Club and Academy Newsletter

February 7,  2007 - Volume 5 - 06/07

WVBBTS Freestyle Athletes with Coach Rob Day in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Table of Contents

• CEO Corner
• Academy Corner
• Academy Corner-from the Math Department
• Alpine Corner
• Snowboard Corner
• Freestyle Corner
• Development and Communications Corner
• Upcoming Events and Competitions at Waterville Valley

CEO Corner-From the Desk of Peter Stokloza

• The last few weeks have been a busy period for BBTS snowsports.  Over the past weekend we held a I and II’s slalom competition on Saturday, a JIII qualifier GS on Sunday, and our snowboard and freeride team competed in a competition at Waterville on Sunday. I was fortunate enough to attend all three of these competitions at our home hill.  Our alpine racers continue to improve and compete at the next level of competition.  Our snowboard team looked strong and had some great results in the slope style event.  Sam Harding and his staff are doing an excellent job with preparing our athletes to hit the jumps and rails with proper progression and execution.  Congratulations and continued success at future events.

• The venues for both Snowboard and Freestyle are improving by the minute.  The snow guns continue to blast the half-pipe which should be on-line shortly.  The Air site is also getting prepared for this weekend’s Phil’s Hill event.  Rob Day and the other freestyle coaches, Greg Ruppel and Nori Lupfer were working hard yesterday preparing an excellent and challenging mogul venue on True Grit.  I look forward to watching our freestyle athletes and our mitey mites compete this weekend at Waterville.

• I hope all of you get out to ride and ski this weekend.  The conditions at Waterville have never been better!

Sincerely,

Pete

Academy Corner-From the Desk of Gary Benedix

• What a difference a couple of weeks make.  We were all hoping for a little cold weather back in January and now we are certainly receiving it.  Along with the cold, the conditions on the mountain have gotten excellent which has provided for some great training.  Finally, we have had the chance to test the new furnaces in Pickering Hall and they are performing to expectation.

• Many of our senior student athletes have been receiving their college acceptances and I will have the specific up-dates in the next newsletter.  We have a great group of seniors who have been busy in class, training, competing and making those important decisions for their future education.  They have shown a level of dedication and maturity that will take them far.  It is a pleasure to work with such an exceptional group!

• Many thanks to the people at Legends.  For the second year in a row, on Valentines Day, they will be closing their establishment to the public and hosting the WVA Semi Formal Valentines Day party.  Due to their busy schedules, there are few times that our students have the opportunity to enjoy social events so this will be a great night out.  Again this year the Semi Formal has been organized by the students with the help of Sharon Schmidt.  They have done an excellent job.

• We only have seven weeks left and so much to accomplish.  The main focus from this point is for our entire student body to be academically strong and ready to integrate back into their schools.  Combined with this are all the final competitions and championships that our student athletes have worked so hard all season to prepare for.   There will be travel and studying on the road leaving little time to rest.  Going forward, there are many challenges but I believe our students are ready and capable of achieving extraordinary things.

Academy Corner-From the Math Department

• The Mathematics Department at the Academy has been busy teaching everything from sixth grade math up to Calculus and AP Statistics.  We have a large number of returning teachers this year and a few new ones.  First I will introduce the newest members of the department.  Anne Formalarie and Gary Mastin joined us in January.  Anne is teaching computers and business courses, she is in her second year at the Academy.  Gary Mastin is back after a few years in graduate school.  He teaches computer courses, Algebra and a science course.  Kendra Bowie is a recent addition and she teaches a variety of topics including 7^th grade math, Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.  Ron Vance, a longtime veteran, handles most of the middle school students and he is focusing on solving linear equations.

• At the high school level, Bob Cochran is the king of Geometry.  Bob comes to us with 30 years experience at Shell Oil where he put his advanced degree in engineering to good use.  Ron Olsen and Bob Garrity handle most of the Algebra 1 and 2 students.  Ron has a business background in computers and degrees in software engineering and marketing.   Bob is our resident math historian, yes they exist, and recently went off on a tangent, investigating the history of Pi.  He also informs me that the concept of infinity comes from the Hindu concept of unity.  Ask him about this if you have some time.

• George Hehir teaches Algebra 2 and Trigonometry.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at Plymouth State University.  Harry Joiner teaches Statistics, Pre-calculus and Calculus.  He has previously taught math at UMASS Amherst and UNH Manchester.  He has 12 years experience in the oil industry and geophysical exploration and 15 years as a computer software engineer.  Finally, I, Joan Sweeney, teach Statistics, Calculus and Pre-calculus.  I am also offering extra help to all math students on Monday afternoons during study hall.  I strongly urge anyone who is struggling to stop by and see me on Mondays.  I am also available if you have been away at competitions and need to put in a little extra time.  No problem is too small and no problem is too large.  I am there to help.  Please take advantage of it.

