Sixty of the best U16 cross country athletes from around the country gathered at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., recently to push to their athletic limits and beyond.

“I was blown away by the level of training, skiing, enthusiasm, and professionalism that I witnessed at the National U16 Cross Country Camp in Duluth,” noted former U.S. Cross Country Team member and two-time Olympian Ida Sargent, who participated in the camp as part of the Retired Stars Mentorship Program. 

“These kids showed up at each session and activity excited and ready to go,” she added. “The super sweaty pain faces at the top of the uphill time trial, the serious amount of road rash during the skate sprint simulation, the controlled pace during the distance workouts, and the very insightful and inquisitive questions which I was asked constantly throughout the week were all signs that these kids were taking risks, pushing the limits, and improving together.”

In addition to Sargent, athletes were led by a number of college, association, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard coaches through a variety of workouts at the camp. 

Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America and a POWDR resort, announced today that tickets for the 2019 HomeLight Killington Cup will be available for purchase starting Wednesday, August 21 at 9:00 a.m. ET at killington.com. Taking place November 29-December 1, the World Cup will once again bring the women’s giant slalom and slalom races to Vermont and is expected to attract U.S. Ski Team superstar Mikaela Shiffrin to compete against the best women’s technical alpine skiers in the world.

“Killington and the entire community is eager to welcome back world class alpine skiing for the fourth consecutive year. We’ll once again offer free-access viewing areas so the thrill of alpine ski racing can be enjoyed by all and everyone can be inspired by these amazing athletes, especially the next generation of alpine ski racers,” says Mike Solimano, president and general manager of Killington Resort and Pico Mountain. “Over the years, the community’s support has helped us showcase Killington and the state of Vermont to the international ski audience, and we look forward to displaying ‘winter in its original state’ once again on Thanksgiving Weekend.”

Killington Resort will host free concerts throughout the event, in addition to an already action-packed, fun-filled weekend. Other entertainment includes the World Cup Festival Village, fireworks, athlete parades and the Friday night bib draw featuring top athletes.

“It’s exciting to welcome the best women ski racers in the world back to Killington, especially coming off of such an incredible winter season. It was only two months ago, on June 2, that Killington’s ski season ended,” says Herwig Demschar, chair of Killington’s World Cup Local Organizing Committee. “Now, were talking about snowmaking as the resort prepares the Superstar course for another World Cup. Guests joining us for the World Cup weekend will experience Killington as they never have before with world-class racing, live music, autograph signings, fireworks and more – creating a weekend in the mountains not to be missed.”  

New this year, tickets for the Saturday and Sunday events can be purchased as a weekend package. Ticket offerings for 2019 Killington Cup include:

General Admission - Free

In addition to the ticket offers, there will be plenty of free access viewing space for all fans to enjoy. The free area provides standing room access near the base of the Superstar trail and along the run with two jumbo screens for viewing the full race course.

VIP Tickets - $550 Sat/ $500 Sun/ $1,000 Weekend

VIP tickets are available at kwcfgivesback.org in partnership with the Killington World Cup Foundation, which supports athlete hospitality and provides grants to bolster winter sports infrastructure and access to winter sports throughout the 

region. Last year, the KWCF raised $250,000 in grants that they distributed to 21 winter sports programs in seven different states.

4241’ Finish Pavilion - $175 Sat/$150 Sun/$300 Weekend

The 4241’ Finish Pavilion, located on skier’s left of Superstar (below the KMS bag jump), provides, a semi-heated tent and premium viewing area featuring a continental breakfast and lunch buffet with soft drinks and hot beverages catered by the Peak Lodge. A beer and wine cash bar will be available.

Premier Grandstand – $100 Sat/$90 Sun/ $175 Weekend

The Premier Grandstand offers guaranteed access to the highest five rows of the grandstands at the base of Superstar trail, providing one of the best vantage points of the course. Premier Grandstand tickets are limited in quantity and 100% of the proceeds benefit the Killington World Cup Foundation.

Grandstand – $45 Sat/ $40 Sun/$75 Weekend

Ticketed Grandstands are located at the base of the Superstar trail, adjacent to the race course, and are general admission for all rows except the top five. The grandstand provides an elevated view of the race course, along with two jumbo screens broadcasting top-to-bottom race coverage. Limited accessible seating access is available in the front row of the grandstand.

Free parking and shuttles will be available around Killington Resort, however attendees can purchase a preferred parking passes in the Vale parking lots for $25. Preferred parking passes can be purchased when tickets go on sale at killington.com.

