Many congratulations to Winter Sports School family members Megan McJames ‘05, Derek Strand ‘08, and J. J. Tomlinson ‘10.  Each has enjoyed stellar early results this season, and we want to take a moment to recognize each of them.

Megan McJames ‘05 took first in the NorAm Cup slalom race held in Val St. Come, Canada on January 2nd.  She put together two great runs under fierce pressure for a nail-biting victory — almost four tens of a second separated first and third, but Megan edged out the second place finisher, Canadian Erin Mielzynski, by just two hundreths of a second.  Thrilling victory, Megan!

Derek Strand ‘08 gained recognition as a top USA junior competitor at a series of NorAm competitions in Colorado during December, then returned to Park City to win first place in the slalom discipline in the Eric Hays Memorial at Park City Mountain Resort.  Way to go, Derek!

Finally, J. J. Tomlinson ‘10 is emerging as a very prominent snowboardcross racer.  The Telluride Resort in Colorado hosted the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross World Cup on December 19th, and J. J. took 16th place out of a seasoned field of international senior competitors.  That’s an impressive result under any circumstances, but it’s even more impressive from a high school student in his Senior World Cup debut.

Again, many congratulations to all!  All of us here at the Winter Sports School are extremely proud of you!

Kelly Marren, Winter Sports School Class of 2009, was delighted just to qualify for the Womens’ Snowboard Superpipe finals in the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour’s 2009/2010 season in Breckenridge, CO.  Delighted, but not complacent.  She then proceeded to lay down a monster run in the finals on December 21st to move up to 4th place.  Way to go, Kelly!  Everyone interested in cheering her on in the Winter Dew Tour’s second stop (out of three) should head up to Snowbasin just outside of Ogden, UT, January 15th - 17th.  See you there!

(Photo courtesy of allisports.com)

On December 6th, Steven Holcomb ‘97 maintained his overall lead in World Cup standings after winning his second consecutive four-man bobsled competition. Twenty-four teams navigated the 2006 Olympic course in Cesana, Italy for the third stop of the tour.

Holcomb and his Night Train crew of Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) are recognizable names in the sport after collecting medals each season and the 2009 World Championship title, but the four-man pilot still acts surprised when he crosses the finish line with the lead.

“I still get excited,” said Holcomb. “This feeling never gets old, it’s always awesome. It takes work every week to get on the podium, so it’s never an easy journey to win gold. You usually know on your second run if you held onto the lead, but it’s still surprising to see your time on the clock.”

The Night Train crew proved they are still the fastest team off the starting blocks with push times of 4.77 and 4.74 seconds.

“Everyone did their job today,” said Holcomb. “I need to give credit to the guys because we had two fast pushes. I had two good runs and we have a fast sled, so there’s nothing that says we shouldn’t be fast. We have all the components to make it work, and the team came together today.”

Holcomb drove his Bodyn sled to the finish in 55.51 and 55.71 seconds, the fastest runs of the competition, for a combined time of one minute, 55.21 seconds for the victory. The U.S. team finished 0.41 seconds ahead of the field in a sport decided by hundredths of a second.

“It’s not just fun to win, but it’s fun to dominate,” said Holcomb. “That feels even better. Everyone wants to know what’s in our sled that makes it so fast, but they need to realize it’s a combination of great push times, good runs, and a good sled.”

The World Cup circuit continues from Dec. 7-13th in Winterberg, Germany.

“It will be tough going back to Germany,” said Holcomb. “This was our first European win in a couple of years, but it’s nice to finally be back on top, especially this year.”

The last time Holcomb won on a European track was in January 2007 in Cortina, Italy’s four-man World Cup competition. Holcomb won the overall title that season, and is on track to reclaiming the crown going into the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  Way to go, Steven!

Complete results can be found by visiting the web site for the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing at www.fibt.com.

Photo: Charlie Booker

(Contributions courtesy of USBSF).

The Winter Sports School in Park City’s Class of 2009, the second largest in the school’s history, graduated Friday, November 20th, at the Prospector Lodging and Conference Center.  At the ceremony 23 seniors received their diplomas.

The students come from a wide geographical area including Park City, Salt Lake City, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Hampshire, and New Mexico.  The class proved to be very accomplished academically and set a high standard of academic achievement at the school through their classroom performance and also their results on the various college placement tests.  One senior, Steven Nagie, qualified as a National Merit Semifinalist and is currently being reviewed for finalist status.

