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What are your racing kids up to?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thought it might be interesting to see what everyone is doing and what goes on in other countries/programmes? Really interested to hear from Brits in UK and Brits in Europe!

I have an obsessed 9 yr old. He is in KD (Kinder development) in a local large race club out of Nakiska. He does every Sat and Sun, mostly at Nakiska, one weekend a month at Sunshine and some races (this year been to jasper, going to Panorama, Castle, Norquay and two at Nakiska). He does 1 night a week at COP and he persuaded me to sign him up for a Skier Cross programme of 6 nights at COP spread across the season with his club. That's been disppointing, they never built their intended Skier Cross course and so they have been doing freestyle jumps and things and free-skiing and at COP on a weeknight that's quite scarey as there are loads of laddy teenagers in the park who don't take safety that seriously; in fact at all seriously.
Before the Christmas they didn't do any gates but since Christmas they have done quite few gates at Nakiska.

I have a just 7 yr old in NGD (Nancy Greene Development). She skis every sat and every other sunday at nakiska with the same one weekend a month at Sunshine. She will race at Sunshine, Castle and Nakiska (one proper race and one fancy dress club race). They have the option of an added gate night at COP but she's young and we thought it was a bit much. They have done some gates in the afternoons since Christmas, this is way more than the same programme last year; it just goes to show different coaches approaches. i think I sit in the less gates; more free-skiing camp at this age.

The races are a mixture; Jasper big and two day, Castle a team event with things like team skate relay, moguls and long jump in addition to the usual stuff.

The club is large with around 230 kids from 4 yrs to FIS. There are around 40 in the KD programme (currently 9 and 10 yr olds, with some 8 yr olds, next year 10 to 11 with some 9 yr olds) some and proabably at least 60-80 in the NGD (7-8 yr olds with some 10 and 6 yr olds, next year 8-9 with some 7 and 10 yr olds.)

Our season runs middle Nov to middle April, extending at Sunshine if you want and the snow lasts
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
gryphea, Ollie is 14, skis around 60-80 days a year, but only started racing last year. He has never skied on a dry slope or in a snow dome. He spent some time at the British Ski Academy in Les Houches last year and this year, and is doing a few of the British races in the alps this season, e.g. Welsh, Interschools etc, finishing with the Brits in Méribel in April.

He has made a very noticable improvement in the last 12 months, both to watch, and in terms of seed points, but in reality, his racing is only one part of his skiing, and therefore he is unlikely to ever reach a high level
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I don't have any kids racing...but i'm really impressed by the set up the SPAC have here. The coaching is second to none.
The Race course is partly financed by the Austrian Ski Team, as they use it in November as a training camp. They even paid for a new lift to access it and snow canons.

Every day i see kids in speed suits training...there seems to be hundreds of them.

Nancy Green is always available to give advise...What a diamond. She gives up so much of her time to help the kids.

Even the masters set up is great. I get to train and race every week. On a course set every week by a current World Cup Racers father, who gives me no end of advise. In fact he was one of my course examiners. My Skiing has improved so much, because of the great coaches here.

I've never been to a resort, where so many experts are willing to give up their time and give such brilliant coaching.

I only wish i was a kid and living at this resort...they are so, so lucky.

I had this pic sent to me by the local press photographer... me race training...made the gate then had a major bail out lol They keep pushing us outside our comfort zone which is cool...



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spud,

I presume this is at Sun Peaks then?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Yes mate...it's awesome. It's virtually empty during the week. What a resort...A real hidden gem.
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Son #1 is 10. He trains once or twice a week (1.5 hour sessions) year round on dry slope, plus usually a couple of week long holiday training camps and several training days at other slopes. In addition he does some indoor snow training sessions and a couple of indoor camps. He'll probably do 30 ish races over the summer - a mixture of dry slope and indoor, at levels from schools races and local leagues up to National Championships. This winter he'll get about 6.5 weeks on snow - most of it racing and training with a ski academy in Austria (although January conditions this year meant he did a lot of off piste skiing when there was just too much snow for race training) - taking part in some of the British races, and also regional Austrian races. We're also considering an alpine summer race camp for him.

