Monthly Archives: February 2015

Interclub Party Tomorrow

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Just a reminder we have our awards party after practice tomorrow There will also be the Parent Child dual race and don’t forget the 80’s theme. Hey florescent wayfarers are back in. There will be Pizza but please bring Drinks, desserts, apps or other items to share.

We will need help setting up the trophies. There are still a lot of t-shirts and it would be great if we could get some help at lunch to hand them out.

I will be at the U14 Championships but may make it back in time, otherwise I will see everyone at Sunday’s race.

Peter

peterchudy@mac.com

Otis Summary

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Although our numbers (52 combined racers) did not match our total attendance @ ther Catamount home race, the spirit and enthusiasm racers took to the Otis SL course was highly contagious. An almost equal number of boys (27) and girls (24) searched for the optimal tactics to gain an advantage as they negotiated back -to-back multiple combination courses.

Seventeen Catamount racers earned a trip to the podium (33% of total); nine girls and 8 boys. Close on the heels of our top 5 finishers were 6 additional Cat racers who earned top 10 honors (4 girls and 2 boys). Catamount racers secured 8 first place honors out of a possible 13. This accomplishment amounts to 62% out of 100%. Five boys and 3 girls set down sizzling times to achieve this feat. Bouncing back from a DNF at the butternut SL, Nico Capalo smoked the boy’s competition with the fasted combined time for the day.

Over the years the US Alpine Ski Team has brought to the world stage, in any given year, 2 to 3 racers of notoriety. In recent times 3 racers that garner our attention are Ligety, Miller and Vonn. But you know what, the US Team cannot boast a “Fab Five.” Yes, the U of Michigan and more recently UCONN women’s B ball teams have have attempted to enamor us. However, none of these teams can lay a finger on our own Fab Five U11 girls. Winifred Mann, Delphine Cohen, Clare Howard, Morgan Weinberg and the most recent addition,Laurentia Bentivolglio, have claimed the top five positions in their division week after week.

Most of us by now have read emails or listened in on discussions regarding the upcoming Piche Invitational. Qualifying for one of the 2 female delegates from our IC league is Winifred Mann. Throughout the course of the season Wini has demonstrated through her consistent effort and times that she deserves the # one female qualifier position. Equally deserving is Delphine Cohen who earned the second delegate recognition. Unfortunately, she is confronted with a conflict of schedule and will not be able to attend. Clare Howard has advanced to the girls alternate position. Way to Go Girls!

Lastly, congratulations to every Catamount team member for going the distance and giving your best effort this past weekend. With one remaining race, Bousquet, let’s set our sights on increasing our attendance and thoroughly enjoy the finale. We look forwrd to the returning presence of our U8s.

Regards,

John Greaser

Interclub Final Practice and Party

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Dear Parents,

As is the tradition at Catamount Interclub for the last few years, on Saturday, we will once again do a friendly themed dual parent/coach race on Bob Cat. The theme this year is the 80’s!! Bring on the prints, one piece suits, flashy colors and big hair! We will also do our group photo at the bottom of Catamount at 9:00am. The day will end with our awards and pizza/potluck party. The PA will provide the pizza and we would like families to bring drinks, snacks, and desserts to share.

Although our training will end at Bousquet on Sunday, we hope to see many of you and your kids at Catamount free skiing in March and again next year! Thank you for all your support and for doing what parents do best! It was another great year!

Your IC coaches

T-Shirts – I will need some people to help hand out the remaining t-shirts on Saturday at lunch time. I will be at U14 Championships.

Peter — peterchudy@mac.com

ICteampic

Thoughts on the “Post-Season” and Competition

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Hey Gang,

I wanted to reach out to everyone to help address some questions, concerns and frustration regarding the U12, U14 & U16 Championships procedure.

Let’s start with the qualification method used for the Piche Cup (U12) and U14 Championships (U14). We currently use the best 3 of 8 runs from our 4 regular season races for these events. The reasoning behind this method has been questioned by some parents as being unfair because it doesn’t provide any sort of handicap factoring for differences in course difficulty or slope pitch.

Changes in snow conditions and contours along with complete freedom on the part of the course setter for each run (not to mention the large amount of subjectivity that occurs when determining the “difficulty” of any given course) make the determination of a fixed handicap for any discipline on a specific slope. Essentially, we can’t create a system similar to stating “par” on a hole of golf because our conditions and courses vary so wildly in comparison to the relatively static and predictable nature of a given fairway or green.How are we to address this obvious need though to determine some form of handicap? Those of you who have or know U18+ racers should be familiar with how this is done, it’s called the USSA/FIS points system. I won’t go into tremendous detail, but essentially the handicap, or “penalty”, for each race is determined by the pre-race ranking of the top 5 entrants and top 5 finishers. The idea here is that, as does happen, tougher races attract better racers and as such should have a lower penalty, whereas easier races won’t attract the same level of competition and should have a higher penalty.

There is one reason why it would be difficult to institute this system for U12-14’s and one reason why it’s unnecessary. It’s difficult to institute because the method used to determine penalties pre-supposes that 5 entrants and finishers already have standing USSA/FIS points. Unless we somewhat arbitrarily assign points pre-season, which would be extremely subjective, unfair and open to vast interpretation, we simply can’t calculate a penalty with this tried and true method. The reason it becomes unnecessary is because we race in a “closed” circuit that doesn’t allow for out of region racers or races to have an effect on our standings. Since we expect all racers to compete at all four races, it’s irrelevant if one race was harder than another. If your time was closer to the winner on a shallow slope and you were further back on a steeper slope, that makes perfect sense. The “tougher” a race is, the more spread out the field will be. Essentially, our system handicaps itself.

