Dear Team Summit Alpine Ability Athletes, and Ability and Age Class Parents and Coaches:

We are fully into the racing season with all athletes beginning to compete! Many races are coming up and the schedules continue to evolve with changes to the format, dates, and in some cases venues. This is out of our control creating both extra works for all and confusion for planning. We will continue to do our best to communicate these changes as clearly and timely as possible.

The Alpine staff is stretched, particularly in Age Class, by the injury to Jared and changes in work availability to some of our staff. As we work to address the needs of all our programs and kids by helping fill in with Ability staff, it also creates pressure for our FIS and U16 programs. We thank you for your patience, support, and understanding as we organize and manage our training and racing schedules. More details of our strategies and actions follow below.

The help of you, our membership, is critical to help us be as organized as possible as we are in our busy race season. The coaching staff will work hard to provide the necessary information for you to know where you need to be, what you need to have, and what you need to do, in hopes of reducing the need for individual questions.

We have a number of races we are hosting in the coming months. Each race day requires 10 or more volunteers to help ensure a smooth event. We host events to provide the opportunity for our racers to compete at home, reduce travel expenses and compete in familiar surroundings. As some races have been canceled by other resorts, we have tried to step in to support the Rocky Mountain Division (RMD) by having an appropriate competition calendar. 

We have recently added a YSL event and are working to take on a FISU and Sync Devo/Sync series that was recently dropped by the host clubs or resorts. PLEASE help by volunteering during each of our hosted events whenever possible.

As always, please help us with our organization by indicating your plans in TeamSnap and consulting the calendars for daily schedules and other information.

Our club can only function with the support that all of our members provide. THANK YOU!

Aldo

Aldo Radamus

TEAM SUMMIT COLORADO

Alpine Director

aldo@teamsummit.org

970.390.4219

Contacts for your Head Coach or Administration:

FIS: doug@teamsummit.org

U16: aldo@teamsummit.org

U14: jared@teamsummit.org

U12/10: davidw@teamsummit.org

Devo: samantha@teamsummit.org

Conditioning: jack@teamsummit.org

Membership Services: lili@teamsummit.org

Athletic Trainer and COVID Coordinator: rfreeman@vsortho.com

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Age Class Program

With the unfortunate season-ending injury and subsequent surgery to Head Age Class and Head U14 Coach Jared Hedges, we have leaned extra hard on our Part-Time Coaches and will begin to add resources from throughout the Alpine Program. Jared continues to help with the organization and other program details as he begins his recovery. Please feel free to communicate with Jared as always. During the early phase of his recovery, he may not be able to respond immediately. Head U12/U10 Coach David Owsley will be the training lead during most Age Class on-snow training and U12/U10 racing.

Additional Strategies

- Ability Coach Tina Buchheister has begun supporting Age Class training whenever possible and focusing on the U14 age group.

- SRD Head Coach Samantha Streletsky will be shifted from predominantly Ability Program support midweek to Age Class support.

- I (Aldo) will be providing support for U14 Speed preparation and Super G Racing leading into the Breckenridge and Aspen Super G qualifiers.

- We will be incorporating some or all U14 racers into training with the U16 athletes as appropriate.

Actions

- Sync Qualified U14’s will be training GS with the U16 athletes Thursday and Friday this week.

- All U14 racers will be training with U16 on Saturday.

- Aldo will be leading Age Class training in Breckenridge in preparation for SG qualifiers beginning Feb 1.

- Additional crossover/ski up opportunities will be identified as possible

Opportunities and Requests

There may be an unofficial Super G training camp offered in Aspen on February 22-24 immediately preceding the Super G/SL U14 Qualifier on February 25-27. Aldo will plan to attend and lead our U14 group if there is sufficient interest from our athletes to participate. Please indicate your availability in TeamSnap (Yes/No) ASAP in order for us to plan. There is no additional information on the cost or confirmation of this opportunity. We will notify the U14 athletes immediately when we have further details.

The TeamSnap calendar is updated through the middle of February with the best information we have now. Please indicate your availability in TeamSnap (Yes/No) ASAP in order for us to plan.

Ability – FIS / U16 Program

U18 National’s Qualifier in Spirit Mountain

The schedule will be:

Feb 2 Travel to MSP, Train at Buck Hill 4-6 PM Stay at a nearby hotel.

Feb 3 Drive to Spirit, Train at Spirit 2-4 PM 

Feb 4, 5, 6 Spirit Race days

Feb 6 Drive to MSP stay near the airport

Feb 7 Travel to DIA

Qualified athletes, please indicate your plans on the travel planning sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wHtGspfI_NBuowhQuS17ov0QeaiKScV17XL-PtxWGiM/edit?usp=sharing

Alternates will be confirmed and notified within the next several days and final plans for travel, lodging, and rental vehicles will be made at that time.

Sync Devo and Sync SL’s Feb 4-7 Eldora

THESE RACES ARE CANCELED

We are currently working on the possibility of picking up these races in Keystone but they will NOT be held on the dates of Feb 4-6 due to existing race conflicts. Possible dates are the several days before and/or after the 4-6th. At this time, there are no other potential race hosts for these races. If we are not able to host these races in Keystone, they will not be re-scheduled elsewhere.

There are NO further details at this time. We will inform you as soon as there is additional information.

Team Snap Calendar

The calendar has been confirmed through the end of January and is planned through the end of the season. Please indicate your availability in TeamSnap (Yes/No) ASAP in order for us to plan.

Race Calendar

The current and most correct Divisional (Rocky Mountain Division or RMD) calendar is found on the RMD page at US Ski and Snowboard and linked directly here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17hBiVMsfUl1mi4-VWPKe-PwKGaEpuRAtB2LbM8SEIcg/edit#gid=355229316

In columns E through K you will see who is eligible for each competition along with notes to help you navigate the calendar.

If you find a discrepancy between the published calendar and the events entered in the Team Summit calendar in TeamSnap the most current and correct information is on the official RMD page. Please notify us if you find any discrepancy – we try to maintain the TeamSnap calendar to be accurate but are not notified of all changes when they are made.

Race Information

Race announcements, (when provided by the race organizer and posted by RMD staff) automatic and qualifier lists, etc. will be posted at the RMD site here: https://usskiandsnowboard.org/sport-programs/regions-divisions/rocky-central-alpine-region/rocky-alpine-division-calendar

The race announcements also have additional information such as cost and procedure for lift tickets, recommended lodging options, parking information, and so forth. The Race Announcement is also your coaches’ source of information. If it is not posted, we do not have the information.