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We had another wonderful night of training at Wild Mt. Cold temps, no wind. Hard snow. Great attitudes and lots of terrific skiing. It is incredibly fun to see how much you have improved since our first trip to Wild on December 1. Thank you to all forty of you who attended and to the six other coaches who gave up their Saturday night to make this training event happen. And thanks to the coaches and athletes who got up early to train yesterday as well. Great lanes, great snow, and a lot of good training.
We have a big week of racing ahead. Three races at three different venues in two days. Our coaching staff will once again be split up in order cover all the races and training with sufficient coaching. Race Run Orders for the Gitche Gummi Invitational and the Afton Invitational The coaches have selected the teams for the two invitationals on the schedule next week. We are allowed to enter 10 skiers per squad for the Gitche Gummi Invitational and 8 skiers per squad for the Afton Invitational. We will also take 1 alternate per squad. Should someone come down with an illness the day of the race, the alternate will race. Otherwise the alternate’s duties are to ski, carry coats and cheer. You will find the names of the athletes selected to race in each Invitational in the attached spreadsheet. Note that each race’s run order is listed under a different tab. ALL ATHLETES need to look at ALL TABS/RUN ORDERS. You might just find that your name is listed on the run order for one or both of the invites. Some JV skiers are getting the opportunity to race on Thursday and Friday in the invites, so check to see if you are one of those people. Everyone selected had previously stated availability to race. If you are for some reason no longer available to race, please email me immediately at markrobertconway58@gmail.com. Hyland JV Race Intentions (as of Jan 20th at 9am) The third tab of the spreadsheet lists all the athletes who have stated their race intentions for the January 25th Hyland JV Race to date. If you are on the run order for the Afton Invite and you stated your intention to race at Hyland on Jan 25, plan to race in the Afton Invite. No need to change your intentions. I will know to leave your name off the run order for Hyland. Invitational Schedules The schedules for the two invitationals are posted in the fourth and fifth tabs. Note that we are moving UP the loading time for the Gitche Gummi Invitational on Thursday. Mt Du Lac is just a bit longer drive than Spirit Mt. Please be on time as we have a very tight schedule that morning.
We plan to stop for dinner in Hinckley on the way home from Mt Du Lac so be sure to bring money so you can eat supper. You should be home in time for a late dinner following the Afton race. Waivers for Mt Du Lac and Afton Finally, if you are attending one or both invitationals, YOU and YOUR PARENTS need to complete a WAIVER for EACH ski area that you will be going to. The Mt Du Lac waiver and the Afton waiver are attached. Please put these signed waivers in an envelope and bring them to practice this week. Race Workers Needed This Week at Mt Du Lac and Hyland We will need to supply some gate judges for the Mt Du Lac race on Thursday. If you plan to attend this race and would be willing to work as a gate judge, please email me as well. You will get a free lift ticket to Mt Du Lac and you might be able to ride the bus. I think we have room for a few parents. Shoot me an email if you can help. Last year we impressed the race organizers with the number of parents who pitched in to help with the race, which is why we got invited to ski in the Hibbing Invite this year and were invited back to this invitational this year. We will need race workers for the Hyland JV race—most likely gate judges and possibly scoreboard recorders. If you can gate judge or write times down on a scoreboard next Friday, please send me an email. Email me at markrobertconway58@gmail.com if you can work one of these races. Note that there is training Thursday night for all athletes NOT racing at Mt Du Lac that day. If you are racing at Mt Du Lac on Thursday, DO NOT TRAIN ON WEDNESDAY. Tune your skis and go to bed very early.... you need to get up super early and eat breakfast before you load the bus. See you Monday at practice. Spend some time watching Sprongo this weekend. Oh, TUNE YOUR SKIS. The snow has hardened up nicely and you MUST HAVE SHARP EDGES to hold in these icy conditions. Mark 612-275-8392
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A quick update and some reminders.