For additional information about Killington Resort and the 2019 Audi FIS Women’s Ski World Cup, please visit killington.com/worldcup.

Thinking outside of the box is how competitive freestyle skiing came about and at their second camp training at official partner Timberline Lodge & Ski Area, U.S. Freestyle Ski Team Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza had his athletes training outside of the now established “moguls box.” The July 15-28 Hood 2 Camp was all about interleaving training - the principle of mixing, or interleaving, practice on related skills together. 

As per usual, athletes rose early and arrived at Timberline Lodge for 7 a.m. warm-ups for an 8 a.m. lift load. Summer temperatures kept the snow nice and pliable for the morning, and athletes were able to take full advantage at their jump site and moguls lines until about 1 p.m. when the Monarch butterfly migration appeared and the snow became soft. 

But instead of block practice, such as skiing the same moguls lines an established number of times, Gnoza and his team randomized the athletes’ approach to training through variation and variability. “Variation is the approach the athlete takes and variability is the environment we create,” explained Sport Development Coach Josh Bullock. “The skill becomes much more sticky when the environment or tactic changes each time.”

At the jump site, directions like “surprise me” or “change it up, do something fun” had athletes on their toes. “The moguls mentality in the past has been ‘you do that back lay and once you look absolutely perfect, then you can do the back full,’” explained Gnoza. “‘Then once that looks perfect, maybe we’ll do a cork 7.’ But by diversifying the jumps, [the athletes are] getting to it faster. We’ve seen [a higher degree of difficulty] because we’re not ‘oh you can’t go to the higher DD until you do that one perfect.’”

When athletes moved to the moguls runs challenges like “give me two random airs” or “ski the left line, then move to the middle line” created motor problems athletes had to solve, and with gusto. The positive energy was palpable on the hill and the team was eager for whatever unknown variability would be thrown their way. 

“For moguls, it’s thinking outside the box,” said Gnoza. “Big-time!” Bullock interjected. “When we review the day’s video, we go ‘Oh wow we actually like the guy that looked a little different rather than the guy who looked like a robot,’” Gnoza finished. 

“[This approach] creates deep learning for when it counts because the goal of training is not to have pretty training,” said USOPC Senior Sport Psychologist Alex Cohen. “The goal of training is to prepare athletes to perform under pressure. It simulates performance and requires them to learn how to adapt. It requires patience on the part of athletes and coaches because it may be a little messier at times in training.”

Athletes have responded well to the new training techniques, which the moguls staff started implementing gradually about a year ago. This summer it is much more thought out, strategic process. “Based on their reflections, I’d say generally speaking [the athletes] have enjoyed the training,” said Bullock. “There’s a lot of ‘fun,’ ‘enjoyable,’ ‘progressive,’ those types of words being thrown around. It’s the variation that keeps you from getting stagnant, burnt out.”

“In Hood 2 my main focus was to bring my cork 720 back to snow after an ankle injury back in November,” said Hannah Soar (Somers, Conn.). “Once I got comfortable again, I started switching up my jumps between corks, fulls, and back tucks in order to vary my training. By switching up which trick I did each jump I was able to vary my training allowing me to better simulate a competition setting. Variant training helps me recognize what aspects of a jump I need to focus on the most. Since I am switching up my jump every time it’s difficult sometimes to always remember exactly what to think about for each jump every time. This is a good way for athletes to see what comes naturally and what needs more attention.”

Gnoza stresses that this isn’t a complete overhaul in the moguls’ team’s training approach, but a steady blend of best practices and new approaches, learned from sport science and acquired institutional knowledge. Instead of getting back into the groove in July and bringing a new trick to snow in October, athletes are performing them now. “They get to those tricks and they’re fresh,” said Bullock. “Which also reduces the risk of a catastrophic acute injury.” Athletes who had ramped prior to Hood 2 camp ran through their usuals during Block 1 of on-snow training, accelerating their progress towards a higher degree of difficulty jumps. “They’re getting into new stuff now, which is pretty sweet,” said Cohen.

Also, new this camp was having Cohen on site. Usually, Cohen’s work with the moguls team takes place at U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah. But bringing him out for Hood 2 was a conscious decision Gnoza made as it was the first time the whole team was together with the new rookies and two new additions to the coaching staff, World Cup Coaches Joe Discoe and Riley Campbell. “I always like being where athletes are - that’s pretty impactful,” said Cohen. “It was great to have input from everybody on the team.”