At the moment he's doing mostly development work on the dry slope - so only limited gates, although that will start to ramp up as we haead towards April and the start of the race season. Snow training has more work with gates when conditions permit as it's race season - but with a bit more variety as the races aren't always straightford slalom or GS. Some are combi GS/slalom races, or Super cross - a mix of super G and ski cross type berms and jumps (but only one skier at a time!)

My not-quite-5-year-old does 90 minutes most weeks (sometimes a bit more) on the dry slope, plus schools, club and local league races - probably about 8 races over the coming summer. He'll get about 3 weeks of snow time this year, which will be spent just skiing with us.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Okanagan,

That's really interesting, I figured the brits were getting a lot of time 'on snow'

That's a huge amount of races!!

The gates here are a variety of things, this weekend the race is Dual GS and Dual combi. My 7 yr old seems to do what she calls Glalom, with space midway between GS and SL. Supercross sounds fun.

How does your 10 yr old do in the races?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Okanagan,

What is the level of coaching like?
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gryphea wrote:
Okanagan,

That's really interesting, I figured the brits were getting a lot of time 'on snow'?
A lot of them do. But a lot who race on snow don't do the artificial slope racing too. If you add up the total coached time son #1 does on plastic plus snow (assuming only about 3 hours actual coaching per day during his snow periods) it's probably about 300 hours/year. Or the equivalent of 18 hours of coached time per week if it was concentrated into a 4 month season.
gryphea wrote:
That's a huge amount of races!!?
Of course our artificial slope races are actually shorter - typically 15 seconds a run, 2 or 3 runs per race (up to 5 at some of the local leagues events). And they probably involve less travelling per race than you have to do - a good proportion of them will be within an hour of home, and virtually none more than 2 hours away.
gryphea wrote:
[How does your 10 yr old do in the races?
Pretty well. He more often than not won his age category on dry slope last summer, gets on the podium but doesn't win indoors (he gets beaten by kids who only race/train indoors, and don't do the plastic slope stuff), just missed a podium finish in the two British races he's done this year (his first ever outdoor snow races), and has won a couple of times in the regional Austrian races.
gryphea wrote:
What is the level of coaching like?
He gets a variety of coaches depending upon what he's doing/where he's training. Regular year round coaches are BASI/Snowsport England, others are younger ex (or current) racers, his Austrian coach is a former World Pro Champion. So he gets a variety of input, but they all seem to sing from the same hymnsheet.
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gryphea, like many of the little club racers in the UK my daughter trains & races mainly as a recreational pastime, we realised early on funding anything beyond this was not really an option for us, she will do most of the local region races and enjoys the social side, she trains most weekends on plastic and is now doing a bit of indoor snow training etc. I see it mainly as a tool to improve her general freeskiing and give her an active interest to keep her off computer games/away from boys Shocked etc. etc. my daughter just enjoys having fun with friends outside of school, although most of her training is done on plastic she is far more at home on snow.
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gatecrasher,

Of course that is true of many of the club racers here. We all love the skiing and the social side is fun; this weekend we are off to Panorama for a weekend of skiing, racing, fun for everyone (kids and parents alike) etc. From 14yrs and beyond the committment is huge in terms of time (and money); by that stage realisitically parents stop buying into the whole thing unless the child is at least good enough to make the national sport school and get the flexible educational support they need. Kids who have trained up to end of K1 often come back as coaches from the age of 15 and they would coach the younger kids; as a weekend job while at Uni it pays pretty well compared with waitressing etc.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Okanagan,

