The U.S. Ski Team’s Stacey Cook and Sun Valley Ski Tools (SVST) have announced the 2011 winners their annual scholarship aimed at helping junior racers take the next step.
Now in its fifth season, the scholarship recognizes J2 or J3 level athletes who exemplify talent, a good attitude, community involvement and a commitment to alpine skiing. The young racers will receive $500 worth of ski tools and $500 worth of ski wax to help them continue to reach their ski racing goals.
“I was reading applications for about three weeks,” said Cook of the 60-70 applications she received. “They take a while to get through and make sure I get the right winners. the quality of this year’s applications was so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen, I literally didn’t have one bad application and that is what made deciding so hard.”
Cook was a beneficiary of a similar program as a junior racer and received support from SVST along with fellow U.S. team racers Marco Sullivan, Erik Fisher, Hailey Duke and Dane Spencer, who is now on the U.S. men's team's coaching staff.
“In 2006 I asked them if we could get something going again because I appreciated the help that they gave me so much when I was a junior, I wanted some way to give back,” said Cook.
"It's a way for young athletes to get a big boost from a sponsor that has always been so good to me, but it also gives them an introduction into what being a professional athlete means,” said Cook. “It helps them learn how to work with sponsors and start to think along the lines of a business.”
This year’s winners are Kei Kullberg, a second-year J2 from Cornwall on Hudson N.Y., who trains out of National Sports Academy/Whiteface; Sandra Schoepke, a second-year J3 from Stowe Vt., who trains out of Mt. Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club; Molly Leavens, a second-year J3 from Brighton Utah., who trains with the Park City Ski Team and brothers Lucas and Cody Underkoffler, J2 and J3 racers from Crowley Lake, Calif., who train out of Mammoth Mountain Ski Team.
"All the athletes who have received the scholarship are still around, and we keep in contact," said Cook. "It's pretty awesome to watch them grow and develop into higher level of skiing."
http://skiracing.com/?q=node/10888
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Åka Skidor: Meet Martina from Sweden, newest SRD Athlete!
I’m racing second year FIS and I go to a ski academy school in a city called Östersund, up north in Sweden.
Right now I´m on a plane on my way to Stubaital, Austria. We were supposed to train in Kåbdalis in Sweden this and next week but there isn’t a lot of snow….. it's a bummer that we get the snow so late in Sweden, but it´s awesome in the way that we get to go to other places in Europe instead.
So i’m going to train from tomorrow and the following two weeks with my old team and do some freeskiing training and some SL and GS. We recently came back from Hintertux, Austria a week ago! We had amazing weather half of the week there and great racing conditions.
I just switched from Atomic to Dynastar and it was a good move! The new skis are great! By the way thats me (to the right) and my friend Li.
Ciao!
.)) Martina Horwing
Monday, October 31, 2011
Burcin's Blog: Report from Soelden World Cup!
Ski season is coming fast and as a final preparation for the season, 5 of my teammates and I went to Austria for 10 days with 2 of our coaches. We went to the Stubai glacier and stayed about 30 minutes from the glacier in Patsch. After 2 previous summer camps, one in Mammoth and one in La Parva, Chile, we really focused on race training and just going fast instead of worrying so much about technique. The 2 earlier camps really honed in our technique and now we just were worrying about how to go faster with line and aggression.
We started with 1 days of free skiing followed by 3 days of GS, each on a different part of the glacier providing different terrain everyday. After that we had a day off, which was really fun. We went to a go-kart place in downtown Innsbruck that was fast and the perfect thing for a group of competitive kids who love racing. We then went to a crystal museum about 20 minutes from Innsbruck. We capped off the day by going to an awesome dinner in Innsbruck and then went to bed early to rest up for our next training block. Following the day off we had 2 days of slalom, again both on different parts of the glacier.
The second day we were scheduled to train on Manfred Pranger's course after he was done but the snow was too soft so he didn't train. We were all really disappointed because there is really no better way to figure out a good line than skiing the same one as one of the best slalom skiers in the world. We still had a great day of training however on a steeper more challenging hill which really pushed us to get in race mode.
The next day, we traveled to Solden to see the first men’s World Cup race of the season. I had been to one other World Cup race in Beaver Creek but never before in Europe. It was a whole new experience that I will never forget. The skiing was awesome, the weather was great, the people and atmosphere were crazy, and TED WON!!! Ted skied really well and hopefully it is going to be another great season for him. It was an unforgettable day that was also a great learning experience to see the best skiing in the world up close and personal.
Finally, on our last day we trained slalom on yet another part of the glacier. The snow was hard and fast, making it a great final day where all of us were skiing fast! It was a great way to end an unforgettable camp! I start KMS (Killington Mountain School), in about a week and a half and it couldn't come sooner. I can't wait to get up there and really get focused on the season. My first races will be at the beginning of December when me and 3 other kids from KMS are going back to Europe to do a tour around Austria, Italy, and Germany doing around 9 starts. It will be my first experience racing in Europe and I can't wait. It is also a great opportunity to score some great races and come back with my points lowered.
Good luck to all the SRD racers this season, I hope you guys are as excited as I am for the new season!!
.)) Kyle Burcin
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