sibhusky

I think if parking is an issue you should have bought over at the Village like we did, instead of at Northridge.

I think some of those people need to update their NASTAR profiles with some gender and age information. Is Blue just not up on NASTAR? I've never seen so many unclassified people listed before.

As for what to expect at the J4 race. Make sure he has his racing license (and his PARA card if I remember correctly)! They don't give out the bibs unless you turn over the license for them to hold until they get the bib back (at least that was the BB drill, I assume it holds true for JF). Beyond that, be sure she has money or a check for tickets, it's not always convenient for them to take credit cards. Be prepared for a lot of waiting around and chaos. Make sure he gets out the door on time for course inspection. Then get out of the way. Normally, the girls run first, then the boys. The kids normally have an hour between the end of the boys' first run and the beginning of course inspection for the second run. If he finishes in the top xx (normally 30 for a large field, 15 for a small field), they will run the second run in reverse order for those kids, but finish order for the rest. That is, if he finishes 1st for the first run, he will run 15th or 30th for the second run. If he finishes 31st for the first run, he will run 31st for the second run. If she can, she should try and snag a start list for each run so she knows when he is coming down. He'll wear the same bib for both runs and the second run will NOT be in bib order, so she'll need to find out the bib numbers of the kids immediately before him or she'll miss him. I'm not familiar with JF as a race venue, so I can't recommend where she should stand to see the most. I always got myself a ticket as I don't like climbing up snowy hills and I do like to get some runs in for myself, but many moms did climb race courses to watch. Once he gets done the first run, you need to help him get through lunch, GO TO THE BATHROOM, etc. fast enough to make that course inspection, but that's about all that moms should be doing. At the end of the day, there is usually some pressure to hang around for awards even if your kid isn't getting one, which can be a pain in the butt, so be ready mentally for it.

Interestingly enough, in the issue I have here of Ski Racing magazine, which Siblet gets with her USSA license, there is a discussion which touches on gate training for younger athletes. I tried to find this on their web site so I could put in a link to it, but couldn't find it. Anyone who has this issue (January 11) can find it on page 43. I'm just going to quote parts of the article. Question: When should junior racers begin to run gates? Should they begin with drill courses, and if so, what kinds? Finn Gundersen (USSA's director of alpine education): Agreement has been reached in the coaching ranks that younger athletes should spend more time outside the gates, developing a broad base of skiing skills and, more importantly, experiencding the joys of freeskiing. Successful gate training, when it happens, can be sustained only by a love for skiing. ..... USSA's advice is to err on the side of building skiing skills through directed skiing (specific drills with a coach) coupled with undirected "fun" freeskiing. .... So in general, start with drills and lots of freeskiing, then move into gates, following a plan that supports the competition season. For younger athletes, J3 and below, USSA offers this goal: double the time spent skiing (all kinds) while cutting in half the time spent talking about it. The article contains a description of a sample drill involving gates, brushes, panels whatever, where the drill is presented as a game which also teaches tactical skills.

All I am seeing is something about an image thief. Let me know when they post the results.

Found the "ski up" criteria for our division: Criteria for Skiing Up To ski up into A-J2 races, a J3 racer must do one of the following: As a first year J3 or second year J4, he/she must finish in the top 30 at the OHG race at the end of the previous season, or As a J3, he/she must finish in the top 30 in the A-J2 scored races held in December of the current season, or As a J3, he/she must finish in the top 30 in the A-J2 Super G held in the current season. Any second year J3 that qualified as a first year J3 to Ski-up will automatically qualify. All Ski up J3's are required to present a completed ski up agreement at the request of the race host organization. The OHG race referred to is the last race of the season. Note that we allow first year J3's to ski up if they are good enough. They have to sign quite a release form. When Siblet moved here, she was at quite a disadvantage due to the fact that some of these kids had been skiing scored races two years longer.

Out here the 2nd year J3's are already skiing for points. Also, I think there is some kind of "ski up" thing going on even sooner. I get back to you on that one.

www.artechski.com has them for $203 and $225 NEW. I don't see Blue Mountain listed as having NASTAR results. Where is this race?