We do travel a long way for races, but its generally fun for everybody. Jasper was a long way and it was only practical for OH to go with son with another dad and son, whilst the mums stayed local with the daughters. But the other races are nearer Between 50 mins and 2.5 hrs. Our races are between 30ish sec and 50 ish secs; with quite few runs a day. Racing is a lot of hanging round; which is why they tend to limit them slightly. As the coruses need more work, we end up volunteering for maybe one day every other race weekend.
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gryphea, I see a lot of similarities here, quite a few of the kids I know who have gone through the club racing thing are now instructing & taking on the coaching side as pocket money during further education. Mine at 12 has already mentioned she might like to do this, I suppose it's more attainable than her original plan of being a fairy when she grows up!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
gryphea wrote:
From 14yrs and beyond the committment is huge in terms of time (and money)

Yes I'm not looking forward to the time when they stay the same size for long enought to wear their equipment out! So far we've managed to get everything he needs either second hand (there are some people on the racing circuit who replace everything, every year, regardless) or previous season equipment. I can see in a few more years that probably won't be such an easy option any more.

I'm just trying to think that per race it will seem cheaper for son #2 who looks like he'll be trying to follow in his brother's skitracks - at least there will be no extra fuel/accomodation costs as he's already at the races even if he's only spectating!

A lot of our junior racers go into instructing too - although 16 is the minimum age here. At least with the technical skills they've built up, and the amount of exposure to various coaching regimes they've had getting teaching qualifications isn't usually a problem for kids who've grown up racing, so it does give them options for the future outside of racing too.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
A video of the 'Fleche' race in Tignes last Friday. This was the first race for the boys!
http://www.snoworks.co.uk/blog/?p=4762
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 Poster: A snowHead
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stewart woodward wrote:
A video of the 'Fleche' race in Tignes last Friday. This was the first race for the boys!
http://www.snoworks.co.uk/blog/?p=4762


3 minutes of chit chat from that bloke from the Wiggles then the actual ski racing looks speeded up ??? The kids look like great skiers.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
stewart woodward,

Nice vid. Great little skiers. looked great fun
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
davidof wrote:
the actual ski racing looks speeded up ??? The kids look like great skiers.


The racing is at actual speed. No need to speed up good skiing.
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Looks like they are having a fantastic time, lovely to see, I think because the footage is very jittery it just gives the impression it's been speeded up, also the "on ski" footage wouldn't have been done by the kids.

Great vid!
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That's what it's all about. Great Vid...thanks for sharing. Just wish i was a kid again.
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stewart woodward wrote:
davidof wrote:
the actual ski racing looks speeded up ??? The kids look like great skiers.


The racing is at actual speed. No need to speed up good skiing.


It is true that there is no need to speed up good skiing which this definitely is, but the people moving in the background look too fast and erratic and the camera movement is too jerky. Could be that the video camera has stabilization turned on and it would be better filmed with a monopod?

Luca was faster than 42 year old Freddie Albert in any case (dossard 51 if you were wondering).
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
10 year old, living in Norway. Dryland training once a week in September, twice a week from October until the hill opens for training. Training on snow twice a week from December through April, 1.5hr session on Tuesdays (mainly SL drills) and 2 hrs on Thursdays (GS drills). Plus a couple of early season weekend camps. He free-skis for at least an hour after each training. Often he skis with his mates on Wednesdays, and at weekends if there's no race on.

We're just back from 6 days back-to-back at Hafjell - no training, just enjoying ourselves on the snow for 6 hrs every day. Since getting back he's been at the local hill for the last two whole days - its half term here.

He has something like 20 race days in the season, including a couple of mild SGs and a pretty tough 3 day meet coming up in Ål - the Bend-It Alpine Festival is like an unofficial Norwegian Championship for the under-11 age groups. I'm kind of bricking it thinking about him hurtling down the slope in Ål on 181cm SG skis, but I bet he'll grin all the way down.