Building and working on team culture is an important practice of the moguls team, so Gnoza used the opportunity to have Cohen run through a team values and communications workshop. “The best teams revisit their team values every year,” explained Cohen. “This was the second time we’ve done that with this group. The team developed their [values] last July; it was good to revisit because we have some new athletes on the team and new staff. It’s a chance for them to define who they want to be and what values they want to guide their actions. Everybody had a chance to use their voice to decide who they wanted to be as a team.”

This second Timberline camp marks the end of the team’s skills development phase in their summer prep period. Their next training stop is El Colorado, Chile, which is when the team will go into their preparing to perform phase with a focus on more top to bottom runs. “Skill development never stops, and never stops improving,” explained Gnoza. “But next you’re going to start looking for performance a little bit but also keep that diversity in there too. I think it’s important that people don’t get locked into ‘I always do the 360 on top and I always do a backflip on the bottom.’ You have to keep trying different approaches.”

Follow along with the moguls athletes of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team via Instagram @usskiteam.

There is nothing like a hot dip into the pain cave for a winter athlete to check the fitness meter with the 2019-20 competition season less than 100 days out. Recently, a number of U.S. Cross Country Team athletes strapped on the roller skis to do just that at Vermont’s App Gap Challenge, and Colorado’s Summit Roller Ski Festival.

“It’s always fun to just put a bib on this time of year,” said Simi Hamilton (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) after winning the 10th Annual App Gap Challenge a 7k uphill skiathlon on Aug. 3. “We spend so much time just easy training and doing intervales with teammates, but it’s rare in the summer that you are actually putting a bib on and racing. So it's nice to kind of touch base with those emotions again...and it's always fun to push hard.”

The App Gap Challenge featured more than 1,500 feet of climbing and started off with skate technique over mostly rolling roads, except for a steep climb to the Mad River Glen Ski Area parking lot where athletes swapped out their skate skis for classic roller skis to tackle the final push to the summit that featured grades in excess of 10-percent.

“Uphill races have never been my strength, so my strategy was just to hold on for as long as I could to conserve energy whenever possible,” said Sophie Caldwell (Stratton, Vt.) who competed alongside her U.S. Cross Country Team teammate Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury, Vt.). “Caitlin led the whole time (on the skating portion), which was really nice.”

“I led all of the skate, and I really wish that someone else took the lead for a bit, but I couldn’t get them to do it,” added Patterson, who laid down a blistering pace on the skate portion, and held on to the lead through the transition to classic before being overtaken by Caldwell, and eventual winner Katherine Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.). “Katherine, Sophie and I all started out the classic together, but Katherine pulled ahead and was really strong on the classic. I think I burned myself up a bit too much on the skate, but still, it was a good day - a good hard effort!”

Caldwell rolled to the summit in second, while Patterson, who won last year’s App Gap Challenge, held on for third.

At the Summit Roller Ski Festival in Breckenridge, Colo., Noel Keefe (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) made the trip to Summit Country to test his sprint fitness, taking the victory in head-to-head competition against Sweden’s Simon Hallstrom, the 2018 Swedish national biathlon champion. “It was a super fun race and a cool event,” said Keefe, who will also compete for the University of Utah this season. 

With the World Cup season kicking off Thanksgiving weekend in Norway, Hamilton is pleased with his fitness level, and he’ll have a few more opportunities to test it as he heads to Europe next week with U.S. Cross Country teammates Caldwell, Sadie Bjornsen (Anchorage, Alaska), Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska), Kevin Bolger (Sun Valley, Idaho), Erik Bjornsen (Anchorage, Alaska) and former U.S. Ski Team teammate Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) to compete in four roller ski events at the Toppidrettsveka in Norway, August 22-24.

“We’re always a little uncertain about how the race shape is this time of year because we haven’t been doing very much hard stuff,” Hamilton said. “But training has been going really well, I’ve been doing a lot of easy base training, with some threshold work here and there and the body is feeling really good, so I’m psyched.”

Like Hamilton, Keefe is also happy with his fitness level with the competition season on the horizon.

“My fitness is at the place where it should be,” said Keefe, who is also looking forward to getting back on snow Thanksgiving weekend at a training camp in West Yellowstone, Mont. “I have been training in my home town for the past month or so and that has allowed me to do some time trials that I have a lot of historical data on. This has provided me a pretty good picture of where I am, and I am looking forward to this season. I increased my training hours this year and it is hard to tell at this point in the season, but I think the work I am doing is going to pay off in time for race season.”
 

