by Kathy Stahr | Nov 22, 2018 | Member News
BC Alpine is pleased to introduce the three men and three women being named to the 2018/19 BC Ski Team. With five returning members and one rookie, this small but mighty group of six is looking forward to gaining experience and achieving results on the Nor-Am circuit, as well as making a strong showing at Canadian Nationals.
Frances MacDonald (Grouse Tyee),
Nicole Mah (Grouse Tyee) and
Ella Renzoni (WMSC) are returning to the ladies' squad, and
Kyle Alexander (WMSC) and
Myles Kowalczyk (WMSC) are returning to the men's team, joined by newcommer
Marcus Athans (Apex Ski Club). BC Alpine Head Coach
Nick Cooper leads the team with BC Ski Team coaches
Ryan Jazic and
Morgan Pridy.
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PHOTO (left to right)
"It’s always exciting to get the season started," said BC Alpine Head Coach Nick Cooper. "After a strong summer in the gym and a solid on-snow prep period, I’m confident heading into the season. I know that everyone has made positive changes in their skiing over the past 6 months, and we are all looking forward to seeing where that takes us."
“I am really excited to see how this team is working together," said BC Alpine Vice President Johnny Crichton. "They are tough, strong and supportive of each other. They all have individual goals, but realize that in order to achieve them they must work together as a team. It’s a powerful lesson and the results are sure to come”
"We are proud to continue supporting the best alpine ski racers in BC by providing a superior program through which they can develop to the next level," said Anders Hestdalen, BC Alpine CEO. "More than 30% of this year’s National team athletes got their start in BC Alpine programs, from BC clubs to the provincial team. This is a number we are very proud of, and the BC Ski Team staff work hard to continue fulfilling their mission to develop and prepare ski racers to perform on the world stage."
by Kathy Stahr | Nov 10, 2018 | Member News
On Tuesday, November 6th Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club hosted their first Women in Sport Evening, focusing on Community, Pathway and Inspiration. The evening was facilitated by Dani Robson, first female to work as a coach for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, and Mike Janyk, retired world cup ski racer and now Grouse Tyee Ski Club Program Director.
The program began with Keynote Speaker Allison McNeill, women's basketball Head Coach and key player in the development of CAAWS female mentorship in sport program. Allison shared her pathway to coaching at the national level and highlighted the important role that mentorship and sponsorship play in providing avenues for coaches to move up in their sport.
It was an engaged group of women with backgrounds ranging from passionate long-term coaching, to new parent coaches and ex-racers making the transition to coaching. Time was spent discussing current barriers within our zone and how we can work together to address them and facilitate change. The night closed with a powerful talk from Dani on connecting with your athletes and insight from her time with the national ski team.
We will meet again in February 2019, and look forward to seeing new faces and expanding this community!
For more information please feel free to contact Catherine Grant, Vice President of Grouse Tyee & Chair of Women and Sport at vice.president@grousetyee.com
by Kathy Stahr | Oct 24, 2018 | Member News
Pridy and Blog II – Episode 2
Here we are, regaining some semblance of sanity in Finkenberg after escaping the time warp of indoor training. I’m writing you from venue number two of our trip, Hintertux glacier in Austria, but before we talk about here, let’s do as we should and start from the start.
BC Ski Team’s 2018 Europe prep camp is underway. To save on the monotonous details of our travel I’ll keep it short form. Home -> YVR -> MUC -> Van (vehicle) -> Autobahn -> terrible roadside dinner -> Van again -> Autobahn once more -> Wittenberg! Now that that’s covered, we have arrived at our home for the next several days. The Wittenberg Alpine Center, a massive domed structured anchored into the flat lands of Northern Germany. For miles in any direction there is…nothing. Nothing suits everyone just fine though, because we are here to ski, and after Chile up-and-called-it-quits on us early, there is some unfinished business to be dealt with.
Morning of day one arrives and the crew is up before the sun. I’d like to think it’s due to sheer excitement for our first on snow session. In reality it’s the potentially week (okay, school week)-long battle with jet lag. Our first block is approaching and here is how it works. The hotel is physically attached to the ski hill, with the restaurant looking out at the slope. Our team gets two two-hour blocks per day, which amounts to plenty of time with the extremely fast turn around. These sessions vary throughout the day, could be we ski 8-10 and 2-4 or maybe a 12-2 and a 4-6pm. The time between, as the guys soon found out, is essential because you run through edges like crazy and everything needs to be tuned twice a day.
Stepping across the threshold and into the fridge is always an interesting experience. You go from mid summer to minus five and humid in an instant. The mountain scenery attached to the walls and the fake little trees don’t do much to mask the fact that you’re in a giant hockey rink, smell and all. Also similar to a hockey rink is the surface. Watered down or injected, with the only snow that actually resembles snow slipped to the side.
The ascent to the peak is a four-minute journey via what we will call a mid-speed quad. The view isn’t all that bad though, far left the French World Cup team is making it look easy, and directly below is a team of who-knows-who from wherever. They are making it look like something else entirely! Either way, lets plug one in and see where we stack up. The great province of BC isn’t known for its icy conditions, so the crew must have learned how to ski it somewhere else. Minus a few hiccups they perform admirably and get into the rhythm by the end of the session. Now that any doubts and jitters have been vacated it’s time to hit the process hard and make hay in the great indoors.
