Category Archives: Tri-State

TriState Parents Meeting

We will be having a short meeting for tristate parents this Saturday after practice. We will be going over some program issues and answer questions. We will also be discussing our needs regarding fencing for gate training on Ally Cat. Once the conditions are right the mountain generally gives us sole access to that hill for training in the mornings. It offers the best gate training in Western Ma. Jon Nolting from USSA was very impressed with its terrain challenges. He also noted the need for increased protective netting. We rely too much on coaches and older racers to fence the hill and we lose valuable training time. We will be discussing what can be done to improve the situation.

Opening Weekend

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Hello,

To new and returning families, the IC coaching staff would like to extend a hardy welcome to the 2014-2015 racing season. We are scheduled to officially begin training this upcoming weekend, 12/13-12/14.

Your patience is requested as we undertake the initial process of assigning racers with coaches. For returning families your understanding of this process is appreciated. Please help relieve any tensions that “rookie” parents may feel entering new territory. As we all know, this sorting out task evolves over the course of the entire season.

Parents can help eliminate tensions and inevitable commotions this weekend in a number of ways. If you haven’t done so already, begin by organizing and checking equipment, including clothing, in advance of one hour before departing to the Mountain. Conduct a safety check of all equipment, especially a binding safety check. Make sure the bindings are attached to the skis and boot liners are correctly paired with the matching shell. Hard shell helmets are required by USSA and Tri State. We require goggles as well. New parents may not be aware of the helmet technicality. New parents can help us identify your racer by printing his/her first name on duct tape and attaching to the front of the helmet. Lastly, please transport racers early enough to the Mountain, so they can be at the base of the double green chair 15 min early so coaches can move their racers out of the staging area by 9:00 am.

Our coaching staff has added some new members this year, and several long-time IC coaches have joined the tri state staff. Moving to tri state are Chris Cashen, Chris Divecchio, and Peter Cross. Moving over from the parent ranks to the coaching staff are, Larry Hess, David Kozlowski and Jon Woodruf. Returning after a sabbatical is Karin Tannenbaum. Her Daughter, Kasey, will be a new addition as well. Kasey is an IC and USSA graduate from Catamount. Welcome to you all and the best regards to coaches in transition. Apologies in advance if I did not recognize any new comer.

Thanks to Bob Mayer, father of Max, who has volunteered to manage the IC component of the Catamount Race Site. Peter Chudy remains our faithful president of the IC Parents Association. As always, we are open to addressing all questions, concerns and input that will support the success of Catamount’s IC Race Program.

Regards and see everyone slope side this coming weekend.

John Greaser

Remember to renew your USSA & Tri-State Memberships

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The end of summer is upon us and the competition season is just around the corner. It’s time to renew your USSA & Tri State memberships. To renew online, or to create new memberships, please click the links below. Remember, memberships are required and come with many benefits (like discounts on racing gear).

USSA – Click to register

Tri-State – Click to register

Tri-State U14 Championships

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Gang,

The following U14 athletes have qualified for the U14 Championship event this weekend at Blandford (SL, Saturday) and Berkshire East (GS, Sunday). Please register today by midnight on www.AlpineReg.com if you wish to compete.

U14 Girls:
Maya Simkowitz
Annika Carlson
Emily Chudy
Marie DiVecchio
Grace Howard
Eleonor Andersson
Lauren Edwards

U14 Boys:
Vincent Van der Linden
Ethan Mullen

In addition, the following boys have pre-qualified for the Piche Cup event at Gunstock, NH. Registration information will be getting sent out later today when available.

U12 Boys:
Achille Sarachek
Sam Devorsetz

Congrats to EVERYONE, even those who didn’t qualify for post season. This was one of our strongest years EVER for the U12-14 age group, and it’s been a blast so far seeing everyone ski so well. Let’s keep up the good work. Details on plans for this weekend (for those at Catamount, and more specifics for those at Championships) will be e-mailed later today. Please also find attached the U14 Championships race flyer as well as the final standings for the U12-14 age group.

Cheers,

-Stefan

Big Weekend

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Hey Gang,

Don’t let this rain confuse you, we still have a big weekend coming up. Attached is the final standings for our U16’s, those of you who qualified for U16 Championships have already been notified. Great job to ALL our U16’s, this has been one of our best showings in that age group to date. U16’s who are not attending championships are still welcome to come and train with the U12-14’s at Catamount.

The U12-14’s will be training SL all day Saturday, and we have our last regular season race at Butternut (SL) on Sunday. If you are a U16 who will not be at championships and would like to train on Sunday, please let me know and we will make sure to arrange for some form of training should interest exist. Bruce & Mark also plan on doing some evening training on Friday, weather permitting. Please shoot either them or myself an e-mail if you would like to attend so we can get a better grasp on the numbers.

In addition to the U16’s final standings, I have also attached the race flyers for the U12, U14 & U16 championship events. I’ve gotten some questions regarding the U12 Championship event, similar to last year, we will not be using this event for any further race qualification. Qualification for Gunstock / Piche Cup will be done for U12’s using the regular season results.

See some of you this weekend, and to those headed to the post-season, congrats and good luck!
Cheers,

Stef

U16 2014 Standings Final

Weekend Schedule

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Hey Gang,

Another snowy week for us, seems as though ol’ Man Winter is making up for being mostly asleep the last 4-5 years. This weekend is going to be all about slalom, hopefully the olympic Super Combined gave you all some inspiration this week.

U12-16’s will all be on Catamount Saturday. U16’s are away at their last race of the regular season at Blandford on Sunday. U12-14’s will be at Catamount again on Sunday – same deal as Saturday, SL on Catamount.

Monday we will have limited half-day training with Doug. If there are any changes to this plan, I will let you all know. If you are at Catamount Sunday, feel free to check with Doug at the end of the day for a more direct update.

I know I had promised you all a standings report for the U12-14’s, but after beginning the process, I don’t have per-run results available for some races so I won’t be able to calculate things properly. I will send out a separate e-mail with more post-season information later today for interested parties. Just keep up the good work, we’ve had strong results thus far, and I wholly expect more strong results to come.
Cheers,

Stef

Weekend Schedule

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Hey Gang,

The plan for the weekend is as follows:

Saturday
U16 — Lower Alley Cat GS Training (w/ U18) — Be ready to load quad and assist with setting at 8:30a.
U12-14 — Catamount SL Training — Load double at 8:30a and begin cycling around doing SL free-runs until course is set.

Sunday
U16 (Qualified 2nd Year’s) — GS @ Jiminy Peak (U18 Event, arrive 7:15 – 7:30).
U16 (All Racers) — GS @ Bousquet (Arrive 7:15 – 7:30, registration is upstairs in lodge).
U12-14 — SL @ Blandford (Arrive 7:15 – 7:30, registration is in lower lodge on the left as you walk into the area).

I know a few of you have had questions regarding championships and likelihood of placement. While we can’t guarantee anything at this point, I am working on a spreadsheet today and should have some rough guesstimates available later today or tomorrow. Obviously this weekend will change things a bit and give an even better perspective. As always with championships and post-season, remember, the primary goal of all our racers should be to improve and become the best racers they can be – NOT simply concern themselves with making it to the post-season. It’s a nice icing on the cake, and certainly acknowledges those who have really excelled this season, but is by no means the be-all end-all measure of success.

See you all tomorrow!
Cheers,

Stef