Olympian Alice McKennis (New Castle, Colo.) has gone through her fair share of career ups and downs. In 2013, McKennis landed her first FIS Ski World Cup podium - which just happened to be a victory - on the challenging St. Anton, Austria track. The next season, though, McKennis shattered her right tibial plateau into about 30 pieces in a Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany crash that sidelined her for the remainder of the season. It would take McKennis a ton of hard work and unmatched perseverance to make it back to the podium, which she did at the end of the 2017-18 season in Åre, Sweden, with a third place. 

McKennis grew up on a cattle ranch in New Castle, Colo., but she lived close enough to the mountains for her future career path to make sense. Her father, Greg, took her to Sunlight Mountain Resort in Glenwood Springs, Colo. before she had even turned two. She began racing at age five, following her older sister, Kendra, who later competed on the FIS level for two seasons. When she was nine, McKennis joined Ski Club Vail, the club that was nurturing the all-around skills of Alpine star-in-the-making Lindsey Vonn. McKennis watched in awe and took some valuable mental notes as the U.S. Ski Team phenom, who was five years older than her, tore down the slopes. After several years of bouncing around different ski clubs in Colorado, McKennis landed with the Aspen Valley Ski Club.

Edward Stoner of the Vail Daily recently caught up with McKennis to talk about her progress after her most recent setback - a "freak accident" in 2018, in which McKennis crashed while coaching at a camp for future downhillers in Mammoth Mountain, California. Of course, this would come on the tail-end of one of McKennis' best seasons of her career, with a fifth at the Olympics in Pyeongchang in downhill, and a podium at the World Cup Finals in Åre, Sweden alongside her now-retired teammate Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.). She suffered a transverse fracture of both her tibia and fibula. That was the start of a nagging injury that just wouldn't heal. 

McKennis underwent surgery in Mammoth in May, which entailed getting two titanium rods — one for the tibia and one for the fibula. Doctors were still suggesting that she’d be skiing at some point that winter.

At six weeks, her physician, Dr. William Sterett, of Vail Summit Orthopaedics and the U.S. Ski Team, saw essentially no bone healing in X-rays. She underwent another surgery in July, this time to remove a screw that was potentially slowing the healing.

Six weeks later, there was still little healing. She began to develop a searing pain on the inside of her ankle when she walked. Medical imagery revealed that scarring around the fracture was the source of the pain.

It got to the point where she could barely walk.

“The whole time, my leg was just still broken, and that was really one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through,” she said.

Doctors told her she needed ankle surgery. She’d go home and cry. Then she’d go to the gym push her body to the limit. The rods were effective in stabilizing the bone, allowing her to train relatively hard. But walking was painful. She remembers literally crawling from station to station in the gym at one point.

So, after all of this - you may think to yourself, 'Why keep going?! Is it worth it?' 

For McKennis, it is. She wants to win more World Cup races. She wants to go back to the Olympics. She knows she has more gas left in the tank. The Vail Daily asked her, and here's how she answered: 

“Those are things I still want to achieve and I’m really confident I can, so I’m not ready to give up on that. I’m not ready to stop that dream. I still want to pursue it for a few more years and see what I can accomplish. From when I was young, it was always my dream to do this. So, I’m just not ready yet. I still think I have a lot to give to the sport.”

Keep an eye out for Mckennis, who has returned to snow and will be back with the women's speed team in Portillo, Chile in September. 

Read the full article on VailDaily.com. 

The Sports Education department continues to develop it’s offerings for coaches’ education and recently hired Amanda Kelley as their new instructional designer.  With an extensive background in web design, graphic design, and coding, she will be an asset for improving the coach certification process. 

 Instructional designers are a crucial part of improving educational needs as they have a good understanding of how to create an engaging curriculum that aligns with the needs of the organization. The Sport Education department identified the need for better coach training, and Kelley will bring solutions to fulfill that need. 

“Do you need better tools? What is going to solve your problem?” she explains. Through her work so far with Sports Education, the department decided to develop virtual learning. “So now we have to gather our learning objectives and create an outline curriculum. This will include all of the written content, graphic design, animations, video development, and more.” 

