Colorado and WRF update

The Copper camp wrapped up with some amazing training opportunities for our crew. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had double session training at 9:00AM and 2:00PM. The athletes were on snow from 8:15AM until 4:00PM for some very high volume days to finish their prep camp. Knowing that SL training is easy to come by once we return home to Windham, we spent the majority of our time focused on paneled events. Each day of gate training was comprised of a morning session of paneled SL and an afternoon session of GS. The athletes were continuing to work on building a solid stance and being balanced over the downhill ski through the arc. They were all asked to "over-ski" each course in an effort to build consistent turn shape above the gate. This would allow them to consistently release the ski as they passed by the panel and continue to build shape and pressure above the gate. The ultimate goal was to have the apex of the turn up the hill from the gate and outside the rise line. Still following?? Aside from all the ski lingo, the athletes all worked REALLY hard throughout the camp. All of the coaches were impressed with the work ethic and commitment the athletes showed everyday on snow. They all constantly wanted more, even when the 2:00PM session was coming to a close and the lifts were shutting down.

GS training on Oh No Bowl

Paneled SL on Lower Copperopolis 

Top of Copper!

Squad photo at the bottom of the Speed Venue

As you may have noticed, the panels all have "Stowe" and "Mount Mansfield Ski Club," printed on them. Since I worked there for 9 years, they were nice enough to leave their gates at Copper for us to use, saving us some money on shipping and/or flying with our own gates. Thank you to Igor Vanovac and his team at the Mount Mansfield Ski Club!

Thank you, Igor!

Since we were in Colorado for Thanksgiving, we had a family style dinner hosted by the Copper Mountain catering team in our own banquet room. Prior to getting food, each athlete had to stand in front of the group and express what they were most thankful for in their lives. Some of the parents who were in town for the holiday joined us and Adam Turteltaub delivered a heartfelt thank you to the coaching staff for a great camp and how thankful they were that their athletes had the opportunity to attend the camp. The parents also seemed impressed with the collection of phones prior to dinner time and loved seeing how much the athletes were interacting with each other, not just with their faces glued to their phones. A huge congrats to all athletes involved in the successful prep camp:

James Beckman

Jared Blinken (Hunter)

Ariel Bregman

Talia Falkenberg

Aidan Fromm

Jack Fromm

Max Fromm

McKenna Fromm

JP Klein

Emily Noonan

Brynne Norquist

Morgan Norquist

Nick Norquist

Mia Steinberg

Sami Steinberg

Alexa Turteltaub

Kyle Ventura

Julia Wiacek

Moving day

A well deserved THANK YOU to the incredible coaching staff for the camp. Windham legends Martin Biedermann and Todd Glick brought some Windham consistency while I brought some added flavor and different style to the camp. We were very fortunate to have some incredible additions specifically for the camp staff:

Elle Gilbert joined our coaching staff for the camp. She is currently a graduate at the University of Denver, studying Sport and Performance Psychology - something we could all use! She is a graduate of Middlebury College and was a member of ski team. She qualified for NCAA Championships and for those of you who don't know how that works, there are about 30 college girls in the country who qualify and only about 12 of them from the Eastern Region. Needless to say, Elle can rip and is a great coach in her own right. She will be in Windham helping multiple age groups while on break until she returns to Denver at the beginning of January.

Elle imparting wisdom on James Beckman

Rachel Smith joined the camp as a coach/athlete. I coached Rachel for four years in Stowe and she is a great athlete and an incredibly hard worker. She is currently in her freshman year at Plymouth State University and is a member of the ski team. She was a great visual for our athletes in free skiing, drills, and in training courses. She definitely wowed all of them with her paneled SL prowess and inspired the athletes to keep pushing out of their comfort zone.

Rachel shredding at Stowe last winter

Former Windham athlete (and current big brother to Julia), Victor Wiacek, joined the camp as an additional coach/athlete. Much like Rachel, he was a great visual for the athletes and became a mentor for them as well. Victor is a very strong skier and an even better role model for all of the athletes and we plan to take advantage of any time he is willing to spend with our athletes over the winter. He will be busy as he is a member of the Babson College ski team, but hopefully we will see him when he is home on break and he can continue to inspire the next generation of Windham Race Factory athletes.

Victor mixing it up with the future of WRF

One final "Copper Thank You," to the parents for supporting your athletes and sending them to Copper for the 2018 prep camp!

Back on the home front, you have likely had email communication with Sinead Lavery. She has been hired to work in the WRF office and is currently combing through TeamSnap to make sure everyone is in the proper team so they can receive communications from the coaching staff throughout the year. If you have not heard from her or you are not sure if you are properly registered, please reach out to her: laverysinead@gmail.com.

We are starting a new program at WRF for junior coaches education. The program will be structured around a morning education session with a senior coach learning drill progressions, group management, and skill acquisition. In the afternoon, they will be placed in a group to learn on hill management with a senior coach and a group of athletes. They will learn about running a race from the admin side of things to on hill management. The goal is that the junior coaches will be able to attend a USSS Level 100 clinic at the completion of the season and pass. Then when the turn 18 and can register as a coach, they will already have a level 100 on their profile. For more information regarding the Junior Coach Program, please contact Petra Davenport: petra.vz.davenport@gmail.com.

Per usual, this is a reminder that the $300.00 late fee for the program goes into effect on December 1st. It is crucial that we know how many athletes will be in the program this year so we can properly staff each age group. Please register!

Despite the rain elsewhere, it's still winter in Windham!