Category: Camps

Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a press release run several days ago.  More information on the program is included.

NENSA is excited to announce a collaboration with a new summer program at Stratton Mountain School

While SMS is continuing to offer a summer training program for their students, this year they are also opening the program to a limited number of additional athletes. This is an ideal opportunity for college skiers without access to a summer training group and coaching.

Andy Newell will be around in June and August and SMS skiers will be there all summer. SMS’s goal is to have a dedicated group of high school and college age skiers training together for the summer with additional elite skiers joining them for weekends and mini camps. They are also offering a summer development program for local skiers age 10-17. Once a week the elite skiers will be expected to spend 10-15 minutes working with the younger skiers before the workout. This interaction should benefit all ages.

Goals for the summer are to build an excellent aerobic base and work on technique and specific strength. Typically each week will include at least 1 skate, 1 classic and 1 ski walking/bounding workout. SMS is ideally situated for summer training with easy access to great roller skiing and miles of trails. The fully equipped SMS gym and weight room will be available to Elite athletes for strength training, lactate testing etc. Skiers should finish the summer prepared for great fall training.

The groups will be led by Stratton Mountain School coaches Sverre Caldwell, Poppet Boswell and Matt Boobar. They also hope to have guest college coaches helping out on some of the weekends.  NENSA staff will help with coordination as needed appropriate.

NENSA recognizes the importance of having a training network in place for New England’s Elite athletes and is generally interested in helping these programs succeed.  NENSA’s relationship with designated senior programs such as SMS is to provide peripheral support. This may include initial guidance with program set up, collaborating with fundraising efforts and helping to organize joint training camps.  NENSA does not directly run or fund them; the programs are fully self-supported and locally run.  Other current examples of this type of collaboration include Craftsbury’s Green Team.

This program will offer Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday supervised training as well as mini camps every other weekend and a 3 day mid summer camp at Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. There will be free housing for up to 3-4 athletes which will be given to Elite team skiers who make a full commitment to the program.

The mini camps will be scheduled to help encourage an influx of athletes every two weeks. By getting a bunch of dedicated skiers together, everyone benefits. This allows those in school or with jobs, the ability to plug in and have the exposure to others who are training well. SMS staff will try to set up home stays with local athletes for the elite weekend athletes in the program.

Please see SMS Summer Program flyer for program details and information on how to apply.

SMS Elite Summer Program Flyer

They come from all over: Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Utah. College ski teams: Montana State, Michigan Tech, University of Minnesota, University of Colorado/Boulder, Dartmouth, Middlebury… Club ski teams: Sun Valley, Mt Bachelor, Far West, Bogus Basin, Steamboat Springs…

They come even though the snow lies a scant foot deep, and only high on the plateau above the Rendezvous ski trails. They come for the first on-snow training camp and races of the 2008-09 Nordic ski racing season. Vans blazing with team logos disgorge skiers into bright sunshine, reflecting off snow. The air crackles with excitement and energy.

Uniformly lean, whip cord strong, explosively powerful, skiers fly over the snow, ablaze in the reds, blues, yellows of their skin tight uniforms. Teams flow by in waves of 10 to 20 skiers, identified by team logos: Far West, Boulder Nordic, Sun Valley. Some of the juniors have jackets from prior years’ Junior Nationals, identifying them as Intermountain, Pacific Northwest, Far West team members. Skiers past the junior and college programs, fast enough to be sponsored, wear high performance logo wear from Craft, Fisher, Rossignol, Toko.

It’s the start of a new ski season, and the athletes brim with anticipation that dreams will be realized this season. The coaches have been here many times, but they seem excited too. They are here with skiers they have coached for years and with skiers new this year. Rick Kapala, head coach and program director with Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF), is here with some of the strongest skiers. Observing and volunteering to help out as needed, as a parent of a SVSEF J2, I wonder: Is being here intimidating for the young skiers? Is it inspiring? Are coaches checking out the young skiers from other clubs in their division and considering already which skiers are likely to qualify for Jr. Nationals?

Meal time: SVSEF’s Kapala has a brilliant arrangement: he hires a cooking staff and kitchen at one of the motels to prepare healthy, satisfying, all-you-can-eat cafeteria style meals for athletes from many teams. Skiers pay a reasonable fee per meal, which might include fajitas, soup, pasta salad with vegetables, endless trays of brownies and peach cobbler.

Skiers from various teams take turns with clean-up duty, overseen by SVSEF parent volunteers, who keep the whole thing running smoothly. The parents joke w/the kids that the time on dish duty in the restaurant kitchen should motivate them to stay in school! The dedication of some of the parents to the team, and the camp as a whole, is impressive: their kids are alumni of the team, not even at West this year, yet still these volunteers come to help run the kitchen.

Wednesday morning: 9:00 am, 16 degrees and sunny. Teams on the Plateau are testing skis in preparation for Friday’s classic SuperTour race. Dozens of pairs of ultra light race skis lie out on the snow, narrower than the boot that will step into the binding. Skiers wearing electronic monitors around their ankle glide repeatedly over the same short stretch of snow, timing the glide speed with different waxes. They worry if a bit of wind throws the comparison.

The first, hopefully the only, injury happens on Wednesday. Not on skis but in the parking lot! An Olympic Development Team skier slips and falls on the ice and dislocates his shoulder. Teammates attempt to relocate, succeeding only in adding to the significant discomfort of the injured athlete. Fortunately the next car arriving at the trailhead carries 2 orthopedic surgeons from Sun Valley, who relocate the shoulder quickly.