Kelley will create the learning content used in coaches’ certifications levels 100, 200 and 300 by updating existing content and revamping the online certification course. “I am taking the existing content from an old platform and putting it into a newer, nicer, easy-to-use platform and finding ways to better it,” says Kelley. “Having a great learning and certification program can help branch out more accurate information to everybody so it becomes both secondhand and cohesive.” In order to provide accurate content, Kelley will rely heavily on collaboration between the Sports Education staff, coaches and athletes to make sure procedures are translated correctly. 

Kelley’s goals with her new position directly align the Sport Education department’s goals of increasing the number of coach certifications through a new and updated system. “I hope to make it really immersive and interactive. Right now, the courses are very text-heavy, and so I want to make it more user-friendly and more exciting for the user,” she explains. 

A blended learning model is the best practice for delivering a training curriculum to a large group of people. The Sport Education department moved to a blended learning curriculum to drive coach education within U.S. Ski & Snowboard three years ago and all certification courses are being shifted to this model. All courses will contain a series of eLearning modules that provide the overall content, a portfolio that provides an opportunity to develop skills, a face-to-face evaluation where clinic leaders evaluate coaches on their ability to coach, perform movement analysis, and demonstrate skills to the desired competency level, and a final exam that coordinates all of these components into one assessment. 

Knowledgeable, fun and engaging coaches are U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s greatest resource. Being able to effectively train those who work directly with athletes, both through the development process and at the national team level, and to provide consistent content to clubs across the country is what the Sport Education department hopes to achieve through this massive content undertaking. 

“Professional development is important for developing coaches that are equipped to make a lasting positive impact on their athletes,” said Sport Education Director Gareth Trayner. “Creating engaging content, like incorporating the Coaches in the Field series, for instance, makes the content more relevant for coaches participating. The software that we use to create our courses allows us to provide a level of interactivity that makes learning engaging, relevant, and more enjoyable than simply reading through pages of text. Creating this type of blended learning experience where coaches have plenty of time to review and learn the content, participate in activities that develop skills, and collaborate with one another on the hill should increase the number of coaches entering and staying within the coach development pathway.”

Four U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes took time out of their busy training schedules to give back and inspire the next generation of skiers and snowboarders with Harper For Kids (HFK), a children’s non-profit organization.

HFK was founded by Tim & Peanut Louie Harper in 2008. HFK’s Character Education program is based upon legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success,” and their mission is to teach youth essential character traits that will help them achieve their personal best in life. 

“It has been such an honor and thrill for Harper for Kids to team up with several of U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s athletes,” said Peanut Harper. “All of these athletes are such inspiring role models and great examples of what success is all about. The students were so excited to meet them and to learn not only what they do to be the best athlete they can be, but more importantly, the best person they can be. We hope by having these champion athletes share the steps they've taken to be successful, how they handle pressure and expectations, and other challenges in life, that the students can be inspired to believe in themselves, go after their dreams and goals and never give up.”

A special part of HFK programming is the “Pyramid of Success” presentations they provide to schools through video conferencing. HFK brings in great role models to share their positive definition of success and other valuable life lessons that can inspire the students to be the best person they can be. This is where U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.), Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.), Winter Vinecki (Gaylord, Mich.) and Toby Miller (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) stepped in to offer their expertise. Combined, the athletes were able to reach 1,360 students from 11 of the participating schools, sending messages of empowerment, positivity, ambition, and individuality. 

“I really enjoy sharing my story with kids because I know they look up to it as something they could do one day,” said Johnson. “Being a professional athlete opened up this platform to make a difference, and I want to show the younger generation that they should have the confidence to be themselves, make mistakes, and chase their dreams. It’s so important to me that I prioritize being a role model because if I can inspire confidence in kids, they will go on to do amazing things for the world. My experience with Harper For Kids embodied everything I stand for, and it was an amazing opportunity that every professional athlete should take advantage of to share their story.”

Picture yourself as an elementary school student. The world is your oyster and here come four U.S. National Ski & Snowboard Team athletes ready to share key lessons and experiences to help you succeed. This was by no means a mandatory experience for Voisin, Johnson, Vinecki, or Miller, but rather a chance for them to support a group of wide-eyed students who are hungry for knowledge. U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes do more than just train and compete, they give back, they inspire, and they represent their sport and fellow teammates to the best of their ability. 

For more information about HFK and to learn how you can support their organization, visit http://www.harperforkids.org. 
 

When the calendar turns from July to August, kids across America hope that time freezes and summer lasts forever - but school is just around the corner. For the athletes of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, there is no “summer vacation” and instead of preparing to return to school, they are gearing up for the next World Cup season. But being an elite athlete doesn’t mean giving up school, national team members just have to get more creative to complete high school and pursue higher education. 