We have a vague plan that we'll head for Meribel and the British Childrens Nationals next year, but with the FIS age group changes coming into play (Childrens I, II and Jr 1 all shifting up a year), that will probably get postponed for another year - I'm not travelling all that way for the Minis.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
They start SG early in Norway. My 10 year old won't be doing SG for another 2 years yet in either Austrian or UK races.
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squawker wrote:
We have a vague plan that we'll head for Meribel and the British Childrens Nationals next year, but with the FIS age group changes coming into play (Childrens I, II and Jr 1 all shifting up a year), that will probably get postponed for another year - I'm not travelling all that way for the Minis.

If the proposals on the board at the moment are what they end up doing he'd be in a U12 group next year - which they're proposing will only get to do GS. We're debating the travelling too if it's for the sake of just one race.

From the SnowSport England report to the November TD forum:
"In Alpine,
U8 should be excluded from all “standard” events but should be encouraged to develop their skills through all mountain ski-ing, games, novel forms of “competition”.
U10 should continue this process but may take part in GS, preferably a separate course, unseeded, with a structure that maximises opportunity such as best 1 of 2 or best 2 of 3 runs.
U12 should compete in GS only and be seeded."


Which if they stick with the current minis formula (2 x GS races) for the U10s means that the U12's will get less racing than the U10's!
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squawker,

Sounds fun. Wow SG starts early in Norway! Long skis....... Does that mean he has 3/4 pairs fo skis? My son has two currently; general rossy race skis (125cm!!!) and rock skis (Volkyl mantras 128cms). The rossies we bought new as its tricky to get 125s, the rock skis second hand froma club member for $50.

Kids don't race SG in Alberta until K2, from next year that will be 14 and 15.

What I find interesting is that kids in Europe seem to be racing way way more............20 days of racing is huge compared with my 9 yr old who is doing 8 days in total (as would the 10 yr olds)

My 7 yr old has first race of the season this weekend at Sunshine. She's really excited. Its a dual slalom. She's not that agressive and there is some tough competition, but I hope she gets a ribbon for top ten 7 yr old girls- it will make her really chuffed. Its a little tough on her as she is december born and fairly slight, so the flatter courses they have in this age group competely favour the bigger kids and only when the pitches get a little steeper does agility come into play more and the speed due to weight on the flatter factors less. She's a good skier; has a very natural flow.

9yr old spending weekend free-skiing at Sunshine with club. We'll spend Sat with the video and sunday skiing the fab powder predicted (which will mess up race).
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Okanagan, thanks for the clarification regarding the kids nationals - pretty much confirms my thoughts, so I guess we won't be going until he's 12. There'll be changes here with the domestic races, but its not yet clear what they'll do with the U12s. For example, the festival at Ål already gathers north of 500 kids - roughly 80-90 boys and 35-45 girls in each of U8, U9, U10 and U11. If they need to cater for another age class next year it'll be crazy.

gryphea, with regard to SG, there's not that much focus until they get into the 13-14 age group and the national finals become an issue. However, we have a longer than average, fairly gentle slope about an hours drive from home where they host not-quite-SG races (55s course) all the way down to U9. In U11 where we are now its a mix of longer GS skis and the shortest SGs. Harald finished 6th in a strong field a couple of weeks ago and loved the experience. Last year he would've been on a pair of 170cm GSs, but I got the SGs for cheap, and after a few practice runs decided to try them out in the race. The real fun was that it was a super-combi so he came off the SGs and straight onto his 133cm SLs!

There used to be an SG at the Kvitfjell race meet for U10 and up, but its been cancelled this season and last. The youngest kids only got to ski Wintherhogget which is a reasonably gentle stretch of the upper course, but it would still put the willies up me. Ål is also pretty demanding, and the SG/GS/SL 3-day setup is only for the U11s. The younger classes race GS and PSL.

I don't really like to talk about his quiver, because it sounds bloated and serious and expensive, but its the result of shopping around for bargains and planning ahead, and "only" 4 pairs are in regular use (marked *)...