Thanks, Mark Conway 612-275-8392 As I write this week’s MAST Update, many of you are busy working at the Great Harvest Bread Company Fundraiser. Your efforts set a record for Baker of the Day pre-sales. Congratulations and thank you. And thank you to Steve and Gail Arnold. What an amazing event. I can only imagine that the sweet smell of bread and cookies is somehow more pleasing than the eye-watering-nostril-stinging smells of our first fundraiser back on Labor Day. See, if you start the year cleaning a goat barn, everything else that follows is awesome.
I. Week Ten Calendar Monday, January 14 Hyland Training,Varsity/JV, Lanes 1,2, 3; 6:30-8:45PM, Meet on South Chair at 6:30PM Tuesday, January 15 Hyland Training, Varsity/JV, Lanes 3, 4
Thursday, January 17 Dual Meet vs Wayzata, Lake Crystal, AHA 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Friday, January 18 Hyland JV Race 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Friday, January 18 Hyland Training, Varsity/JV, Lanes 7 and 8, 5:00-7:30PM Saturday, January 19 Hyland Training, Varsity/JV, Lanes A, B, C, 7:45-10:30AM Saturday, January 19 Supplemental Training at Wild Mt or Welch, Varsity/JV, 2:45-10:30PM II. Saturday, January 19, Supplemental Training at Welch Village or Wild Mt We are holding a supplemental training session at either Welch Village or Wild Mt on Saturday. I will let you know which venue we will be using as soon as I know. Either way, the price is the same. You can sign up here: January 19th Supplemental Training Registration. III. State Your Race Intentions Thank you to all of you who have been stating your race day intentions. This REALLY helps me create an accurate run order for our races and makes races run much more efficiently. I understand that it may be hard to remember whether you have stated your race intentions for a particular date. So, I collected all the remaining race intentions into one spreadsheet for your easy viewing... just because that is the kind of guy I am. Please take a look at this document provided via email to see under which races your name appears and does not appear. If your name does not appear under a particular race, please state your race intentions for that race. If you are a top 8 Varsity athlete for your school, you do not need to state your intentions for Hyland JV races. I already know you are not racing. Also, we need to know your Race Intentions by the published deadline. January 17th Hyland Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 18th Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 24th Spirit Mt Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM January 25th Afton Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM January 31st Welch Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 28th, 9PM February 1st Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 28th, 9PM IV. Race Workers Needed MAST is hosting the January 17th dual meet at Hyland. Once again, we need supply the bulk of race workers for this event. Gate Judges, Course Workers, Race Announcers, Scoreboard Recorders, Bib Collectors, and Fans. Here is a link to sign up to work the Jan 17th race at Hyland. Given how cold it was at race time last week, I would like to double up on gate judges this week, for a total of eight gate judges. If we can get eight gate judges, then each person only needs to stand on the hill in the cold for one run. Jan 17 Hyland Dual Meet Race Worker Sign UP For the JV race at Hyland on Friday, Jan 18 we need four gate judges... if we get four, then each gate judge only needs to judge one race run. Please send me an email (markrobertconway58@gmail.com) if you can gate judge on Friday, Jan. 18th. The gate judges meeting will be held at 4:10 in the finish arena. V. Welch Village Release of Liability Waivers Reminder: If you plan to train (January 19th) or race (January 31) at Welch Village, athletes/parents need to complete and sign TWO release of liability waivers. Thank you to all of you who have already done this. If you still need to complete these waivers, here are the links: Welch Village Day Ticket Release Welch Village Race Release VI. Race Results Last Friday, 36 athletes attended the Welch Invitational while 63 athletes competed in the Hyland JV race. I want to thank all the coaches and parents who made it possible for us to split our attention in two directions for the day and evening and the dark of night. We had a long but successful day at Welch. The conditions were very difficult—steep pitch, tight course sets, and polished ice. I am so proud of our skiers. They came to the race with sharp edges that could hold on the ice. They took the free skiing warm up session very seriously in the morning. They employed the correct tactics to ski the tightly set