When rookie aerial skier Megan Smallhouse (Reno, Nev.) got serious about her training in her quest to make the U.S. Ski Team, she decided to attend all four years of high school online through North Star Online School.

“I was able to plan my workload so that when I was traveling for competitions, I could focus solely on competing."
    – Megan Smallhouse, U.S. Freestyle Team 

Balancing training, competing and school was no walk in the park. It required Megan to be strategically organized about her time, planning her week out in advance to make sure she had enough time for assignments outside of training. “School provided me with a healthy outlet outside of sports,” she reflected. “It allowed me to take my mind completely off skiing, and put my energy into something else. Striving for success in more than one area of my life provided a healthy balance for me.”

Moguls skier Olivia Giacco (Redding, Conn.) echoes Smallhouse’s sentiments. Giaccio used last season as a gap year between high school and college to focus completely on skiing. “It was great to focus on skiing last year but it is good to have another outlet during the season,” she says. “I’ve found having something to put my mental energy into besides skiing when I’m off the hill to be helpful.”

Giaccio has already been accepted to Columbia University and plans to attend full time when she hangs up her moguls skis. Wanting a taste of what college would be like, she attended a creative writing program through New York University during the month of June, living the dorm life. Although away from the team, Giaccio didn’t stop training. Staying in close contact with her coaches, she was able to follow her workout and nutrition program.

Through the immersive program, Giaccio earned eight credits and explored an area of study close to her heart. “I have always been interested in writing since I was little,” she said. “I love to tell stories. I started my blog which details my training, competitions and feelings and reflections of it all. I have run that since made the U.S. team, going on four years now. I’m not sure what I want to study once I attend school full time, probably something humanities-based, but writing is definitely an avenue I want to explore.”

Moguls teammate Jesse Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) took advantage of spring offerings as well with May-mester through the University of Colorado Boulder. “May-mester worked well because it’s one course for three weeks, three hours a day every day, on campus,” he explains. “I didn’t have much training going on at that time, no ramping or skiing scheduled. And I did my workouts at CU.”

Andringa is pursuing a degree in engineering. While he has limited options for online engineering courses, he is currently a sophomore because he’s completed his general requirements already, and takes engineering courses as time permits during the offseason. “Engineering excites me,” he says. “I want to have a degree in that hopefully within a year or two after I retire. I’m trying to get into renewable energy and give back to the skiing world by helping the environment.”

Moguls team athlete Hannah Soar (Somers, Conn.) was able to juggle three college courses and a skiing schedule while attending Union College for the spring trimester. “It was nice to go in class to get the full college experience,” she said. “I moved into a dorm, had a roommate from Bombay. It was cool to meet other people, and my professors were really great. It was nice to dig deeper into the classes being there in person.”

If three courses weren’t enough, Soar packed in a full training load as well. “I followed my workout regimen at night after my classes: lifting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Tuesdays and Thursdays I did a HIIT and Abs class at school,” Soar said. “On weekends I would ski. My Econ class ended at 10:30 a.m. on Fridays, and then I would drive two hours to Killington and ski 1 to 5 p.m. I skied Saturday and Sunday, and then drove back to school Sunday night. It was busy but super fun.”

Juggling school and skiing are more difficult while on the road, and many athletes opt to take an online course during the World Cup season to give their brains a break from skiing. Andringa recalls being in Kazakhstan and not having service to complete an assignment. “I had to email my professor - I barely got the email out - saying ‘Hey I can’t do my work this week. I’m in Kazakhstan but flying back Sunday,” he said. “I can submit by Tuesday.’ He was pretty good about it as long as I kept him in the loop.”

For the elite snowsports athlete, the road to education is not as straightforward as peers in their age group experience. However, The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Career and Education (ACE) department are committed to creating “whole person development” as ACE Director Julie Glusker likes to say. “Whole athlete development serves to enhance an athlete’s athletic performance, to inspire their education and career achievement, to increase their sport longevity, and to encourage enduring association for them with U.S. Ski & Snowboard,” Glusker explains. 

Freeskier Julia Krass (Hanover, N.H.), a junior a Dartmouth,  enjoys the balance between attending fall and spring trimesters and competing in the winter. “I feel very lucky to be able to do both and I think that going to school benefits my skiing because when I do get the opportunities to ski, I am fired up and work very hard since I know that time is sometimes limited.” 

