The BC Ski Team has recently returned from their first on snow camp of the 2008/2009 season. Camp one was held at a very snowy Mt Hood in Oregon, USA (there is still snow in the trees at Government Camp!), and even with the hot temperatures, we were able to ski to the bottom of the chair – we used this terrain for warm-up in the morning.
During this first ski camp of the summer, we focused on “breaking down” the each individual’s skiing into the basics, with focus on lower leg skills, “power core”, overall balance and timing. The athletes worked on their individual focus for 5 days in a Slalom type turn environment and then in a GS turn environment for the last three days. Many of the drills and exercises were new to these athletes so much time was spent ensuring that the challenges were being performed to a high standard. All athletes started to design their own personal warm-up routines which they will continue to utilize for the remainder of the season.
As the members of the group are still new to each other, coaches and athletes took time to go over past experiences that did or did not work for them in terms of communication, feedback, coaching strategies, etc. This important process will be ongoing throughout the preparation period to make sure that the athletes’ needs are being met and they have every possible opportunity to succeed in the upcoming competition season.
In addition to the eight-day stretch of technical skills skiing, the athletes continued a moderate-intensity physical program … combined (for fun) with some breathtaking dips in the Salmon River and the snow-fed streams rushing down from the top of Mt Hood.
Coaches Chris Mosaed and Nancy O’Neill are both pleased with the progress made in this first ski camp and are looking forward to watching the 2008/2009 BCST athletes develop over the season. Next on the agenda is the dreaded fitness testing this weekend followed by another intensive three-week dryland training block in Whistler.
BC Ski Team Athletes
Victoria Whitney (WMSC)
Conrad Pridy (WMSC)
Morgan Pridy (WMSC)
Matt Leduc (MWSC)
Sasha Zaitsoff (Red Mtn)
Chris Campbell (Timberland)
Tyler Werry (Fernie)
Ian Morrison (WMSC)