Helooooo???

Anyone home?!

March 23rd Update from Rolf

Sad that I didn't email lately or sad that I'm back? I just got done writing up two extensive PARA reports for our J3 and J4's who traveled far and wide to compete in elite post season events, so my fingies are tired. Correction from weeks ago... apparently I was making Kelsey grow up too fast, she's only a junior and will be back next year! Sorry dear!

Quick announcements: As mentioned, we will be having our end of year team picnic this Sunday. Contact Paul with what goodies you can bring. He already trounced my plan to bring cheerleaders and the Budweiser horsies beer trailer. Maybe you guys can do better? And let's get one last day of skiing in, if in fact it will be the last day. The website does clearly say they will be open as long as the weather cooperates. Hey, can they beat April 3rd? That was the closing date 2 years ago and it's an all time mountain record if I'm not mistaken. Also noted is a season pass holders party the evening of the 24th in the Sno grill. Details on the website.

The great Molly Curran was the first Sno Mt. racer to ever attend J3 Junior Olympics (not including Brian Dunleavy and Mike Mitchell when it was Montage). The long story to the whole event can be found here... http://mstinc.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=18
In a nutshell, Molly did well considering the snow conditions were the worst I've seen in a very long time and that during some of the events, there was at least a 30% DQ rate with another 30% having to hike. Molly didn't DQ once, take that Academy kids! Special thanks to Team Sno family, the Wartons for offering up their Chalet for me and the Currans to call home for race week. We couldn't have been happier! And thanks to Patty Curran for bringing lots of food and beer and Geno Curran for feeding me that beer.

The great Tommy Steinbach was the first racer from Sno to attend the Whistler Shootout, although he did make it last year as well. He was also one of fifteen Pa racers to make the J4 Future Stars event in the days following the Shootout.
The complete story can be found here .... http://mstinc.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=374#374
The Whistler Shootout is the East Coast qualifier for the Whistler Cup race which invites the best kids in North America to attend. Tommy was one of only two boys invited from Pa. He finished as high as 5th in one of the 6 runs!! Whoa, for a minute his parents thought they were packing for British Columbia! Tommy also competed in the future stars event which takes about 160 J4's and jumbles them all up into 15 random teams and assigns a coach to each. For three days, the coaches (Bill Steinbach and myself included) form these unknown kids into a team and have to put together a synchronized skiing routine, training for a kombi race (sl and gs in the same course) and ski all over the whole mountain (the 5 peaks of Sunday River) to find stations of candy and puzzle pieces and perform numerous drills and tests. Some included non stop top to bottom mogul runs and a vertical challenge to see which team can score the most vertical feet in one day... youch! Then the event is capped off with a Kombi race on the final day. My team actually won the whole thing, probably because we did the most vertical in one day. I'm paying for it now, my bones are sore!

...And so are my fingers. Hopefully everyone can make the picnic this Sunday. the weather so far looks good!

Coach Rolf

Quote for the day: "Yes, I had a very good race today. Words cannot describe how great I was" SMS alum. Kristin Luckenbill (2004 olympic soccer team) speaking at the JO banquet, quoting ski racing great Alberto Tomba from years back.

2007 J4 Whistler Shootout/Future Stars report

PA’s finest J4’s!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the Pennsylvania racers who competed in the J4 Whistler Cup shootout and Future Stars event this past week, and for making this a very special event for all involved. You represented your home ski team, PARA and your State most admirably! The maturity, politeness and fine sportsmanship brought structure and enjoyment to the program and team. Thanks so much!

Parents... thank you as well for your efforts, not only at Sunday River, but throughout the season. Most of this would not have been possible without your support, persistence and funding. Racers, parents and home-team coaches, kudo’s to you!!


Results from all days of racing can now be found at
http://www.live-timing.com/races.php

You guys and gals Rock!!

Yours in Speed & Best Regards,

Rolf Mair

Head J1-J2 coach SNÖ Mt.

Waves@comcast.net

PS. If you have any pictures in digital format, could you please send them to me at waves@comcast.net?