Pursuing an education has given Krass a deeper appreciation for her ability to ski competitively. “Growing up, I've always thought it was very important to have a balance between my ski career and my personal life, which consists of my education as well as other activities that I enjoy. This is important to me because as much as I love skiing, I do know that I won't be able to do it forever, and with all the injuries you don't really know when your career could be done. I know that I will always have my education to go back to once I am done with skiing and I'm excited about the opportunities that will come from that.”

Glusker estimates about two-thirds of the 176 national team members are working to complete high school or college courses. Through services such as academic advising and planning, college application support, exam proctoring and tuition reimbursement, ACE strives to make it as easy as possible to pursue education while pursuing athletic excellence. 

A major draw for national team members pursuing college courses is ACE’s tuition reimbursement program. The Marolt Athlete Endowment program is funded by the Borgen-Swartz, Eccles Fund and the Davis Family Fund. Athletes may receive up to $6,000 in reimbursement for college tuition twice annually. They can apply in late fall and early spring and are reimbursed for tuition, required registration fees, and books. This past year 60 athletes took advantage of the program and 43 athletes are currently awaiting their reimbursement from this past June cycle.  

“Going to school is important because it broadens your mind and how you look at the world,” said Soar. “I know they always say critical thinking is what’s taught in college, but it really is. I think it ties in really well with skiing - you can just look at things with a different perspective and makes you appreciate it more. I really enjoyed going to school for 10 weeks and making new friends but I was extremely excited to get back to training once I was done with my last final.”
 

For the second year in a row, U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes took part in the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Speaker’s Bureau program – an intensive, year-long training program offered to a small group of athletes and alumni to hone their speaking skills and learn what it takes to be a successful keynote speaker. This year the opportunity was offered to all Team athletes, across sports.

Coordinated by Athlete Career & Education (ACE) Director Julie Glusker in partnership with Danny Slomoff and Slomoff Consulting Group, the initial program takes place over a two-day period of time at the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah with Slomoff’s team of three consultants, and will continue throughout the year with participants and consultants remotely until next summer.  

“We are grateful to Danny and his team for generously sharing their expertise and impactful coaching to help our athletes develop excellent speaking and presentation skills,” said Glusker. “They guide each individual athlete through a progression to learn and hone a challenging skill – speaking effectively and purposefully in public.”

One of the main goals of the program is to build their skills so athletes are able to create income through appearances. Ultimately, Slomoff Consulting Group is working with Glusker and U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw to get athletes in front of 80-100 active business leaders and understand the value in inviting these athletes to their organizations to speak. Several athletes already are being paid significant speaker fees for appearances. Both Slomoff Consulting Group and U.S. Ski & Snowboard, along with trustees and donors who support the organization, will be finding paid speaking opportunities for these Speakers Bureau participants.

Slomoff has worked with Shaw for several years, and for the last four years has worked with several athletes and staff from across sports in a pro bono fashion. At the close of this year’s Bureau, which took place on July 28-29th, Slomoff addressed the group, getting emotional about their success and progress throughout the previous two days. 

Slomoff explained to the group why he got into working with Olympic athletes in the 1980s and shared that coaching speakers in business is very similar to how athletes are coached in sport, “The first thing I’m told about you is that you’re a world-class athlete,” Slomoff reflected. “Then we go through these two days and I find that you’re really interesting people. You’re doing things in your young lives that most never experience, or do not experience until much later in life. You’re all very impressive to me. I love the risks you took, the way you treat each other, believe in each other, turn to each other for advice, and more. I thank you all for that.” 

Participants echoed Slomoff’s sentiments about the impact of the program. Freeskier and Olympian Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont.) said, “I liked from the get-go, that it was more about the positives. The coaches were so great at reassuring us when we were flustered.” Graham Watanabe agreed with Voisin, and added that he was thankful for not only the two-day program, but also the opportunity to work with coaches throughout the year. 

“You’re graciously offering up an additional year, and that excites me – these two days have been huge, but there’s so much more to come,” Watanabe noted. “My coach brain turns on watching other people set goals and achieve them in a short period of time. It’s not common, you don’t see it occur in athletics very often. As athletes, we set long-term goals, 5-10 years, so it’s pretty cool to make that short-term demand of yourself and to hit it.” 