*133cm Fischer RC4 WC SL Jr. 2005 model (current SL pair - originally these were his first proper race skis and used for GS)
138cm Fischer RC4 WC SL Jr. 2006 model (probably his SL skis next year, but have been used for training when the above skis aren't prepped, or in PSL where the course is open)
*155cm Fischer RC4 WC GS Jr 2012 model (current GS pair and the only ones bought as a current model - but not at retail!)
158cm Fischer RC4 WC GS Jr 2006 model (well used and shabby, bought very cheap for the bindings, but used for a top 10 GS place last year at Ål on an open course)
170cm Fischer RC4 WC GS Jr 2008 model (bought as a cheater-SG last season, may get some GS use in the future)
*181cm Elan FX SG Jr 200? model (current SG pair)
*140cm Rossignol S2 (twintips for park, free-skiing etc.)
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
squawker,
Won't the idea be they drop the U8? 500 kids + one more year sounds an immense logistical nightmare. The most I guess our races are are 250 kids. Even those seem quite a headache to organise!

Really interesting there are twice as many boys as girls in racing in your events. In our club its nearer 50/50 and the same ratio for the races as far as I can see. What's the story in the UK Okanagan, ?

Don't worry about your quiver, I'm sure you shop around. Fischer is King clearly. here kids seem to mainly race on Rossies Nordica or Head, with a smattering of other makes. A lot of the 10 yr olds here have SL and GS; but only a very few 9 yr olds and they tend to be the bigger ones as the skis don't get differentiated at smaller lengths.

better go and prepe for the early start tomorrow (on the hill by 8:20, which at sunshine needs a 15 min gondola ride and a 1hr 20 min car journey ..........nice, I get up earlier at weekends than I do for work!!
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Yes definately more boys than girls here - by about 2:1

Son #1 is on all Atomics - currently
2 x 130 SL 12 (probably won't be using these any more as he's more or less moved on to the 137's)
144 GS 12 (hasn't used those this winter apart from a couple of training days)
151 GS 12
3 x 137 SL 12's (one new but previous year's model, 2 from the same year but bought used to alternate as training skis)

Atomic seems to be the ski of choice here for the younger racer, and Dynastar amongst the older ones. We see some Head, a few Rossignol or Salomon, but not many Nordicas. A few Elan's floating around too.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Landing with Fischer was pretty much an accident, but a good one. Harald struck up a bond with one of the other kids a few years back, and when he and I discussed getting real race skis he wanted Fischer, just like his mate Gard. By coincidence the sports shop just down the road were pulling out of the ski racing market and dumping their stock at the time, and those 133 SLs up against their wall just called out to me. He seemed to do well on them, so we stuck with them.

I'm a Head fan myself. I love the damp, solid feeling they give and the ability to calmly blast through anything. He demoed a pair of Head GSs the other day and came back telling me they were more "on the snow" than his Fischers, which seems to mirror my opinion. He didn't actually say whether taht was good or bad! I think its a good idea to try a few different skis when there are demos and try to feel the differences.

One nice thing about the Fischers is that the Fischer/Tyrolia bindings take both adult and childrens boots soles without any adapters and suchlike (not strictly recommended, but works reliably based on my own experience and that of many parents I know). That and the predrilled jr. plate mean that the skis have survived 4 different pairs of boots, from C to A soles and a 30mm increase in sole length.

Norway is a pretty tight knit ski family, and most of the importers/agents are based around Oslo where we are. That means that a lot of brand choices are driven by who knows who within the industry. Until recently Blizzard were over represented at our hill, now Elans have started sprouting up after that particular agent switched horses. Lots of Atomics, quite a few kids on Rossi, Völkl... very few on Head, Salomon, Nordica or Dynastar. Its also driven by which shops sponsor which clubs (25% discount on race skis & bindings is normal) and the brands they stock. Salomon and Dynastar lose out because their race skis are the same as Atomic and Rossignol respectively. I guess there's no impetus to stock the sister brands.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Hi guys

Back from a great, albeit chilly weekend at Sunshine. Race was dual slalom , timed with two runs counting. 7yr old came 5th so that was great!! She was really chuffed and managed to win a door price of a full ski tune, which pleased our usual tuner (her dad).