************************************************************

The fifteen fastest Pennsylvania J4 alpine ski racers qualified from state level competition to represent PARA in the J4 Future Stars event held this past week at Sunday River Maine. The fastest four also had an opportunity to qualify for the Whistler Cup held in Canada. Representing PA. and PARA (Pennsylvania Alpine Racing Association), the 11-12 year old skiers raced against kids from 9 other states on the difficult and steep slopes of Southern Maine. PARA's Elite J4's invited to this prestigious event included Blue Mts. Lauren Horner, Julia Brackup, Bergen Tindall, Marc Blanchard, and Geoffery Pyke, Camelback’s Kelly Rowland and Harlan Merritt, Seven Springs Kailey Joyce, Elk Mts. Creswell Kendal, Shane Connors, and Stepper Hall, Sno Mts. Tommy Steinbach, Whitetails Andrew Rutledge and Robert Field, and Tussey’s Mackenzie DeCarle. Unfortunately Stepper and Robert were not able to make the trip. Coaches for the event were SNO Mts Bill Steinbach and Rolf Mair, and Elk Mts Ben Conrad.



Friday proved to be one of the most difficult driving events I’ve ever encountered. With a major winter storm bearing down on the east coast, even leaving well before it hit turned out to be futile. What would normally be an 8 hour trip doubled to nearly 16 hours due to high winds and heavy snow that ended up smacking the area with nearly 18 inches of snow. About mid day Friday, Sunday River postponed the Whistler Shootout event until Sunday. Still, many families had difficulty arriving on time due to delayed flights or closed roads. When Sunday rolled around however, everyone was ready to get busy. Although the sun was out, it was quite windy and there were a few snow squalls that freshened up the slopes. Coach Bill, with help from wife Susan, took our PARA fast-four, Lauren, Kelly, Bergen and Tommy to the shootout while Coach Ben and I worked the Future Stars part of the event. The shootout consisted of 6 total runs, 3 slalom and 3 GS. Kelly was PA’s fast girl scoring a 12th, 13th, 13th, 10th, 13th and sadly a DNF on her last run. Lauren scooted to a 13th, 11th, 17th, 9th, 11th, and a DNF. Bergen landed a nice 10th, 11th, 10th, 11th, 11th and 13th. Tommy scared his parents into thinking he may be headed to Canada with an 8th, 10th, 6th, 8th, 5th and 10th. Great job everyone!

On the Future Stars side, Ben and I were learning the names of the 11-12 kids we had and trying to build them into a team to compete for the big prizes. Though I didn’t speak to Ben much about his group, my group was a mix of kids from the extremes of the East Coast, from Maine to North Carolina, yup, NC! As a matter of fact I had 3 kids from down south. Within 1.5 hours we whipped up a synchronized skiing routine that wowed the judges, and also got in a little training for the Kombi event coming up in a few days.

Kudo’s to Ben and girlfriend for offering up his condo for a nice dinner and drink, along with his own recipe for venison and other interesting snacks. Thanks to some of the parents for the entertainment!

Luckily the coaches got a decent nights rest. Monday was go time for the hard part of the FS event. On tap for the day was lots of skiing.... LOTS. In the course of 6 hours, we were required to drag the kids clear across the entire 5 peaks of Sunday River finding puzzle pieces, candy, base drills and non-stop, top to bottom mogul runs. Or should I have said the kids had to drag the coaches? I was very lucky to have a Sunday River native on the team and he was able to quickly and efficiently get the team to where the goods were and complete the tasks. Another boy took charge of organizing the team to help attain the best scores. We were one of the last teams in, having completed all our tasks and actually getting three bonus runs in for extra credit. Kids happy, coach sore!!