• As we move into the second half of our school year I want to thank all of the families for sharing your children with us.  They are energetic, enthusiastic and great fun.  The students are the reason so many of the teachers return year after year.  Students, please keep in mind that there are many more competitions ahead and it is critical that you maintain your academic focus. We want you to succeed in all your endeavors and maintaining a good balance is very important. Study hard, keep up the good work and have fun!

Q

Alpine Corner-From the Desk of Tom Barbeau

·         A hardy thank you to our race work teams at last weekend’s Tec Cup Slalom and the J3 Regional GS. The course workers definitely earned an extra beer at the Super Bowl. Remember we need workers at all the events so please fulfill your work credit obligations. Having the correct amount of workers makes for a fair and safe competition for the children.

·         Helen Anderson, a J3 racer, had a faulty binding where the forward pressure on her heel piece kept loosening. Helen has corrected the problem, but not before a couple of ‘yard sales”. Below are some of Helen’s thoughts as she encountered the B-nets.

Orange Fence

       It wasn’t like I was going fast; it was just that I was skiing well. The course had held up well and I was moving into a tuck for the last five of six gates. The only problem was I didn’t make it to the end of the course. I made it to the orange fencing on the side of the course. As I started into my tuck one of my skies didn’t come with me around the turn. This caused me to lurch forward, tumbling; I landed on my back feet tangled in the orange fence. I’m not quite sure where my second ski ended up but I do know I wasn’t wearing it when I landed. I lay feet tangled, the sudden realization that if I moved I would feel the pain that comes with every plunge.

       “Are you all right up there?” I heard the infamous question of the gate keepers. I answered yes, with great reluctance I pulled myself out of the fence. I pictured the fall, slightly laughing to myself. How ridiculous I must have looked. Later Tom pointed out to me that the fence, although it entangled me, it also saved me from plummeting down a rocky hill. I have made a friend and an enemy, the orange fence.

• RACE RESULTS: (Top 10’s for USSA and Top 20’s FIS)

• J1’2’s

·         NHARA Super-G at Attitash – Abby Fucigna 1^st & 1^st, Ali Ewanouski 6^th, Kia Mosenthal 5^th, Todd Thibodeau 1^st & 1^st, Neil Hansen 5^th & 7^th, Nate Bryant 10^th & 9^th,

·         Mac Cup GS at Waterville Valley – Alyssa Sullivan 7^th, Nate Bryant 7^th, Kyle Ewanouski 10^th.

·         Tec Cup GS at Gunstock – Dario Baldoni 2^nd, George Packard 3^rd, Ryan Storm 6^th.

·         Tec Cup SL at Waterville Valley - Ali Ewanouski 1^st, Madeline Quinn 5^th, Meg Weiler 7^th, Maddy Hobbs 8^th, Molly Testwuide 9^th (1^st in the first run), George Packard 2^nd, Coach Bill Halberstadt 4^th, Brett Stein 5^th, Thomas Lampert 9^th, congrats to John Kalinski for making Mac Cup.

·         Mac Cup SL at Pats Peak - Ali Ewanouski 3^rd, Molly Testwuide 5^th, Neil Hansen 5^th, Nate Bryant 10^th.

·         MARA GS t Sunday River – Kamden Burke 3^rd

·         FIS Downhill at Sugarloaf - Todd Thibodeau 1^st, Kamden Burke 4^th & 4^th, Amy McLaughlin 3^rd, Kia Mosenthal 20^th, Abby Fucigna had a result 40 places ahead of her start number.

·         FIS Super-G at Sugarloaf – Kamden Burke 8^th, Maddy Packard 4^th, Abby Fucigna 11^th. (Maddy, Amy, Abby and Kia are all looking good for the J2 Nationals).

·         FIS GS  at Sugarbush - Kamden Burke 15^th.

·         FIS SL at Stowe - Todd Thibodeau 4^th.

·         FIS SL at Cannon - Ali Ewanouski 18^th, Erin Fucigna 19^th.

• J3’s

·         J3 Division Qualifier at Loon – Kerry Daigle 2^nd & 1^st, Jordan McSherry 3^rd & 5^th, Tori Budd-Fletcher 10^th, Emily Cowles 9^th, Ian Harris 2^nd & 2^nd, Drew Stefanic 4^th & 10^th, Zach Ziolkowski 10^th, Thomas Joy 3^rd.