When I said find a coach he likes and wants to work for, it didn't mean shop around until you find a coach that'll let him run gates whether it's the right thing or not. Ridge needs to understand that a good coach will have him doing things he doesn't understand the purpose of. He either buys into that idea or he's not ready to be coached. He has to put himself in the hands of the coach, not look for a coach that wants to keep him HAPPY. Kids that expect to, within a month of starting a sport, do as they please as opposed to what is best for them are not going to succeed. Racing is not play time. If Ridge finds another coach who thinks it's all about gates, good for him. But I don't think you're going to find that coach. IMO, Ridge should be taken off the team until both of you find a team that suits your philosophy of training or until Ridge understands what is entailed in advancing in a sport. Until that time, you are just wasting the coach's time, wasting your money, and enabling Ridge to demand goodies be given to him without effort on his part. He's got a year or two before it's too late to start. Siblet had years of gymnastics training before she started ski racing, which is probably why she understood the need for drills and the boring stuff before she could do the flashy tricks. So she was ready to do the work entailed when she joined the team. She and ski999's eldest would set up their own "gates" and practice drills (skiing on one ski, etc.) when they didn't feel that they had done enough of that stuff during training. It was cool to watch.

Added some more to this slideshow. If you've seen the first section, the new stuff starts here. Edit: Not anymore. Replaced whole show.

I wish I could see this race. Anyone going to take videos?

Better points in SL and consistently below 100 in GS

I do think there is some merit to papasteeze's comment about starting a kid too early. A lot of kids who start early DO burn out. I think Ridge is starting at the right point. Siblet started later (11) and it shows. She started SKIING at 3, but racing wasn't until she was 11. It's hard to balance burn out against the problem of eradicating bad habits picked up prior to serious training, but I think it's a bit easier to eradicate at 11 than to stop burn out from a kid starting when they are six or seven. I think a bigger issue is finding a coach the kid wants to excel for and trusts. And whether the parent agrees that the coach is great is secondary. I know the coach here has a lot of parental detractors for various reasons, but the KIDS LOVE HIM. I have heard nothing but praise for him as a coach and face it, that's what you are paying for. Maybe when Ridge starts racing, papa should start buddying up with the parents of the top kids and start asking around about coaches. NOT WHAT THE PARENTS THINK, but WHAT THE KIDS THINK.

We are hoping so, but I think they'll want to see a pattern.

Only on her own. She went to the weight room in her dorm regularly, did some hiking, step aerobics, kick boxing, running, etc. when she could fit it in with her homework. She admits to feeling the lack of a true program at the bottom of the course, but at least she's on snow for the three weeks she is home. Next race is a FIS-University invitational back at Big Sky.

For the Park City pic last winter, I sent in the money because the shot was amazing. But these aren't. Also, I think for $20 I got an 8 by 10 for the PC one. She felt she skied fairly badly on some run or other, but in the videos she saw of said run apparently her line was dead on and one of the other (better) girls commented on it. Oddly, most of the kids from our team did well, EXCEPT for three of the four "super stars". And the MSU NCAA girls were either no shows or hiked or fell.

It's a lot faster to do a print screen and paste it into an editor. Then the works starts. But not worth the work.

Well, I did that (saved them to my disk), but the erasing of the photo copyright was too time consuming. I figured if I was gonna leave it on there, best to send people to the site itself. But thanks. Plus, it might upset ski999 to know I steal pictures from photographers.

What does "clamshelled" mean?

Okay, found the pictures online, but too tough to swipe them, etc. Here are the links: Second Run of GS First Run of SL And another shot of that run The pictures aren't that great and they want a LOT of money for them.

Yeah, I remember Siblet had issues with the way one of the coaches used to set gates. Said his courses lacked the right kind of rhythm or something.

I wasn't there. I hear there are pictures somewhere, but she's out snowshoeing now and I can't ask her where they are.

I am dancing around like a crazy woman. Siblet cracked 100 points for the first time down at Big Sky in the GS. SL was also a record, but not quite as low. Yahoo!

Don't think I haven't noticed. And, oh yes, it does worry me.

New Pictures, but still in January. I highly recommend hitting your F11 key in IE to see the captions at the bottom of the pictures more easily.