Ski Cross

Head Ski Cross Coach

Tom's ski racing career began on the icy slopes at Eaglebrook School in Deerfield Mass at the age of 12.  While enrolled at Mount Snow Academy, he competed at the Eastern Cup, open FIS and Nor Am level as a J1 athlete. Running parallel to his goals in Ski Racing, TD was also named to The United States Cycling Team as a junior in High School. After High School, Tom moved to Colorado in 1994 to train and race in both Alpine Ski racing and Road Cycling at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  During this time, Tom won 12 National Championship medals in Individual and team cycling disciplines.  His competitive cycling career spanned 11 years, 4 continents, and 12 countries.  Upon graduation from the University of Colorado in December of 1999, Tom retired from competition as an athlete and moved to Steamboat Springs to begin his coaching career as a J3 Alpine ski racing coach at the Winter Sports Club.  By 2003, TD was named the Alpine Ability Head Coach at SSWSC and was recognized by USSA in 2004 as the "Alpine Coach of the Year."  Also, in 2004 he started the SSWSC Cycling Program with 12 athletes ages 11 to 19 (a program which now boasts more than 100 participants in 2011.) TD served as Founder, Program Director and Head Coach of the SSWSC Cycling Program through the summer of 2007. At the completion of the 2007 Alpine competitive season, TD left the Winter Sports Club to pursue a Master's Degree in Architecture at the University of Colorado in Denver. After completing his Master's degree in the summer of 2010, Thomas now works at KSa Architecture firm here in Steamboat Springs as an architectural associate.  He also works as a Historic Preservation Consultant for Historic Routt County.  With his wife Erin and his son Henry, Thomas lives at the Lowell Whiteman School.  TD is looking forward to putting on his "coach" hat once again at the Winter Sports Club and taking the helm of the Skier Cross Program.  TD's competitive background brings a unique understanding of speed, head-to-head combat, and what it takes to reach the top step of the podium.

The SSWSC is offering two separate Ski Cross Training programs aimed at different age groups and involvement in Ski Cross.

Ski Cross Team is for athletes 15 and older with previous competitive experience.  This group competes in USASA Regional and National events.  More experienced skiers may attend USSA level events such as Revolution and HoleShot Tour.

Ski Cross Development is for athletes age 12 or older who are new to Ski Cross and will be competing in
USASA Regional events

Ski Cross Clinics will be held periodically for athletes who are interested in learning the basics of the sport and may try competing in some USASA Regional events.

Program	Dryland	On Snow Training		Dates
Ski Cross Team	None	T,W SA	4-6pm HH 9-2pm MW or HH	Dec 6 to Apr 7
Ski Cross Development	None	W	4-6pm HH 9-12pm MW or HH	Dec 8 to Apr 7
Ski Cross Clinics	None	Th	4-6pm HH	Various Dates TBD

The SSWSC Ski Cross program participates in several categories of Ski Cross races.

Date	Location	Event	Program
Jan 7-10	Northstar-Tahoe, CA	USSA Rev Tour	SkiX Team
Jan 13-15	Copper, CO	USASA Regionals	SkiX Team/SkiX Devo
Jan 18-20	Copper, CO	USSA Holeshot	SkiX Team
Jan 28-31	Mt Otsego, MI	USSA Rev Tour	SkiX Team
Feb 6-12	Canyons, UT	USSA NorAM	SkiX Team
Feb 24-26	Winter Park, CO	USASA Regionals	SkiX Team/SkiX Devo
Mar 4-8	Killington, VT	USSA Holeshot	SkiX Team
Mar 9-11	TBA	USASA Regional	SkiX Team/SkiX Devo
Mar 22-26	Mt Hood, OR	USSA Holeshot	SkiX Team
Mar 18-25	Valmalenca, ITA	FIS Junior World Championship	Must qualify through Rev and Holeshot events
April 7-11	Copper, CO	USASA Nationals	Must Qualify through USASA Regional events

USASA Regional Events and National Championships
USASA is the United States of America Snowboard Association.· USASA operates regional freeski and snowboard events across the US culminating the USASA National Championships in the spring.

You must be a member of USASA to compete in these events.· Membership is $75 prior to Oct 31st and $85 after.·

All USASA Members must list a regional series as their "home series"- the SSWSC competes in the Rocky Mountain series as our home.

Registration for USASA is available on their website at www.usasa.org

Information and event schedule for the Rocky Mountain regional series is located here:
www.rockymountainseries.com

USASA Regional Events qualify athletes for USASA National Championships at Copper in April.  Each Regional Series winner in each age group gets an automatic spot to Nationals.  Other spots are awarded through a National Ranking system based on points earned throughout the season.  The members top three results are added together and ranked against all other competitors around the US in that age group.

USSA Rev Tour and HoleShot Events
The US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) organizes and manages the next level of events beyond USASA.  These events are the Revolution Tour (FIS races) and the Holeshot Tour (NorAm events).

In order to compete in these events, you must have both a USSA and FIS license.  Both of which are available on the USSA website www.ussa.org

The SSWSC will attend these events, however, it is only recommended for athletes with prior experience in USASA events.

FIS Junior World Championships
The FIS is the international governing body for competitive skiing and snowboarding.  Part of their competition slate includes Junior World Championships (JWCH) in all Olympic disciplines.  In 2012, Ski Cross will be part of the Freestyle JWCH in Valmalenco, Italy March 20-25.

Ski Cross athletes ages 15-20 (years of birth 1996-1992) are eligible for JWCH.  Each nation has a limited number of spots at the JWCH, so a qualification process will be employed to select the best athletes in the US.  Specific qualification criteria will be posted by Jan 1st, 2012 and will most likely be based on results from Revolution Tour and Holeshot Tour events.