·         J3 Regional GS at Waterville Valley – Nika Mosenthal 1^st, 4^th & 3^rd, Chelsea Stevens, 2^nd, 2^nd, & 2^nd, Jamie Crane-Mauzy 3^rd, 1^st & 1^st, Amanda Engelhardt 10^th, 8^th & 8^th, Brian Mclaughlin 4^th, 8^th & 4^th, Thomas Joy 5^th, 3^rd & 3^rd, Ian Harris 9^th, Adam Dropkin 4^th & 9^th.

·         J3 State GS at Loon – Kate Kraunelis 5^th, 2^nd & 3^rd, Mellissa Keller 10^th.

·         J3 State Super-G at Wildcat - Mellissa Keller 2^nd & 3^rd, Kate Kraunelis 7^th

• J4’s

·   BWL Qualifier at Cannon – Annie D’Elia 2^nd, Caroline Winslow 4^th, Grace Glennon – 7^th, 4^th & 3^rd, Macaela Wright 9^th, 3^rd & 4^th, Torey Brooks 6^th, Mike Sampson 2^nd, 2^nd, & 3^rd, Mike Bancroft 4^th, 4^th & 4^th, Alex Katz 6^th, Chase Ennis 7^th, 5^th & 6^th, Alex Julian 8^th.

• J5’s

·   BWL Qualifier at Cannon – Jeanee Crane-Mauzy 2^nd, 3^rd & 3^rd, Elena Tomlinson 4^th, 2^nd & 2^nd, Teagan Mosenthal 5^th, 4^th & 4^th, Jillian Salvucci 8^th & 10^th, Victorie Keane 10^th, 8^th & 7^th, Dan Lannon 1^st, 2^nd & 1^st, Ryan Schmidt 2^nd, 4^th & 2^nd, Andrew McCrossan 4^th, 3^rd & 3^rd, Pate Campbell 6^th & 7^th, Jack Keane 10^th & 8^th, Clark Macomber 5^th, Max Lash 7^th, Peter Fucigna 8^th.

• Lots of great results, excellent effort.

Tom Barbeau

Athletics

Snowboard Corner-From the Desk of Sam Harding

• The WV Park has been improved, most of the Academy kids are out at Mt Bachelor, and yet again we have had a tremendous two weeks of competition. Speaking of competitions, I want to quickly reiterate that all who are planning on going to Nationals need to give either myself or Jess Luca the heads up so that we can add you to our Nationals Rider list. Also, parents, if you are unable to go and you would like to send your child to compete, we will be working out the best possible solution to accommodate, and supervise your children while we are out there, so do let us know.

• Back to the action… This past weekend we had a Slope Style at Waterville along with the Boarding For Breast Cancer and the Trans AM. Also this past weekend we had Riders, and WVA alumni compete in the USSA Grand Prix, finishing with an amazing outcome.

• For the USASA Slope Style the link is here for those who competed. Congrats to you all. We are very proud of everyone’s efforts, and how you’ve progressed throughout the season. Keep up the good work.

            http://www.usasa.org/series/newhampshire/files/R17_SS149_26.html

• Here are the results for the USSA Grand Prix. Just to recap, the Grand Prix draws some of the best riders from all over the world to compete for large prize money, and a place on the US team. Last season in the Grand Prix Half Pipe, Shaun White, Mason Aguirie, and many other top pros from the US battled for a spot on the US Olympic team.

• For the Half Pipe we had Ian Hart, Merrick Joyce, and WVA alumni, Tim Humphreys, compete. Tim took 10^th overall, while both Merrick and Ian, despite the fact that they had only 3 or so days of practice in a half pipe, both performed wonderfully to only suffer a couple of falls.

• For the Slope Style we had WVA alumni Ian Thorley take 1^st place, Tim Humphreys – 2^nd place, Cam Egan – 5^th place, Pat Moore 8^th place, Scott Kurchinski – 10^th  place, and rounding off with Brandon Reis in 12^th place. Brandon had qualified in 4^th place for the finals. Coming in 3^rd was Scotty Lego… New Hampshire boy who spent many a year training at Waterville. Congratulations to all those boys for such an amazing feat, and to Head Coach, Bill Enos who trained and coached those boys day in and day out for many seasons, and the majority of their competitive careers. We should be so proud!!!   (also see info on the forum page www.wvbbts.org  website)

• This has been a huge week for the WVA BBTS snowboard family. Let this week be an inspiration to us all to keep working hard, and to maintain focus. We hope to see many more athletes make their way to top level podium finishes in years to come.

• Again thanks to all the parents for your hard work, communication, and support. Your enthusiasm and passion in your children, and in our team has been greatly appreciated.

• Take good care, to all, and to all a wonderful week. See you next weekend.