Time here blends together, minutes become seconds and hours often last longer than they have any business doing. A slow decent into googly eyed disorientation is certain. It’s undeniably great training, so much so that we added on an extra day. A decision based on the completely legit principal that if things are good you get all the good you can get when you can get it. Unreal training or not, this does very little to combat the Groundhog Day twilight zone love child that the Germans have created here.
You may be thinking “hell, I’m inside right now, what’s the big deal?”. I’ll tell you exactly what the big deal is; No windows, no need to step foot outside, jet lag in full effect, lunch and dinner identical buffets, terribly consistent weather in the dome, constantly varying session times allowing for weird hours and unconventional nap times. Then the topper, a thing I think they do on purpose. They play the same fifteen songs on repeat the whole damn time. Day one you are humming along to Forever Young and you can bet you’ll still be humming along to the same song two days later not knowing if any time has gone by at all. Before you know it you’ve gone full Bill Murray.
Let’s cast off and set sail before the alpine center becomes our very own Hotel California. Travel commences, Wittenberg alpine center -> Van (vehicle) -> Autobahn -> better roadside grill -> Van -> a whole lot more Autobahn -> Hintertux.
Horror stories have been coming out of the "Tux" all fall. The photos of blue and black ice have been well documented and distributed over social media. From the outside looking in it seems like a good place to break your slalom gates and probably also break down and cry. Our crew, minus Marcus, has all made the trip here before though, and as far as tough goes they know it isn’t even a Swiss ten. The coaching staff thinks the same thing…rumors build and build until we all know a guy who’s caught a whale and sent a quadruple on his dirt bike.
It’s been a long travel day prior, so we opt for a low stress first morning, taking a later session. Three gondolas and 5700 meters of vertical later we arrive on the peak, and the view looks… well it looks awfully shiny. Our first contact is with a fellow coach, a hard little eastern European man we know. “Welcome to hell”, he says.
Yeah, no. Nothing about this year’s conditions had been exaggerated. Glacier ice compressed by it’s own weight for the past millennia now lays bare on every training piste in sight, slippery, unrelenting, edge-eating ice.
Click in, buckle the boots, take a breath and let’s do this thing. One by one the team takes their first crack at it. Knowing what they expect themselves to do, but not knowing what to expect when it comes to the doing of it. Even parts technique and commitment are needed. Not enough of either and the most you can hope for is a wave from your coaches as you slide by. Perfect conditions to hammer home basics, with immediate gate-to-gate feedback provided by the surface. Each of the last days has seen the skiing improve for all involved. Small victories here are coming more and more from the crew, and with that comes the opportunity to finish the camp on a strong note.
Next stop for the BCST is home, well-deserved rest and then Sun Peaks.
Fun Facts:
– don’t break the universal rule of 4 days indoors;
– push scooters are fun, but having someone push you on a scooter is even better;
– hand vs. gate base…gate base remains undefeated;
– half the team are going as eggplants for Halloween (OUCH)!
~ Brilliantly crafted and submitted by Morgan Pridy
by Kathy Stahr | Oct 24, 2018 | Member News
Nelson’s Bob Swan inducted into Canadian Ski Hall of Fame – story in the Nelson Star
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2018 Inductees Ceremony https://www.facebook.com/events/1971480846263078/
SAVE The Date!
The Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum will welcome its new inductees since 2010 at a ceremony in Banff, Alberta, on November 21st. The six inductees are:
Alpine athletes Thomas Grandi, John Kucera and Bob Swan;
Nordic coach Marty Hall along with builders John Fry and Russell Goodman.
more details about the event in Banff!
Bobby Swan competed for Canada at the 1964 and 1968 Winter Games. He’s been a Whitewater regular ever since. Photo: Tyler Harper
by Kathy Stahr | Oct 23, 2018 | Member News
Alpine Athletic Champion U16 Challenge – Sunday, November 4th at Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver
Alpine skiing has always been a physically demanding sport. With changing equipment the physical challenges have increased over the last few years. Fitness at all levels – agility, endurance, power, speed, coordination – is key for success in ski racing and for an injury free and successful career.
To motivate the young U16 athletes to work on their fitness in the off-season period, coaches Jordan Williams (National SkiX Team) and Tamara Schaupp (Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club) have joined forces to create an exciting and challenging fitness event that tests all important fitness components in a fun way.
The first Alpine Athletic Champion U16 Challenge event took place on October 20th, 2013 in North Vancouver. Check out Details at Events and Venues. We are proud to be hosting the sixth annual AAC event on November 4th, 2018 in North Vancouver.
The goal is to set up courses and circuits that challenge the U16 athletes' speed, agility, spatial awareness, endurance and coordination. This fitness event is FREE for all participants! There will be some great prizes for the top three female and male athletes, as well as some awesome draw prizes. The trophies – one for male and one for female Alpine Athletic Champions – go to the winning clubs for one year until they are handed over to the new winners' clubs. The Vancouver Ski Team racers and Myles Kowalczyk from the BC Ski Team will be there to cheer on the athletes, set the times, and join the morning warm-up.
Register NOW for this super fun and challenging event at www.alpineathleticchamp.com