turns with maximum speed. And they maintained their focus when the race went four hours longer than originally scheduled. We had some very strong results. The Southwest girls placed second in the team event and the Washburn boys placed third. Each team took home a very large trophy for its school’s trophy case. Individually, we had some excellent results as well. Rachel Tanner placed third overall in a field of 130 girls and Ahnika Berg finished seventh. Addie Streble skied well to finish in 14th position and Anna Smalley and Avery Taylor put down fast runs to finish in 29th and 31st respectively. Three boys finished in the top ten: Luke Conway (2nd), Logan Griggs (5th), and Ryan Arnold (10th). Ryan had a breakout performance Friday. He has been skiing extremely at practice but struggling to bring that same level of skiing into a race. On Friday, Ryan raced like he trains and his top ten finish was his reward for his persistence. Congratulations Ryan. Everyone needs to know that as you improve in training, you might struggle for a period to ski just as well in a race setting. This is normal. Like Ryan, you need to stay the course (yes, a terrific pun) and good things will happen eventually on race day. Zach Bion finished twelfth on two runs that included not one but multiple acrobatic recoveries on each. Great effort and determination Zach. Alexander Heath and Isaac Trockman finished in the top twenty-five. Very strong results for both skiers. In the Hyland JV race on Friday, our skiers performed very well. Eight boys finished in the top 21: Henry Moore (2nd), Calvin Lamosse (4th), Emmet Sutton (6th), Lucas Casperson (9th), Jackson George (13th), Kai Lamb (17th), Andreas Drekonja (18th) and Lewie Bent (21st). Great skiing boys. Chloe Cumming (6th) and Elle Miller (13th) were our top finishers on the girls’ side. Well done Chloe and Elle. You will see from the results that Minnetonka stacked a lot of girls in the top ten. Don’t let that discourage you. Many of those girls have years of racing experience under their legs. Keep working hard and you will all close the gap. That’s all for now… . See you at 6:30PM tomorrow on the South Chair. Mark We are entering the heart of our season. There is much to discuss tonight. Training, racing, and our big fundraiser with Great Harvest Bread Company. I will be sending a second email later this weekend with an update about camp. Let me start with our fundraiser next week, the Baker of the Day Great Harvest Bread Company Fundraiser.
We are trying to raise $10,000 for our team. If everyone pre-sells $100 in baked goods we will easily reach our goal. It is hard to express how important this fundraiser is to our team. For nineteen years, the parents and coaches of MAST have provided a quality ski racing program at a fraction of the cost of local club programs. Team Gilboa, for example, charges a team fee of $1950.00 to join the U16 USSS program. This fee covers training and coaching four days a week at Hyland and coaching at races. If you want to race in a race, you will also need to pay for lift tickets and race entry fees at races and membership fees with US Ski and Snowboard. In contrast, for an activity fee of $75 and a team fee of $175, our athletes get coaching and training six days a week. Race entry fees and lift tickets for races are covered by the team. Transportation to races is covered by Mpls Public Schools thankfully. We charge extra for the Giants Ridge Camp and Supplemental Training. Consider the value: $460 for three full days of training and a race day, transportation, lodging, and coaching. Moreover, we work hard to get new skiers into used equipment at an affordable price--or free whenever possible, just so they can try the sport. Last night I uploaded several hundred video clips from the Giants Ridge Camp onto Sprongo. The high-quality video camera I used to shoot the video was purchased with money we raised two years ago when we were the Baker of the Day at Great Harvest. There are currently 12,364 videos clips uploaded to our MAST Sprongo account that is paid for using fundraising money. I am also composing this message to you on the computer we purchased with those same funds. At the same time that I am composing this email, our athletes are training in gates we purchased with MAST fundraising money and the ten two-way radios that our coaches are using to communicate with each other on the hill are the fruit of our fundraising efforts over the years… as are Willie, Sally and Becca, our new paid coaches. So... we need to raise money to cover all our expenses and grow and offer a quality program that is affordable to more people. The Baker of the Day fundraiser is our opportunity. Please make the most of this. Baker of the Day Co-Chairs Jodi, Abbey, and