Sam Harding

Snowboard Program Director

Freestyle Corner-From the Desk of Nick Preston

• The Eastern cold, natural snow fall, and ideal snow making conditions has this division full of competition and (finally) training opportunities. February’s first weekend of events saw these exceptional performances by BBTS and WVA athletes.

• Loon EQS Moguls and Freeride,  Feb 3-4
  • Loon Mountain hosted an outstanding Eastern Qualifier Competition for our J6-J3 age groups. Our head coach, Nori Lupfer, and coach Jesse Chapman reported excellent skiing and big air performances. In a field of 90 mogul competitors on the Flume mogul venue, and 50 competitors in Big Air on Sunday, these athletes earned top 10 results.

            Lindsay Mustard         1^st Moguls

Willy Dresser             5^th Big Air

4^th  Combined

:           Jessica Breda              6^th  Big Air

            Alex Breda                  10^th  Big Air

2^nd J5 Big Air

2^nd J5Combined

            Ben Parkington           6^th J5 Big Air

            David Mende              8^th J 4 Big Air

• Killington Klassic A Moguls/Duals, Feb 3-4:
  • Coaches Mike Macomber and Nick Preston teamed up on our field of 8 girls and 10 boys on the Championship mogul course on Bear Mountain in a field of 90 skiers.
  • 10 inches of snow on Saturday, and  cold on Sunday provided an ideal training/competition opportunity for our A mogul skiers, as Saturday’s mistakes corrected into consistent Duals runs on Sunday.
  • USSA-E  Mogul Feb 3:

            Calli DeGrace:            5^th

                Alicia Cavanaugh:       12^th

                Erich Berberich:          12^th

o       USSA_E Duals Feb. 4

Alissa Pinkoski            3^rd

Calli DeGrace:            4^th

Erich Berberich:          5^th

Nessa Dziemian:         6^th

Alicia Cavanaugh        7^th

Snow Style, Mt Snow, VT,  Feb 3

o       Coach Greg Rupple and 7 athletes withstood weather and tough travel as the team competed in SnowStyle 2007. Congratulations Jesse…. and to Greg on safe travel and safe coaching.

Jesse Padgett   4^th

This week’s schedule:

            Friday : Sunday River A Moguls

                          Phil’s Training at WV

            Saturday:

                        Sunday River A Duals-

Coach:             Rob

                        JApril Cup USSA Eastern Aerial Championships-WV

Coaches:          Nick, Greg, Ryan

                        Phil’s Hill USSA Aerials                   

Coaches:          Nick Greg, Ryan

                        Phils Hill Big Air SlopeStyle 

Coaches:          Nick Greg, Ryan

                        EQS Moguls J6-J5 –

Coaches:          Nori, Jesse

            Sunday:

                        Sunday River SS/HP:

                                    Coaches:          Nick, Greg,

                        Training at WV:          Nori, Jesse, Ryan, Rob

See you this weekend.

Nick Preston

Development & Communications Corner-From the Desk of Sharon Schmidt

• We will begin taking orders for WVBBTS Alpine Descente outer jackets, Descente softshells and Spyder insulators some time in the next week once we receive final pricing for delivery early next season.  Be on the look out for an e-mail with the pricing, sizes and order forms.
• If you have not yet received your BBTS Membership Directory please stop by the Competition Center and pick one up in Sharon Charron’s office.  The membership directory along with the first addendum which adds any membership applications we received after publication through early January as well as any corrections/updates we received from you when you picked up your directory are  now available on line at http://www.wvbbts.org/members/directories.html .  If you don’t remember the user name and password to get into this members only section of the web site please e-mail me at sschmidt@wvbbts.org and I will send it to you.

Upcoming Events and Competitions in Waterville Valley

• Saturday, February 10-JApril Cup USSA Eastern Aerial Championships
• Saturday, February 10-Phil’s Hill USSA Aerials and Big Air SlopeStyle Competition
• Wednesday, February 14- WVA Semi Formal Valentines Day Party
• Saturday, February 17-Forum Youngblood Snowboard Competition
• Sunday, February 18-USASA Half-Pipe Competition
• Save the Dates-Year End Festivities

o       Saturday, March 24-Club and Academy Year End Barbeque at the Ski Area

o       Saturday, March 24-Snowboard Year End Celebration at Silver Fox Inn.  We realize many WVBBTS snowboarders will be traveling to Nationals the last weekend of the season and will therefore miss the Year End BASH on March 31.  We are having a Snowboard Year End Celebration for all Snowboarders on March 24.  If you are a snowboarder who is not traveling to Nationals we hope you can also join us on Saturday, March 31 for the Year End BASH.

o       Saturday, March 31-Club and Academy Year End Bash at the Waterville Valley Conference Center