Two-time FIS Junior World Ski Championships silver medalist, River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.) said, “For the line of work we’re in, these are very valuable skills. Being able to learn from Danny and his consulting group is super valuable. I’m generally very critical of myself – how my voice sounds, how I carry myself – just having to go in with no judgment and learn improvements, is so valuable.” 

From here, the program participants will work with their respective coaches throughout the next 12 months to further hone their speaking skills. This remote work with the Slomoff coaching staff will include helping athletes find and secure speaking opportunities, draft and write speeches and presentations, and practice delivery modes and styles. 

Athletes involved included: 
Alex Bowen (Springville, N.Y., Aerials - Freestyle)
Quinn Dehlinger (Cincinnati, OH, Aerials - Freestyle)
Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho, Alpine)
River Radamus (Edwards, Colo., Alpine)
Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska, Cross Country Alumna)
Megan Smallhouse (Reno, Nev., Aerials - Freestyle)
Darian Stevens (Missoula, Mont., Pro Halfpipe and Slopestyle - Freeski)
Maggie Voisin (Whitefish, Mont., Pro Slopestyle - Freeski)
Graham Watanabe (Hailey, Idaho, Snowboard Cross Alumnus)

At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins not only won the first gold medal in cross country skiing for Team USA, but they also put forth the belief that the United States can compete, and win, at the highest levels of international competition. It is that belief that is motivating the next generation of athletes to put in the hard work not only during the competition season but during the summer well before the first snowflakes fall.

In conjunction with the four cross country regions - Alaska, West, Central, and East - and supported by U.S. Ski Team staff, the recently held Regional Elite Group camps laid a solid foundation for the next generation of medal contenders on the roads of Park City, Utah; Lake Placid, NY; Ironwood, Mich.; and on the snow on the Eagle Glacier in Alaska. In all, more than 100 athletes took part in the four regional camps.

“Each generation of skiers is evolving with the sport and pushing the limits which builds a super inspiring and progressive training environment,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Cross Country Development Coach Bernie Nelson, who noted that the athletes were “well prepared” physically and mentally for the camps and ready to own “the process and explore new approaches.” 

“The main goal of these camps is a collaboration. We want the athletes sharing and learning from one another.”
 – U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Development Manager Bryan Fish.

Empowering local clubs in the overall development process, and involving the athletes every step of the way, are key to developing a pipeline to the national team. The Regional Elite Camps play a huge role in this process as the national team coaches and local clubs have the opportunity to work together. In addition, athletes are actively looking for areas to improve and learn.

“Our club programs are strong and our athletes are invested,” Nelson said. “I see a shift in ownership; athletes are more involved in the process, asking more questions about the training process and approach each session with a growth mindset.”

Summer is the time to build a fundamental endurance base with a focus on distance and technique training. That said, it is important throughout the year to touch on intensity, strength, and speed, Fish noted. The Regional Elite Group Camps, combined all of the training elements with each athlete's individual training program, to provide an opportunity to focus on improving endurance, strength, and technique through ski, and roller-ski drills, and time trials.

“Time trials throughout the summer are effective in stimulating intensity and speed and also allows for targeting mental and physical energy toward the elements of the sport we need to continue to improve upon in the closest environment we will face in the winter – in the arena of competition,” Fish said. “The camps provide a great place for such time trials, for it allows for athletes to review where they are in a particular training attribute in comparison to their peers.”

Adding time trials during the summer not only offers the athletes an opportunity to peg the needle a few times and check the engine with some friendly competition, but it also provides another opportunity to increase their overall training load. An increased training load is something Fish and the entire coaching staff has seen over the past six years. In 2013, the average regional athlete trained an average of 418 hours annually. That increased to 465 hours annually in 2017. And in 2019, the average regional athlete is on par to hit 468 hours of structured training time.

These numbers were provided by the athletes through three simple questions, including: How many hours total did you plan to train last year? How many hours total did you actually train last year? And, how many total hours do you plan to train next year? “These questions point towards setting goals and having a plan,” Fish said. “It also points an athlete toward consistent training year-round. The message is getting through, for we see our junior athletes more prepared at camps. They are more fit, more skilled, and more focused.”

This increased attention for form, fitness, and focus can be attributed to the skilled club and regional coaches that lead these camps and are putting in the lion’s share of hard work with these athletes at home on a day to day basis. In addition, current and past World Cup athletes also attended the camps to give back and help the next generation. Their attendance at the camps increases the focus of our junior athletes, but most importantly, they built on the belief that the United States can win at cross country skiing at the highest levels of the sport.