I suppose there’s also the argument that we need to account for differences in body size and strength. Again, doing so is extremely subjective and borders dangerously close to being discriminatory. Since we are dealing with growing racers and because there are countless examples of the smaller and weaker racer beating the taller and stronger one, instituting something akin to wrestling weight classes also just doesn’t make sense. We are dealing with kids in the very midst of their skiing development, and the suggestion that a 13 year old who’s the size of most 21 year olds (as was my personal case when racing) just because of size and weight is grossly unfair.

Next, let’s examine the qualification method used for post-season U12-14 events (U16 method will be discussed after). We assign “place points” for each completed run. First place gets 1, second place 2 and so on. This method differs from the USSA/FIS method which assigns points based on the time difference between you and the first place finisher. In this system, first place receives 0 points, everyone else calculates the difference in their time from the leaders, enters it into an equation along with a multiplier that changes based on discipline (this multiplier helps to account for the fact that shorter races – SL – tend to have more closely clustered times than longer – DH – races do). Our place point method does make the job of the top kids a bit more difficult, but in general, as you progress through the field, it actually tends to act as a handicap. I am open to hearing any argument against the decision to use place points in favor of USSA/FIS Race points.

Finally, we can examine why we choose to use best 3 of 8 runs for U12-14’s (and best 3 of 7 races for U16’s). One concern I’ve heard is either that this system doesn’t account for when a racer is better at one discipline and not as quick in the other. This simply isn’t the case with either age group. By imposing no restrictions on a need to complete a certain amount of SL and GS, there exists the possibility that even the first place ranked racers could be there based solely on one discipline. The counter argument I’ve heard is simply that there should be a provision that racers need results in all disciplines. The single best argument against this is the US Ski Team (and other national teams). More often than not, you’ll see competitors who may podium in one discipline but not the other and still be at the top of their game. Case and point is Ted Ligety this past week at the FIS World Championships at Vail. This system affords a generous “amount of fairness” to athletes who excel in one or both disciplines. No system is perfect or without flaws, but the method we use to determine the post-season qualifiers is a VERY good compromise with all factors considered.

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Season Wrap Up Items

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The official season is quickly coming to a close.

T-Shirts will start be available starting this weekend. I will need some help sorting and handing them out.

Interclub season end awards party will be on Saturday Feb 28th following practice. Each racer will get a participation trophy. The PA will provide pizza and we encourage families to bring items to share such as drinks, snacks, desserts. No alcohol as the NY State Troopers like to walk through the Taconic Lodge to ensure we do not violate state law.

I received the check for the cancelled race team jacket order on Friday and will begin mailing out refund checks this week.

Catamount Race Review

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For the second year in a row, Catamount IC racers eclipsed the century mark (101) for participants at the Catamount home race. Initially, it appeared we were in for a long day as the medical response for a fallen racer seemed to take an exceedingly long time to address. However, after this minor interruption, the race resumed without additional interruption as the two runs were completed in relatively short duration. A thank you is in order for the Catamount support team including, timing officials, course setting crew and statisticians for their part in optimizing the almost fault-free operation. Koodos to parent volunteers for your contributions to the event’s success.

The total number of Catamount participants included 47 girls and 54 boys. Our 9 year old girls registered 15 racers. This number accounted for the most catamount racers in any class. They represented over half of the participants in this class. They were followed by eleven year old boys with a total of 13 competitors. From a result perspective, Catamount racers earned top 5 honors in 13 out fourteen listed classes. In nine of these divisions, Catamount sent multiple recipients to the podium. Our boys achieved 15 top 5 awards, whereas IC girls secured 12 top five positions. Stretching finishes out to top 10 honors the numbers look like this; 25 girls (53% of total) and 27 boys (50% of total) qualified for this recognition. The Jets and Patriots can’t boast this type of balance. For that matter, the Austrian and Swiss teams can’t either.

Although our U8 girls and boys began the season with a tentative start at Blandford, they announced their arrival with an explanation mark at the Catamount race. They are a force to be reckoned with. Our girls in this division recorded two top 5s and five top 10 finishes. Virtually our entire contingent in this division deserve recognition for thier stellar performance and rise in skill development. The same observation holds true for our youngest boys. Two members raced to a top 5 finish and 4 additional compadres made the top 10 list (nearly 50% of total).

Never before in the recorded annals of Western Mass IC racing has a sweep of the podium occured by any one team. Hold on there bronco Billy. We can now confidently claim that an exception has occured. Our 11 year old girls have changed the course of history. This Catamount contingent finished 1-5. Our first and fifth finishers were separated by a mere 2 seconds. Here is an example of how persistence and a dedicated work ethic can lead to rewarding outcomes. This solid group of racers has demonstrated continual upward momentum in aspects of tactics intelligence and skill development over the course of the past 5 years.

Lastly in the rewards department, Catamount racers earned five first place divisional finishes (36%) out of a total of 14 divisions. Recognition for fastest boy on the mountain was achieved by Catamount’s U14 Adam Hess. Congratulations to all Catamount racers for giving your best effort in a highly competitive race.

Regards,
John Greaser