Snowboarding

For Dierdorff the gold was World Championship win number two, coming hot on the heels of his victory on day one of the competition in the men’s snowboardcross event.
“I don’t think anything changes as far as mindset,” said the newly crowned double-World Champ. “Especially dropping first. It feels like a normal boardercross heat. More so, it changes for the second person. You don’t know if you will be coming out of the gate last and have all this ground to make up, like what happened today for Lindsey. Your mindset in a normal heat is to get out in front early, and to turn that into a hunt and chasing a rabbit out in front of you changes things. In addition, the fresh snow also changes conditions as we had to figure out how to ride the course in a different way at a different speed.”

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Nordic Combined

Last weekend, the SSWSC Jumping and Nordic Combined teams traveled to Park City for the final qualifying event for Junior Championships.  In total, 39 athletes came to compete at the Utah Olympic Park!  Many of the athletes were first-timers in the U10 and U12 programs, but others were seasoned veterans of the Park City facility.  Steamboat dominated many podiums and even SWEPT both the boys and girls podiums in U16 Nordic Combined! 

After calculating the results, 15 total athletes qualified for this year’s Junior Championship team!  That shows a very deep level of performance out of our Jumping/NoCo programs!

Freeskiing

The Freeskiing Program has been at full speed, with events over the last two weeks first hosting our IFSA Big mountain event here in Steamboat.  Then in copper for our first Slopestyle event of the season. 

IFSA u12
The January 27 U12 big mountain competition was a great success for SSWSC. Locally we had a very strong multi discipline showing, We had 2 Jr Freeskiing athletes as well as over a dozen from various U10, U12 and u13 programs.
Marginal weather with low visibility made for a bit of a touch and go start to the day but we were able to get everyone two runs. Final scores were a combination of these two runs. Staying on your feet and being consistent with your skiing allowed for higher final scores than a standard 12-18 age one-and-done formats.
For the Jr Freeskiing team this was the ultimate example of putting all the topics we have been working through together seamlessly. Many athletes think their first big mountain competition is all about the biggest cliffs or the most air but three of the five judged categories are all about good strong skiing.
Congratulations go to Shane and Finley Good for both standing on that top step of the podium. With Liam Siefken (u13 free) and Kieran Baker rounding out the boys, along with Aurora Cherney and Hanna Webb on the girls. These results were achieved through very solid skiing with an emphasis on technique and fluidity. Shane was third and second in his runs respectively and Finley was first and second in her runs. Other SSWSC athletes scored very well with this format as well.
In individual category breakdowns all Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club athletes were consistently very high if not the top in control and technique. It was not reflected in the judging but I think the highest score in style/energy goes to Caman Beauregard for his jump to pole throw to tree encounter and the smile he had on after that whole ordeal.
We would like to give a large thank you to all staff and volunteers at the race, most importantly Jon Dean for all the hard work he put in, our judges for their time, traveling coaches, parents (the best sponsors an athlete can have), Sr freeskiing for being ski ninjas and helping with the younger athletes and Steamboat Resort and patrol. Without everyone’s help we wouldn’t be able to great the amazing experiences for the athletes.
Matti Hill

Camen Beauregard’s run
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-FBIf4O5y-81VMiI4DAtVheJmDw_4Fqm/view?usp=sharing

The Feb 3rd Slopestyle event was weather effected from the start, with the decision to go to a one run event made as the first riders dropped in.  The Steamboat Team dealt with the weather well, David Schlicht had a stand out training building his confidence and smoothness with each training run. We are all looking forward to the Keystone event this weekend.

Alpine U8

Hello parents and fans of the incredible RED Cheetahs U8+ group!!!

What a great season we have had so far.  I can not begin to express to each of you how very proud I am of these young athletes.  We have overcome a lot of fears and put forth a ton of effort to learn new skills and become more confident and attentive skiers.

As a coach safety is my number one priority.  Understanding the rules of the mountain and being courteous and responsible skiers is important to ensure their love for the sport continues for many years to come.  We have diligently worked on being aware of our surroundings and stopping in a safe location where they are visible and doing so in a way that keeps them and their fellow cheetahs safe.  They should be able to confidently share with you how to do a safety stop and should ski in control keeping an eye out for other skiers. 

The poma has been a HUGE accomplishment this year.  Poma adventure was a great success and each of these incredible kiddos have made it to the top of HH a number of times beaming with pride at being able to master a skill that at the beginning of the year was challenging and a bit scary.  We have also been able to practice the art of loading and unloading the poma on rough rider on the big mountain.  This gives these tiny athletes time to master the skill and Thursday nights aren’t as scary as before. 

With this group we are really working on the bottom portion of the body and will not likely add poles to the equation.  The skills that they are working on include getting forward in their boot (squishing the meatball), rolling their knees so that they find their way out of pizza (wedge) and into french fries (parallel),  getting out of the back seat by squishing that meatball, rolling knees and carrying a beach ball.  Other skills we are practicing daily are side slipping (eating the marshmallow frosting (snow), backwards skiing, skating and hockey stops. 

Understanding how to find balance and transfer weight is a great skill to have in skiing.  By finding their athletic stance by jumping up and down on their skis teaches them ski placement.  We do a lot of drills that help them to learn the importance of transferring weight like lifting the inside ski when making turns etc.  It’s been fun watching as these young little rippers learn they are the ones in control not the mountain. 

We are lucky to have Wyatt as our junior coach.  The children adore him as he enjoys showing them the fun little jumps and rollers all over the mountain. 

I can not say enough about this little group or SSWSC athletes.  They definitely keep me on my toes. but as a whole they are kind, curious and motivated and that makes this coaches job super fun.  I look forward to continuing to help them grow as skiers during the next couple of months.

Freestyle (from 1/15/19)

The U15 Mogul Team started their competitive season by hosting the first RQS Competition of the season and they didn’t disappoint! With teams from Aspen, Vail, Winter Park and Summit, the SSWSC athletes proved they are strong competitors, shredding the tight, unforgiving mogul course on Bashor. Anabel Ayad took the top spot, with Ava Rose 2nd, Kaelyn Radway 3rd, Ella Walker 4th and Izzy Powell rounding out the top 5. Freddie Mickell was 3rd overall in the boys division.

The U15 athletes followed their competition day with volunteering at the Devo event on Sunday.  The athletes now enjoy a week of training before heading off to Telluride.