Back at the cafeteria: lunch includes salads, butternut squash soup, fresh corn muffins, pasta. Over a hundred and fifty skiers come thru the line, loading plates high and coming back for more. Laughter and excited chatter fills the room.

Wax time: Coach Kapala’s masterful organization and planning is evident here also: SVSEF has arranged to use a warehouse across the street from the motel as a wax room. 8 waxing benches are set up in the large, well lit, heated, hangar-like room. Boxes overflowing with wax, irons, brushes, and scraping tools sit beside each bench. Athletes and coaches come and go, working on skis. Skiers who haven’t lined up an indoor wax facility are out in the cold, in the parking lot, with their benches.

Tomorrow, Friday, is race day. Let the season begin.

Kathryn Tucker is the mother of Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Junior Torin Tucker.

CXC Team Elite Team Athletes Kristina Owen and Heather Zimmerman Report On The Two Week Training Camp At The Lake Placid Olympic Training Center:

The CXC Elite Team recently completed a two week monthly camp in Lake Placid, NY. We stayed and trained at the Olympic Training Center, which provided an ideal environment to make huge gains in both fitness and technique.

The weather was excellent for the first couple days: chilly, but clear skies. “The only problem with the weather was that is was cool enough that none of the boys took off their shirts” Caitlin Compton mentioned with a smile. After a few days of such perfect training weather, the team’s luck broke and it started raining; beautiful miserable cold rain. The training continued as planned, but between workouts the hallways were filled with the smells of damp and drying athletic apparel.

One of the team’s favorite workouts at this annual camp is an over-distance run in Adirondack Park. We are able to take advantage of great trails up mountains with gorgeous panoramic views. This year the men’s team made it to the summit of Mt. Colden, but disaster struck on the way down. Matt Liebsch, Midwest born and bred, was unused to the speed on the steep rocky descent. He went down hard with a nasty ankle sprain. His teammates carried him out, but the injury was camp ending and he returned to the Midwest for recovery.

Leaves in the Lake Placid region were in their peak foliage and so was the CXC Elite Team’s performance during the second week. The highlight came at the culmination of the camp, with the Whiteface rollerski race. However, there was a lot of work to be done, both intensity and volume, before the race arrived.

The workload wasn’t the only thing increasing during the second week of camp. The Olympic Training Center was overtaken by Nordic athletes. CXC Elite was joined by their Junior Development Program athletes and coaches, as well as the Sun Valley team, the USST, various NENSA athletes, and some of the region’s collegiate racers. CXC Elite Team was able to frequently take advantage of the large athlete gathering, as all the groups came together for some of the workouts. The best example of this was a hard double pole workout up a long gradual hill. The men did two sets of 3×4 minutes, with a ten minute break between sets, while the women concentrated their efforts to 3 ½ minutes. It was a great workout and the added numbers definitely helped in ramping up the intensity!

The camp was also notably included the first competition of the year between CXC and their friendly rivals, Sun Valley. Last year Sun Valley pulled out a narrow victory in overall points. This year CXC was off to a good lead, with a win in an inter-team soccer match. The competition was fierce, but CXC’s greater numbers this year gave them the edge to pull off the victory.

CXC Team continued to utilize the hilly terrain in the area, traveling to Whiteface Mountain for a ski walking workout on the lower trails. Some of the team returned to the mountain later in the week for an evening hike, lured in by the fresh snow that covered the top.

Our second week contained not only some good intensity efforts but also a lot of volume. By Sunday most of the team had completed at least three ODs. All the mileage made us feel as though we had really gotten to know the Lake Placid area!

The camp ended with a grand finale, the Whiteface Mountain rollerski race! After testing ourselves on the area’s hills for the previous two weeks, what better way to finish up than a five mile, steep uphill race. Of coarse, mother nature decided to throw a few additional hurdles in our path before we began. The top of the toll road was too icy for skiing so the race was moved slightly down the hill. However, despite the alterations, the coarse still proved to be plenty challenging! Despite being tired, CXC athletes turned in some impressive results. Caitlin Compton led the way, winning the women’s race. CXC Junior Devo Program Jessie Diggins had a very impressive showing as well, placing 5th overall and winning the junior category. On the men’s side Garrott Kuzzy led the charge with a notable 4th place finish, followed closely by Brian Gregg in 6th.

Sufficiently exhausted by this final effort the team departed Lake Placid. This was the team’s final two week dryland training camp. Athletes will now have the next four weeks at home before leaving for West Yellowstone, early snow, and the beginning of the Supertour circuit!
We will be ready!!

Source: CXC

October 15, 2008

At the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center a banner in the foyer greets patrons:

The US Olympic Committee wish America’s best continued success as you challenge yourself to be the World’s best.

Remember always that “the will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.”

With this mission in mind, the U.S. challenged themselves and teammates in a thirteen day training camp in Lake Placid. For the fourth consecutive year the US team has chosen Upstate New York as its fourth, and final, training camp. “Lake Placid is a fall tradition,” says National Team Coach Justin Wadsworth. “It’s an ideal situation here. Everyone is really dialed in. The terrain is perfect for training. The athletes know exactly what to expect — they know the roads they’re rollerskiing, the hills their bounding. They come right in and get the work done.”

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