Jesse Hunt, the new director of the Park City Ski Team, gave the graduation address.  He spoke about his experiences with USSA and how he was able to take a mediocre team and motivate them to a much higher level of performance.  His remarks included quotes from his fellow Vermonter Calvin Coolidge about the importance of persistence.  Hunt made it very clear that talent and skill were no guarantee of success from his experience.  Success, he said, can only be achieved through persistence and hard work.

Graduates Amanda Veth, Kelly Mackenzie, and Colin Carrig were selected by their classmates to speak.  All three attended the school for the past four years.  The talked about the uniqueness of their experience at The Winter Sports School, where classes are held from mid-April to mid-November to accommodate the young athletes’ competition schedules.  Each said the school had been an intimate and motivating experience.

Mackenzie and Carrig both described how the teachers made the school’s environment through their caring and willingness to go above and beyond the normal expectations in order to ensure each student’s success.  They all noted how competitive their class had been academically and how they felt that they had set a new standard for the school based on their grades and standardized test results.

Two major awards for outstanding academic performance were announced.  The most prestigious is the Kay Wright Memorial award which is given to the most outstanding senior as selected by the faculty.  It is given in memory of the school’s first Head, Dr. Kay Wright.  This year’s recipient was Amanda Veth of Taos, New Mexico.

The second major graduation award, the Dave Seiger Memorial Award, given to the senior with the highest level of achievement in the study of Mathematics and Science, went to Delainey Ackerman of Denver, Colorado.  This award is given in memory of Dave Seiger, who was the original math and science teacher at the school.

Both awards are accompanied by scholarships of $1,000 and $500, respectively.  There were also awards given for academic achievement in the subject disciplines offered by the Winter Sports School.  The recipients of those awards were Steven Nagie for academic achievement in History, English, and Mathematics.  Brandon Booth-Dunbar received awards for academic achievement in Spanish and Science.  Sam Dupratt received the academic achievement award in Art.

Kelly Mackenzie received an award from the Winter Sports School faculty for achievement in leadership.

This graduation marks the completion of the Winter Sports School’s 16th academic year of providing a college preparatory curriculum to dedicated athletes.

Keep watching this space for more features on members of the graduating class of 2009.  Congratulations to all of you, and please stay in touch.  We’ll miss you!

The Winter Sports School would like to congratulate Steven Nagie, 2009 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist!  As a result of his outstanding performance on last fall’s PSAT, Steven was chosen as one of 16,000 semifinalists nationwide, 142 of whom were selected from Utah.  He is now eligible to compete for one of 8,200 scholarships which draw from a fund worth more than $35 million.  We wish Steven the best in his pursuit of this goal!

The Winter Sports School in Park City is holding its second annual “5K to Fight World Hunger.” This fun run will raise money and awareness for the ongoing world hunger crisis. All proceeds go to the Friends of the World Food Program. The cost for adults is $25 and $10 for all those 15 and under. The event will be held at Willow Creek Park in Snyderville Basin at 9:30am on Saturday August 8^th. Registration begins at 8:45am. There will be prizes, a raffle and t-shirts.  This is a family event and all ages are welcome.

Following the race, starting at 11:30am, we’ll have our annual school BBQ at the same location in Willow Creek Park.  All members of the Winter Sports School Community are invited — students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and trustees.

Please give us a call at the school if you need more information, and we’ll see you there!

The Youth WinterSports Alliance (YWSA) was established to create a legacy to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games by spearheading a community-wide effort to increase the number of children who actively participate in winter sport programs from the greater Park City area, as well as Summit and Wasatch Counties.

Each year, the YWSA Circle of Excellence honors junior athletes from the Park City community who have attained noteworthy accomplishments in their respective sports, ranging from making the U.S. National team to winning major elite competitions.  In 2009, several WSS alums and active students were honored at the Circle of Excellence ceremony hosted by Ted Ligety, WSS Class of 2002.  They are:

Kieran Adams ‘11, Alpine Ski Racing
Avery Ardovino ‘09, Nordic Ski Jumping
Brandon Booth ‘09, Alpine Snowboard Racing
Chris Cammarano ‘08, Freestyle Skiing - Moguls
Anders Johnson ‘06, Nordic Ski Jumping
Annie Serra ‘06, Freestyle Skiing - Moguls
JJ Tomlinson ‘10, Snowboard Cross

Many congratulations to our proud honorees, and many, many thanks to YWSA for performing such an admirable mission and for taking the time and effort to honor our communitee’s brightest athletic stars.