Monday evening’s banquet was finally a welcome opportunity for all of PA’s kids and parents to meet and enjoy each others company. Thanks to Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Tindall for the pre-banquet ‘fluid appetizers’ and Bill Steinbach for the post-banquet nightcap. Good food was available and I even had the pleasure of slowing down the event TD and PARA technical icon, Robbie Lipton, long enough that he enjoyed dinner with us. However, he was up and out quickly looking to beat the building crowd of kids at the ice creme counter. We’re not certain, but we believe a few racers were threatened with mysterious DQ’s if he was not allowed to the front of the line. Anyway, as it turned out, my team won the big prize for having the most points for the day, in conjunction with the points garnered from the synchronized skiing routine a day earlier. The kids won some neat prizes including a brand new helmet.

Tuesday’s Kombi event was interesting. A race that featured both slalom turns and GS turns in the same race was something most PA kids never experienced. The one minute run included 2 sections of slalom and two sections of GS, nicely blended together to make a smooth flowing course. All the teams stuck together as opposed to gravitating back to their own states. My team again did very well, but PA racers showed their stuff too. Marc stomped a major 11th place out of 91 boys, Geoffery landed in 29th, Bergen 40th, Andrew 59th, Mackenzie 63rd and Robert 69th. Tommy and Shane were flying when they boogered up a gate and DNF’d. Kailey Joyce was 42nd out of 80 girls. Julie and Merritt were right behind in 45th and 46th with Lauren scoring 48th. Kendall had a 61st place and Kelly didn’t make the race as I believe they had to leave early.

With that, the event was basically over. Some chose to stick around for a second go at the course even though it didn’t count for anything other than bragging rights. Sore and whooped, the car ride home gave the bones a chance to not have to move for awhile. Bill and crew stuck around for another day while Ben and girlfriend were rumored to be on a New England tour of various ski resorts. In all, it was a great event for everyone, with lots of memories to be remembered. Best wishes to everyone for a great season and beyond. Keep the wax side down!

Best Regards,

Rolf Mair

2007 J3 Junior Olympic Report

PA’s finest J3’s Represent ‘PA Proud’!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the Pennsylvania racers who competed in the J3 Junior Olympics this past week, and for making this a very special event for all involved. You represented your home ski team, PARA and your State most admirably! The maturity, politeness and fine sportsmanship brought structure and enjoyment to the program and team. Thanks so much!

Parents... thank you as well for your efforts, not only at Stratton, but throughout the season. Most of this would not have been possible without your support, persistence and funding. Racers, parents and home-team coaches, kudo’s to you!!

Results from all days of racing can now be found at
www.vara.org


You guys and gals Rock!!

Yours in Speed & Best Regards,

Rolf Mair

Head J1-J2 coach SNÖ Mt.

Waves@comcast.net

PS. If you have any pictures in digital format, could you please send them to me at waves@comcast.net

************************************************************

The seven fastest Pennsylvania J3 alpine ski racers qualified from state level competition to represent PARA in the Eastern J3 Junior Olympics held this past week at Stratton Mountain Vermont. Representing PA. and PARA (Pennsylvania Alpine Racing Association), the 13-14 year old skiers raced against kids from 7 other states on the difficult and steep slopes of Southern Vermont. Three disciplines of ski racing were scheduled, from the slower but very technical slalom event, a faster giant slalom race and right up to the high speed super giant slalom race. PARA's Elite J3's invited to this prestigious event included Whitetail’s Molly Broom and Luke Wiles, SNÖ Mt's Molly Curran, Camelback’s Kara Philips, Blue Mt's Jeff Puckette and Brian Kazar, Ski Sawmill's Devin Dymic. Coaches for the event were Ski Roundtop’s Bruce Bedell and Sno Mts. Rolf Mair. Whitetail’s Dan Chayes was originally scheduled to be one of the coaches, but a last minute household emergency forced him to cancel.

