realskiers

Josh or Epic,
Could you comment on how the racing teams at Stowe are trained as differentiated from the ski school.

I'll just start by saying that I get a good discount at the Stowe Ski School for my kids, and don't get one for the Mount Mansfield Ski Club, but I chose to have both of my kids at MMSC (one is a U-10 and one is U-8). The Club and the Ski School have no official connection although our SSD is on the Board at MMSC and certainly coordinates snow-making and what-not with the club.

Just as our Ski School is not monopolized by any one organization or system, neither is MMSC. The President is Slovenian and there are other coaches from France and Slovenia. The head coach of the J-1s is Scott Moriarty who is a product of the club. I think he was an Olympian in the 70's, and was probably trained by the Austrians who used to dominate both MMSC and the Ski School (which in the beginning were one and the same. It was MMSC that brought in Sepp Ruschp from Austria and also MMSC that funded the first chairlift at Stowe). So many of the coaches are kind of homegrown. They train at MMSC as juniors, go on to a D-1 College or the Ski Team or both. Chip Knight has been working with our kids.

The J-4s are getting a healthy dose of PSIA as their coach is a former member of Eastern's Ed Staff. I don't know about all of the coaches. Certainly some have more experience than others. I can't say I am 100% happy with what I see in my daughters' program, but I pay 4-4 times what I would at the other program and feel that above all they offer a safe and healthy environment for my kids to learn in. USSA has some interesting changes this year as well. The club is actually looking for hill space to have a closed off demo arena as that is going to be part of the race weekends at some levels. That's right, they will race for time, but will also be skiing tasks that they are judged on. I don't know any of the details on this. I think it's a good thing though. I just hope that the judges know what they are doing.....