(Photo courtesy of the Youth Winter Sports Alliance)

(If you’re reading this message in e-mail, be sure to click on the title link to visit the WSS news blog — the group photo for the Circle of Excellence ‘09 will be visible.)

Dear Parents and Student Athletes of the Winter Sports School:

June is upon us and that means the start of off-season conditioning. Our conditioning program — managed jointly by WSS and the PCST — is a critical stepping-stone in the process of proper athletic development and something the staff at both programs feel is necessary for young athletes to participate in. Our program has been periodized for the next five months and will guide the athletes through thoughtful steps in order to achieve proper fitness and education to compete in the upcoming season. I will be heading up the conditioning program from the WSS side and Chad Wolk will be coaching from the PCST side. Both of us have solid backgrounds in training athletes, on and off the snow, and we look forward to working with our current athletes.

Because of the range of ages and abilities of the athletes, our expectations will vary for individuals, and progress and success will be judged individually. Despite these differences we require that all athletes participating be healthy and without new or chronic injuries or illnesses. Activities will include some impact and physically demanding movements, making it critical that injuries are not hampering workouts. If there are any questions regarding this matter, please contact me and we will discuss this issue on an individual basis.

Prior to starting the conditioning program, we do require that each athlete have the following equipment and memberships:

1. Athletic running or cross-training shoes
2. Water bottle
3. Membership to Basin Recreation Field house (mention that you are a WSS student for a price break: $275 for the year, or $30 per month)
4. Mountain and/or Road Bike, including

• -Hydration system
• -Helmet
• -Bike repair kit
• -Cell phone

5. Heart rate monitor (strongly recommended)
6. Strong work ethic

The conditioning program will begin June 1, 2009, 3:30pm-5:30pm, meeting at the City Park. The program will run Monday through Friday through November 20, 2009. Schedules on where to meet and what activities we will be doing each day will be posted on the WSS web site. Please see the directions below to navigate the site.

I’m very excited to begin working with all the athletes. Please stay in touch for any questions or issues that may arise.

Sincerely,

Cameron Chin
WSS Group Conditioning Coach
cchin@wintersportsschool.org
(435) 640-8743

Conditioning Schedule web site:
Go to www.wintersportsschool.org
Click the “calendar” link in the Quicklinks section of the homepage
Click the “Conditioning” button on the desired date and a pop up will show what that day’s activities are.

Parent/Teacher conferences will be held at the Winter Sports School campus on Wednesday, May 27th from 4pm to 7pm.  Parents who would like to make an appointment with a specific teacher should call Megan at 435-649-8760 to get on that teacher’s schedule.  Teachers will also be available for less formal chats during their unscheduled time slots.

On the same day, all are warmly invited to drop by campus between 5pm and 7pm for our spring open house.  If you’re a long-time friend of WSS, we’d love to see you and catch up.  If you’re in the process of learning about us, we’d love to meet you in person and show you around.  The concurrent scheduling with parent/teacher conferences will allow attendees the opportunity to meet and ask questions of parents and students in addition to faculty and staff.  See you then!  Be sure to call us at 435-649-8760 if you need additional information.

To Winter Sports School Students, Parents and Teachers:

After contacting and speaking with the Summit County Health Department Commissioner  the Winter Sports School was advised that we are allowed to reopen for classes. We will resume classes on Thursday, May 7, 2009 at our normal hours.

Thanks to the teachers for publishing their assignments and distributing them to their classes via the website and email. Those assignments are available and everyone should be on task with them. If you are having difficulty finding the necessary assignment please call the school. It is critical that all students are keeping up with their work to avoid the addition of school days in the upcoming weeks. The faculty will be assessing the level of completion for all these assignments on Thursday to insure that our course work is on track.

This has been an extremely unusual time for the Winter Sports School. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We all look forward to school as usual and to resuming our normal daily schedules.

If you are feeling ill at all please see a doctor and follow the doctor’s recommendations. Anyone with special circumstances that will impact their return to school on Thursday should contact the school at their earliest convenience.

See you Thursday.

Rob Clayton
Head of School
Winter Sports School in Park City