Most racers and families arrived Friday evening, having driven up the New York Thruway watching the snow banks rise higher and higher. Vermont received at least two feet of snow in the past week allowing excellent snow conditions for free skiing, but not all that wonderful for racing. Saturday morning Bruce snagged a hearty breakfast at the lodge while I guzzled a good dose of crap-o-chino. With the coaches nourished, we quickly corralled the PARA team, barked orders and headed to the slopes for the first event of the series. Slalom was the event for the day and Bruce and I split the team as there were two courses, one for the gals, one for the guys. Gals course was on skiers right... Easy to remember if you recall that girls are always right (sorry, recycled joke, I won’t use that again ever ;-)

The day began sunny with a strong wind, and for the most part the impending rain held off until later in the day. Molly Broom lit the fuse for the girls, but was forced to hoof it back up hill, not once but twice due to missed gates. Her second run was much better. She finished in 46th place. Molly Curran ended up on foot as well, and her second run wasn’t a ton better. She did sneak out a 34th place however. Kara Philips gave a good shot but sadly DNF’d. The boys were a bit worried at this point, knowing that somehow they needed to put PA on the map. Jeff Puckette was lead man and stormed down the course and landed smartly in 21st place on his first run, but somehow managed to rail slide a break-away gate forcing not one, but two gatekeepers to DQ him. Bruce spoke with the TD about a possible protest, but thought better of the idea when the TD said he felt it was a lost cause. He did get a time and would have snagged a very cool 17th overall had the gatekeepers not been paying attention. Good zing though Jeff! Devin was next in line and had a very good first run, but he too enjoyed the course so much, stopping and hiking uphill just to do a gate all over again. He finished 44th. Luke was a hiker on round one, though his second run was outstanding, it was only good enough for a 47th place finish. Brian was last to go. Would he have to hike or get DQ’d? Naaa, he broke tradition and ran two strong runs without faults. Well, kind of. On the second run, he decided not to use his pads to take out gates. Rather, he chose his goggles, which ended up out of sorts and blocking his vision. He quickly adjusted and got back on track for a 49th place.

While this seems like a less than stellar start to JO’s, PA wasn’t the only ones having a bad day. Out of 90 boys, a full 30 racers either DQ’d or DNF’d. Many more had to hike. 26 out of 74 women, same story. Bottom line, the course was difficult and the snow conditions far from ideal. PA did their best and Academy kids tanked it too.

With racing thankfully behind us, the team headed for various places to clean up and eat. The fine folks at SMS (Stratton Mt. School) hosted a tour of the facilities and offered wine, veggie and cheese snacks in the library of all places. After appetizers I went next door for the coaches meeting and again ate more goodies provided to us. Finally, as though we weren’t pampered enough, we were invited to a coaches only dinner complete with hand carved roast beef, taters and of course, good proper imported beer. Wow, finally a hosting mountain that understands the plight of sorry and malnourished coaches!

By Sunday morning we were determined as a group to stay upright and finish strong. Weather was less than perfect once again, with strong winds and flurries about. The only good news was that the inch or two of rain we did get came late the previous night and was gone by day break. The bad news was it wasn’t cold enough to freeze the course solid. Mutterings from the coaches predicted that the crust wouldn’t hold very long, and sure enough, it gave way mid-way through the girls first run. Since PA kids are accustom to widely varying snow conditions, we were ready for anything. Kara tore up the first run, making the flip-30 and ended up running very early in the second, offering her ideal course conditions. She would be PA’s highest finisher of the event, earning an outstanding 20th place overall out of 75 girls! That’s impressive since nearly a third of the girls didn’t finish. Yeah Kara!! Molly-B was not far behind Kara on the first run, but found a not so nice course on the second fly. She still stomped the run, now overtaken by H U G E holes and missing sections of skiable snow. She was 35th overall. Molly-C also found similar conditions and 39th was her ending. Great work chickies!!!

The boys showed their concern once again. With the temps rising and a tad of sun poking through, their trip down wasn’t bound to be a whole lot better. The Puckster had an outstanding first and decent second run to end up in a well deserved 22nd overall, nice!! Devin lit a fine one to lead off his day, but due to major course problems, he lost a ski early in his run. Luke also fell victim to one particularly deep hole with sharp entry and exit points, tearing off his stick as well. Overall there were lots of missing skis and falls, once again. SMS course workers gave their best to keep the race running, but the surface snow was failing faster than it could be fixed. Probably the stand out for PARA today was Brian Kazar, who ended up 35th, but had to deal with lousy-poor conditions both runs. Brian competed in the worst snow I’ve seen in years, and did beat Jeff on the second run, by a full second. Wow, what a run! Hey, it was so bad that I nearly spilled it twice trying to slip out the course before he went down.