On the ski front; its very much the same here as in Norway; depends on which shops offer which and racer discount and the activity of the reps (hence the recent rise of the Nordica). Unfortunately all the demo days here are on fridays for race kids and I am traditionally british about missing school at this age; demo day doesn't seem likea good enough excuse!

A busy few weeks coming up. Lake Louise with 7 yr old next weekend for the Doug Meyers ( a two day race; first day individual competition and then the times are sued to seed for sundays race which is for the club) and the weekend after a team event at Castle for both kids (they have 10 events and don't get any individual scores; which makes a change).
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Demo days for kids - I wish we had those. There isn't enough concentration of racing kids in the UK for any of the ski distributors to do kids demos so it's usually a case of asking around to see what people think of the skis they've got or just copying what the top skiers are on. If you're very lucky someone might offer a run or two on theirs. In our case it usually means relying on what happens to be available - and as we've got both a supplier who usually has a good stock of vastly reduced past season Atomics and some local older racers who tend to have the current season Atomics ready to pass on as a matching training pair Atomics it is.
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The racing dept. of the shop that sponsors our club will turn out for a demo at our little hill at least one day/evening towards the end of the season. At a guess they'll bring 2013 offerings from Fischer, Atomic, Nordica, Völkl and maybe Stöckli too. Rossignol usually get invited at the same time and handle their own demos.

The same thing happens at one or two of the bigger race meets - one of the sponsoring stores will organize a demo tent and take orders for next season.

For the record, our club is Stabæk Alpin based at Kolsåsbakken just outside of Oslo. Of the current WC skiers, Lotte Smiseth Sejersted came through our ranks and her father is a major investor in our hill. She has a younger brother Adrian who may appear on the WC radar in the next couple of years, but I think his primary goal right now is an NCAA scholarship to ski in the States. Our training staff include Martin Andersen, previously one of Kjetil André Aamodt's trainers more recently with the US Ski Team, Bjørn Elton Myhre, the father of WC skier Lars Elton Myhre, and Anne Marie Müller who was racing EC/WC until a couple of years ago . My boy is under Anne Marie's excellent tutelage. Stabæk aims to be a club for everyone, while providing the best possible training for kids who want to go far. A couple of our neighbouring clubs are known for their high ambitions, intensive training programs, and budgets to match. We try to keep it real!

Being the guy who can't say no, I ended up as Mr. Equipment in Stabæk Alpin - in charge of gates/poles/flags, timing equipment, walkie-talkies and all that gubbins. The practical side of it is great fun, but bouncing trainers' needs and wishes off of each other on a limited budget can be a teensy bit stressful wink I just bought a tonne of salt today!!
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Okanagan, the demo days here amount to one ski manufacturer targeting the older kids. So not huge affairs.

I imagne we have less racers per capita than Norway and some european countries; its still not a main sport. Hockey (ice) swamps most little kids. But we ski for a large club and there are around 220-240 racers in any one year (from 4 to FIS). Our club is acutally a merged club with an umbrella organisation (NASA) and then separate sub-clubs for each age structure. So theroretically my daughter skis for a differnt club than my son, but both under the umbrella club. Its structured that way for funding; here in Alberta there is this unique 'Casino' funding for 'good causes' and that way each club plus the umbrella get to 'do a casino'. Its a bit like getting significant lottery funding but having to work for it.

the KD programme (currently 9 and 10yr olds, 10 and 11 yr olds from next year) has around 40 kids and 6 coaches. half are girls. The coaches are generally good calibre; but not necessarily all. Not nearly as high flying as the Stabaek Alpin crowd ; but nonetheless good. Of the 6, 3 raced at FIS level, one ex world cup racer from Slovakia (hubby something to do with canadian world cup team, daughter on programme) 1 ex K2 racer and 1 I think who didn't come up through race clubs (but he is an amazing coach). Coaching is tricky skill I think; not everyone has the ability to analyse and comment accordingly.

