Ski Town, U.S.A. Initiative

We have successfully completed 3 days of the Ski Town, U.S.A. Initiative!
Mountain Valley Bank, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, Christy Sports, Smartwool, Steamboat Springs School District, Steamboat Resort., and the City of Steamboat Springs - Government come together to provide all the components necessary to run the Ski Town, U.S.A.® Initiative. This program gives every Steamboat Springs School District 2nd grader the opportunity to learn to ski/ride at no cost. Four days of ski lessons are provided to each child who participates in this program. The program is held at historic Howelsen Hill Ski Area during school days in January and February. Each student participates in a two-hour lesson coached by SSWSC athletes and coach volunteers through the SSWSC ‘Champions of Service’ program. We observe our competitive athletes in their role as excellent youth mentors for the kids and are impressed with their kindness, patience and positive energy.

Upcoming DATES:

Tuesday, January 21
Thursday, January 23
Tuesday, January 28
Thursday, January 30
Tuesday, February 4

Nordic Combined

Read results from the Junior National Qualifier #1 here



STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — A flight off a ski jump takes about seven or eight seconds to complete, from bar to landing. From the coaches stand, athletes are a blur as they launch off the in-run and soar down the landing ramp.

If it all happens so fast, how do coaches and athletes break down the nuances of the jump and decide what needs improvement? Before technology, it was all taken in and evaluated by the naked eye. Now, with the help of iPhones and iPads, a coach can take a video of a jump, relay that to the iPad at the bottom of the hill, where the athlete can watch the jump they just completed.

In an event like a qualifier for the junior championships on Howelsen Hill, small adjustments can be the difference between making the cut, or not. READ MORE HERE

Freestyle

US Selections was a great success; the SSWSC couldn’t be more proud of our athletes! A special shout out to Maggie Ryan for being awarded a spot to represent Team uSA at the Deer Valley World Cup in February!

READ RESULTS HERE
READ THE STEAMBOAT PILOT ARTICLE PRIOR TO SELECTIONS

Freeskiing

The weather was great for our first USASA competition of the season in Copper on Sunday.  All the athletes have been training hard on their runs with the facilities we have, and everyone was able to put a run down over the weekend.  We are now into our competition season with the Park and Pipe Team headed to Vail for halfpipe and the Big Mountain Team here in Steamboat on the 24th-26t h.  If you are around Chute 1 on that Saturday or Sunday, make sure to stop by and check out the event!
• Freeski Breaker Boys (12-13)
o Koen Stroock – 8th
• Freeski Youth Men (14-15)
o Wiley Wagner – 10th
o David Schlicht – 12th
o Logan Speigel – 13th
o Owen Taylor – 15th
• Freeski Junior Men (16-17)
o Silas Leeson – 3rd
• Open Class Women
o Riley Jacobs – 2nd

Wiley Wagner

Snowboarding

The snowboard team had a great USASA Slopestyle event in Copper last Saturday (1/11) with awesome results and excelled personal bests. We battled some snowy winter, but it was nothing our athletes couldn’t handle.

8-9 yr old girls - Aimee Wild - 1st
10-11 yr old boys - Reed Van Ness - 14th
12-13 yr old girls - Izzy Hamric - 5th
14-15 yr old men - Jesse Hamric - 1st
                    Jackie Clemente - 3rd
Open Class men - Johnny Duty - 5th

Jesse Hamric and Jackie Clemente were standouts at this event. This is Jesse’s third year with SSWSC. His family moved here from West Virginia three years ago to get their kids on snow and more involved in competitive winter sports. Jackie has been part of the club for 5 years now. This was both of their first contest in the 14-15 year old division. As one can imagine, this is not an easy age group to compete in. Their hard work and dedication paid off with medals to prove it.

In the photo is the podium shot of Jesse Hamric, Bodie Heflin from Frisco, and Jackie Clemente.

Our next freestyle contest is February 8th in Keystone.

Alpine

U10

Some U10s participated in a new collaboration with Winter Park Ski Team. Twenty-five U10s traveled over to Winter Park last Saturday, freeskied in the morning and participated in a free Fun Race in the afternoon with the Winter Park Discovery program. This allowed our U10s the opportunity to experience a race without the cost of entry fees and licenses. SSWSC will host a mogul fun comp in late February with Winter Park. Looking forward to continuing this partnership fueled by the IKON pass!

The spirit of ski racing was in full force for the 1st 2020 U10 Steamboat Cup! It was a fun one with lots of healthy competition and learning for all 120 U10s. Huge thank you to the U14 alpine athletes helping on the duals and Freestyle Director Bobby for coaching the mogul’s station.

U6
U6er’s shredding the trees and powder on Saturday.