The banquet was in order for our evening and it provided the first time we all could get together as a group and enjoy our team pride. SMS hosted the best post season party I’ve been too, with great food, $1 beverages (they must have forgotten to add a ‘zero’ to that), and some outstanding speakers and videos. We were stuffing ourselves with Barilla pasta (the noodles that sponsor Bode) while Kristin Luckenbill, an SMS grad and 2004 Olympic women’s team soccer player, spoke most positively and humorously about junior ski racing, much to the crowds delight. With that we retired for the evening.

Sunday night’s coaches meeting alluded to the fact that Tuesday’s weather would not facilitate a super-g event due to rain and toasty warm air. It was decided that Monday would host both the training run and race. That made for a tight schedule, but it needed to be done this way for the safety of the racers.

Finally a day in which to work on my tan! Sweet sun and gentle breeze provided a near beach-like atmosphere. The Pa crew promptly hit the trails for a scathing freeski run which was monitored by the coaches. Inspection was next and that was carefully performed due to two sizeable man made jumps which demanded careful analysis. Next up was an un-timed training run in which all our racers performed stupendously. Then it was GO time. The girls again had first crack at the course.............

Molly B smoked the course with a 26th place result, only 4 seconds out on a minute + long course, NIIICE!! Molly C was a bit more tentative and ended up in 53rd. Kara launched out of the start and proceeded to booger the first jump. Luckily she was interfered with and got a re-run. Well, maybe unluckily. Although Kara navigated the first jump perfectly the second time around, she took a pretty bad fall and tweeked her knee. Last I heard, she is doing well and no damage done, phew! Boys were anxious and got busy in a hurry. Luke stormed out of the gate and flew through the finish in 42nd place... but only 3.5 seconds off the front runners! Talk about a tough crowd! Luke also wore the Curran GPS and logged a top speed of 56 mph! Brian Kazar had his best day, only 2/10ths behind Luke, scoring 44th. Jeff was only 3/10ths behind him in 47th.

When the dust settled, all PA racers were intact, unfazed and all giddy by the screamin' long course. The jumps actually proved to be of little concern as very few racers overall were bothered by them. What a fine way to end a grand event!

Several families bailed for home early, wishing to get in an unexpected days work to help pay for the debt their racing kids put them in, or to make up for all the missed days of school. I met the Wiles, Dymic, Puckette and Currans at a fancy in town eatery and proceeded to enjoy one final evening with PA’s finest ‘racers-n-rents’ . The stories and chatter were enlivening but Geno Curran’s hilarious pet emus story provided a few spit-up drinks and tears from guttural laughter. Thanks to the Wiles for inviting me to their B&B for one more round and some more good talk of bio-fuels and how ‘dorky’ Luke looked in his dad’s swim trunks. Betcha you’ll remember yours next time, right Luke?

Since this coach doesn’t get a chance to ski much, I stuck around for a morning of great free skiing. Though the sun was bright, the rain they suspected of coming never materialized. The Dymics were found poking around the US Snowboarding Championships qualifiers, so we all skied a few runs together. Once I was satisfied with the finishing touches on my tanned mug, it was back to Pa to recover.

Having now coached 7 PARA teams over the course of the last 4 years, the racers of the 2007 J3 JO team impressed me the most. Even though they hailed from different ski areas, and are normally fiercely competing against each other, everyone displayed enormous sportsmanship, talent and manners. Bruce and I couldn’t have been more pleased. Parents, you should be and I’m sure are, very proud of them and it’s because of you that they are the fine young Americans they present themselves as.

PARA should also stand proud behind our J3’s. In comparison to their New England competition, our racers are disadvantaged on so many levels, yet, numerous times finished their runs well ahead of half of those who train nearly every day. Doesn’t make those academy parents who toss $30k+ a year feel very good now does it!?