My 7 yr old has an ex-K2 racer. She has been fanatastic for my daughter who practically stalks her. Her coach's brother skis with my son and her other brother is also a coach. She has 4-5 kids in her group.

Our club doesn't seem to be short of money (the fees are comparable to other clubs fees, but we do more casinos which net 75,000 every 18 months per club), but I'm not on the baord and so don't know. The club employs 1 full-time permamanent director and a part-time accounts type assistant. The other positions are either seasonally paid or volunteers chip in. The psuh seems to be able to pay our coaches a decent amount so the good ones don't get lured alway to other clubs.

I don't think our alumni is that impressive compared with other local clubs, who boast John Cucera and Jan Hudec, Trevor White coming on to scene etc. But I think that may be luck of the draw. We certainly boast at least one olympain and medalist in other sports (eg luge etc) from our alumni. Still its fun; we sit I think in simlar stance to Stabaek Alpin I think- there are other more serious clubs than us locally; who spend way more time pushing gates and way less time free skiing/technical free skiing. But I'm not sure that actually results in better skiiers at the end of the day. Our club is still very focussed; the Director seems to have studied what makes great racers at the end of the day etc and come up with a formula they think will work (this includes having some time to do other sports); and as the merged club thing is quite new its tricky to tell how it will work out. Quite few brits in our club; more at the lower levels. But of the 40 kids in KD at least 4 have british passports.

At KD level they are convinced the kids need a lot of on snow time and lots of different types of terrain experience in addition to specific race skills.

Keep it coming gang- its interesting!
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Our UK club is tiny in comparison - and our coaches aren't anybody you'd heave heard of, although we've had a few skiers get onto National teams and we've got a few FIS level skiers. Snow club/academy is even smaller, but does have an ex World Pro Champion as coach.

gryphea, is that 75k per section of the club every 18 months - and about 40 kids per section? That's incredibly well funded.
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Okanagan,

Well the KDs have that many kids although we have only just split into our separate club and it will take a while to secure a casino slot. But in essence yes. But the age structure is very pyramidal. So my daughters club, Skimeisters (covers 4-10), must have 140 kids I would think. The older kids have less per club than the KDs. So yes 75CAD per 18 months. Our school does the same and as its a small school (130 kids) we get a lot of extra funding.

What actually happens (I suspect) is the umbrella club slightly pools its money and the younger kids end up subsidising the older kids. Although for the casino money this has to be above board and spent within the host club. Our 4 main incomes streams are:
1. fees 2. casino money 3. our auction which raises c 75k CAD across all clubs 4. other fundraising which is minimal and mainly safeway cards of which we raise 5%.

Casino money comes with rules about how you spend it. it cannot be spent on core salaries. It also comes with sweat equity.

Other local clubs come from 'older' families and families with money to buy condos in ski areas. So they are more influential and seem to be much more successful in obtaining sponsership (eg more parents on boards)
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Okanagan wrote:
Demo days for kids - I wish we had those. There isn't enough concentration of racing kids in the UK for any of the ski distributors to do kids demos so it's usually a case of asking around to see what people think of the skis they've got or just copying what the top skiers are on. If you're very lucky someone might offer a run or two on theirs. In our case it usually means relying on what happens to be available - and as we've got both a supplier who usually has a good stock of vastly reduced past season Atomics and some local older racers who tend to have the current season Atomics ready to pass on as a matching training pair Atomics it is.


