camp. My coach Chip Cochran from Carrabassett Valley Academy took a few of us young ambitious J3's on a long van ride through the swirling snowstorms to reach the destination of Burke Mountain.

On day 1 we did SKILLS ASSESSMENT: we started the Eastern Region Skills Assessment with Pole Plant: This test is out of 5 and needs to be very clearly executed. Then was the Apex Test: Two brushes set at slalom rhythm which help the athletes such as myself to belly the turn out between the brushes. After that was the One Ski Test: This worked on upper and lower body separation, pole planting, forward ankle/knee flexion, and carving the initiation. This style of skiing was really different to me in terms of being judged, but I was really excited about trying to improve my score. The coaching staff was very enthusiastic about how the skills assessment went and they were very pleased with the results.

On Day 2: `We continued fundamental work in our groups with a focus on the up and over drill, Swiss drill and one-ski. For the second session we (athletes) switched over to GS skis and continued to work on the same drills. We were really focus and were exhausted by the end of the day.

On Day 3: The snow was a little harder than the first two days. We started with a slalom apex drill, then switched to longer skis and ran GS apex and brush GS sections. I worked very hard from start to finish and left with a better sense of some of my weaknesses and strengths. Now I know what I need to work on harder back at the Loaf. The venue (Burke Mountain) was incredible for the kind focus to improve your skills by taking run after run. A really cool thing that I enjoyed was while riding the Poma I was able to watch the other athletes and get myself motivated to raise the level of intensity and focus. The Training Hill (next to the Poma) is ideal for mileage of early season skiing! Anyone who was lacking some of the skiing skills definitely left the camp with a better understanding of what they needed to work on and which drills will help them achieve that goal. This is a direct reflection of the hard working focused director of this camp, Alex Kreb's (Eastern USSA children's organizer) who made a direct point of trying to give the kids drills which would help them improve that they could take back to their home club. The coaching staff worked really well together and did a great job with the skills assessment. The coaching staff and athletes created an extremely positive environment and everyone worked at 100%.

My skiing skills improved through the skills assessment, taking my skiing to a new level. I would like to add a special thanks to Kirk Dwyer of Burke Mountain Academy for supplying us with a fabulous training venue and great coaching. It was a really fun camp and I am sad that since next year I will no long be a J3 that I will not get to participate in this wonderful experience again. Thanks to all that played a role in making this camp possible.

.)) Sam Morse

7' in Mammoth!

Hi guys,

It has been a really fun beginning of the season with a bunch of camps and couple of early season races. First, I was in Mammoth, California during the last 2 weeks of November for some GS, and SL training, with some unexpected but welcomed powder days thrown in there, too. We got a big storm that hit us hard for a couple days, totaling around 7 feet. We got some awesome powder skiing in on some rented fat skis and had a lot of fun. It made the snow for training kind of soft but the training was still really good for early season. After Mammoth, I flew back to Killington for a couple days and then flew back out west, to Beaver Creek, Colorado for a NDS (National Development System) speed camp. The first day we were there we worked race crew for the Birds of Prey GS, slipping the course and doing whatever we were needed to do. It was the first time I had been to a World Cup event and it was awesome. It made it even better that Ted Ligety won, representing USA very well. The next 4 days we trained on the Birds of Prey DH venue. It was my first time training downhill; being that I am a racer from the east we don’t get much speed training in. It was really fun and a great opportunity to train on a world cup venue. Overall, the camp was a great opportunity that was extremely fun.

Finally, I came back to Killington for a week of some training and then I headed off to Attitash, New Hampshire for a Devo FIS series. It was my first FIS series so I was looking to get some finishes to bring my points down from 990. The first day was SL and I finished 16th, 2nd for 95’s, moving up 91 spots from my bib of 107. The next day was also SL and I finished 8th, 2nd for 95’s, moving up 104 spots from my bib of 112. The third day was GS and I DNFed. The fourth and final day was also GS, and I finished 37th, 2nd for 95’s, moving up 84 spots from my bib of 121. Overall, it was a decent series but it was great to finally get some FIS points and not be 990.

I am currently on my Christmas break and off from training for a couple days but I am looking forward to getting back to training and to keep getting faster. Hope everyone has a great season.

.)) Kyle Burcin

First J3 Race!

I survived my first race as a J3! The Eric Hays race in Park City was four long days of racing, the longest race I have ever done. It is an open series race with the first two days slalom followed by two days of GS. The adrenaline and the nerves as well as the time and effort put into skiing and ski tuning is really tiring.

By the end of the fourth day I was exhausted.

The first day I had a strong first run, winning me a spot in the flip but unfortunately, I straddled on my second run only two gates from the finish. It was an off set hairpin that came very quickly because of the speed that was carried into it. Over twenty percent of the girls also messed up on that hairpin! The second day went well. Entering the race with 990 points, I started 89th but managed to make the flip. With a strong second run, I placed 19th, scoring a 74 point result.

The third day went well but not as well as I had hoped. I finished 30th with an 89 point result. On the forth day, I was having a phenomenal run so what started as a 30 second interval between the racer in front of me (one of the slower racers) and I began to shorten as I started to catch up. Unaware of this situation, a course worker jumped into the course to shovel a rut right after she passed him. I was unable to pull out quick enough, so crashed and asked for a rerun. They told me to go back to the top as quickly as I could to redo my run. I rushed to the top but as I arrived they said there would be no rerun for me. Unfortunately I ran forth from last so as the jury was making the decision, the last racer left the gate. Although I followed all the right procedures, all reruns must be done before the last racer goes. Over all I was pleased with my results while still dealing with an injured ankle.

.)) Molly Leavens