Despite what may be made of the finish places listed above, something needs to be understood. Most of the racers at this, the highest level of competition, attend New England area ski academies where each is in school for one half of a day and race training for the other half. On average, an academy racer easily spends over 500 hours each season training on snow as well as several hundred more hours working with weights and other specific skiing related workouts. This compares to an average Pennsylvania ski area training regiment of only 80 to 100 hours depending on snow cover, weather conditions and area opening dates. Also, many of the top racers have full equipment sponsorships including multiple skis for the same event, the best training gear and access to the best knowledge and tools in the business. Instead of place points, what one should really look at is how close to the top seed our racers are, time wise. In most cases, 10 racers are within the same one second time frame. The Pennsylvania State Team performed remarkably well all three days on courses steeper and way longer than typically encountered at their home areas. Being invited to compete at such an event is a lofty honor, and their dedication and commitment to the sport is noteworthy.


A few words of thanks and cool mentions need to be made. Thanks to co-coach Bruce Bedell for excellent radio reports, video taping various racers and bringing lots of tools and knowledge to the event. Thanks to all parents who ran coats and helped our crew with tuning, encouragement and support where needed. Thanks to the Puckette, Curran, Dynmic and Wiles families for picking up my dinner tab! Thanks to PARA muckity-mucks for getting the ball rolling. J3 Chair Lisa Clayton was instrumental in getting most of these kids entered into an elite J3 event at Okemo earlier in the season and also quickly providing info for our coaches for this event. Thanks also to Bruce Newman for whipping up PARA’s best coaches for all post season events for the last 2 seasons. SMS did a sooper-dooper job all week long, having to deal with cruddy snow, finicky weather and the occasional weird coach. Well done in every way. I’m sure I’m missing some stories and good deeds, but it all proves we can work together to make everyone's experience memorable. Best wishes to everyone for a great summer and 2008 race season. Keep the wax side down!

Best Regards,

Rolf Mair

March 7th Update from Rolf/Chad & corrections

HAHA!! Yeah... Just when I say updates will be sporadic from here out, now there are three quick ones in a row! Freestyle guys chimed in a tad late, but they are forgiven (too many bumps to the noggin ;-) Actually it was sent on time, but must have went to another addy.

My farewell to our elder J1's was, as I suspected, inaccurate. Dan's mom notes:

Dan is NOT going to Rutgers. He is still waiting to hear, but he has auditioned at 4 of the top conservatories on the east coast and will be studying Jazz Bass and Recording Arts next year.

Dan also made East Coast High School Championships for skiing, and that rules! Good luck Dan!

Lastly, before the freestyle update, don't forget our team website and forums. We'll be continuously modifying them
as the season ends. All weekly email updates are posted on the forum section, and again, you do not have to be
registered to view the contents, just to post. That addy is www.mstinc.org and a link to the forums is in there.


From Freestyle!

Great year you guys! Our only regret for the year is not having video footage from the first day to compare to the last day. Everyone's turns (x Coach Chad's) improved massively! Some final notes to carry with you until next season.

Loco – We wouldn't risk saying this if we didn't know your Mom so well and you weren't the nicest guy at heart. You have got to do a better job of paying attention and staying with the group. Keep your weight forward, especially when spinning. Keep working with Ryan, Ben, Shaun and gang in the park.

SC – Most improved turns for the season. Weight forward, round out the turns (practice the tea leaves periodically) PS - Loco came up to me and told me what he thinks SC really means, did you spill the beans, cause it wasn't me?

Tom – You rock! (No busting on the coaches trying to get digits!!!) Anyway, spend time following people (instructors, racers etc.) who's turns you want to model. When you can mimic others movements, it makes you more flexible in the type of turns you are capable of executing.

Mory – I wish you were able to be with us more. You add a nice complement to the group. Good luck with teaching that gal you mentioned the finer points of skiing. Focus on rounding out the turns.

JJ – 18! is in your reach for this weekend's competition.

Thanks again you all; it's been an honor!
John and Chad