We ran camps in the UK last year supported by Head skis with race skis there to be tested. We'll be running some more this summer. PM me for Info.
I'm sure that other organisations had demo days as well.
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So, this weekend off to Lake Louise for 7yr old's race weekend. Its the Doug Meyers, quite a nice event, normal dual slalom on Sat , then based on the results they seed against a simialr skier from another club for sundays head to head dual slalom which is not timed and just a team event. Then they do a parade snake down the mountain before final awards.

The bad news is our ski waxer went bust this week. We do our edges but this guy charged $199 per season for the whole family's skis; hence he did our wax on all our skis. Very handy right by COP and open 7 to 7.

Anyone else racing this weekend?
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Just back from the Bend-It Alpine Festival in Ål, Hallingdal. Unfortunately it was three days of frustration for my little man, and for me too, but there are upsides...

Bad:

- crashed in the 5th gate in the Super-G. Hit the ruts around the gate, got a rotation, tips up and landed on his back. Thankfully he was unhurt, but his pride was dented, tears ran and the frustration at not getting a chance to ski the whole course was immense. The race was run according to strict safety rules with 30s start intervals, so a fall meant stop and DNF.

- okay 1st run in the GS, skidded low in the tough traverse in the 2nd run and had to climb up to the next gate, so badly off the pace. 44th of 110.

- technically great 1st run in the SL. Not the fastest, but beautifully skied. We were both bubbling and looking forward to the 2nd run. The skier ahead of him fell in the 2nd run and was still being helped up, though not directly in the course, when Harald started (he heard the call to hold the start as he left the start gate). He was badly disturbed by the activity and missed a gate, then skied down over the finish line. He should have stopped, found the gate judge and claimed that he was hindered straight away, but he didn't know and to be fair neither did I know that they were running such a strict setup. We presented our case in the paddock and were sent back up, but judge/td/starter maintained that there was no obstruction so that was that. Harald's first ever DSQ!

- weather conditions all over the place. Rain, snow, +18C and sunshine, wind. Friday after lunch the snow was slow and sucky as hell, but wasn't too bad at the time of Harald's ill-fated run.

Good:

- social aspects were great. Kids from clubs all over the country competing, getting to know one another, having the run of the hotel together

- great training runs on the long skis on Friday morning on some tough trails

- great 1st run in the SL and some good training drills before that on Sunday morning

- frustration turned around into an ambition to come back and show them what he really can do


Right now I'm a bit knackered, more mentally than physically, from the whole experience. Both Friday and Saturday could be put down to skier error, and that's fair enough. There's work to do. But Sunday in the SL just felt like a slap in the face when things were actually going our way. His biggest irritation is actually that there are no more SG races to compete in this season, so he won't get to complete what he regards as a proper SG course.
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squawker,

Sounds like a long, frustrating weekend. Its a little bit unfair when the races are run so tightly with such short intervals. I have seen a few things be not so good in with timing so short between racers. I think adults are so much more aware there are slight injustices in the world; but kids take it harder

My 7yr old had a really frustrating time last weekend at LL. They said it would be two best runs of 4; but messed the timing up on the 4th run; so they just counted 1 run. Had they counted two she would have been 2nd; but they only counted run and she was 4th; with 2 hundredths between her and her best ski friend in 3rd. Still I think its made her very hungry!!


We had both kids in a team event at Castle- its quite unique. No individual scores, 6 events. Downhill , GS, terrrain which is a kind of run through the trees, moguls, long jump and team skate relay. Both kids teams did really well and they had great fun despite the conditions (rangng from ice to slush to wet cement to pouring rain).

This weekend is a biggy for 9yr old. Caribou cup at Norquay

How about the rest of you?
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Next weekend is the first race of the 2012 "summer" season at the Pontypool artificial (plastic) slope. Oski will be working hard to maintain his record from last year of winning (in category) the vast majority of his races, and watching last weekend training on the same slope he looks much stronger this year, so maybe he will. We then head back to Austria for just over a week for the last of the "winter" races: he'll probably do a few local Austrian races before heading to Meribel in France for the British Championships during the first week in April
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