Jean will be at Hyland practices next week to collect order forms and pre-sale money. Please sell to your neighbors, family, friends, and perfect strangers this weekend. Then, bring your order forms and money to practice this week. For more information on how to participate and to download the order forms, CLICK HERE. I. Week Nine Calendar Monday, January 7 Hyland Training Varsity/JV Lanes 2, 3 5:00-7:30PM Tuesday, January 8 Dual Meet vs Mound-West-Tonka and Armstrong/Cooper 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Wednesday, January 9 Hyland Training Split Varsity/JV Lanes 7 and 8 5:00-7:30PM Varsity Training 6:30-8:45PM JV Training Meet On South Chair at 6:30PM Thursday, January 10 Hyland Training Varsity/JV Lanes 7 and 8 5:00-7:30PM Friday, January 11 Welch Invitational 9:00AM Load Bus at Washburn HS 11:45AM Inspection Opens 12:30PM First Run Start Time 1:45PM Second Run Start Time 3:30PM Awards 4:30PM Depart for Washburn. Bring a sack lunch or money to purchase lunch. Friday, January 11 Hyland JV Race 3:30PM Inspection Opens 4:30PM First Run Start Time Saturday, January 12 Hyland Training Varsity/JV Lanes A, B, C 7:45-10:30AM Sunday, January 13 GREAT HARVEST BREAD COMPANY FUNDRAISER II. State Your Race Intentions We have SEVEN races scheduled over the next three weeks. I need EACH ONE OF YOU to STATE YOUR RACE INTENTIONS FOR ALL SEVEN RACES, with one exception—varsity racers do not state your intentions to the JV races at Hyland. The Welch and Afton Invitationals are for Varsity skiers. However, some varsity skiers will be declining the invitation to race in these Invitational Meets, so I want JV racers to also state your race intentions for the Welch and Afton Invitationals. Should we need to fill our varsity teams with JV racers, I will contact you if a start position opens up for you. Please know that you will be missing one day of school to attend the Welch Invitational. You have early releases for the JV race on Friday and the Hyland races on January 8th and 17th. You are out of school on January 24th and 25th. You received via email a list of athletes who have already stated their race intentions for the next seven races. Thank you for doing this. Here is a link to STATE YOUR INTENTIONS. Also, we need to know your Race Intentions by the published deadline. January 8th Hyland Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 6, 9PM January 11th Welch Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 6, 9PM January 11th Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Tuesday, January 8, 9PM January 17th Hyland Dual Meet Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 18th Hyland JV Race Sign Up Deadline: Monday, January 14th, 9PM January 24th Spirit Mt Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM January 25th Afton Invitational Race Sign Up Deadline: Friday, January 18th, 9PM III. Race Workers Needed We need race workers for the two Hyland races on January 8th and January 17th: Gate Judges, Course Workers, Race Announcers, Scoreboard Recorders, Bib Collectors, and Fans. We will also need a small number of race workers for the JV races. Please look for a separate email asking for volunteers later this weekend. IV Welch Village Release of Liability Waivers Many ski areas this year are requiring all skiers to sign release of liability waivers. In order for our coaches and athletes to train or race at Welch Village this year, all racers need to complete TWO waivers on-line. If you plan to race on January 11th in the Welch Invitational or January 31st in the Dual Meet at Welch, you need to fill this out THIS WEEKEND. ACTUALLY, PARENTS NEED TO FILL OUT THESE WAIVERS AND SIGN THEM. Welch Village Day Ticket Release Welch Village Race Release V. Supplemental Training We are cancelling the Welch Village Supplemental Training Scheduled for Saturday, January 12. The Great Harvest Baker of the Day fundraiser is the next day and I want everyone to be well rested to make the most of this day. Our next Supplemental Training is scheduled for Saturday, January 19th at Wild Mt. We may move this training to Welch Village to give you an opportunity to train on steeper terrain. Stay tuned. I will let you know when registration opens for January 19th. That’s all for now… Mark We have two practices remaining this week. Unfortunately, we need to cancel the training scheduled for Hyland on Monday and Tuesday next week. Hyland practices will resume on Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 6:30PM.
I. REVISED Hyland Training Winter Break Schedule Friday, Dec 28: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV -- Lanes 7, 8 Saturday, Dec 29: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV – Lanes 1, 2, 3 CANCELLED--Monday, December 31: 3:00-5:00PM CANCELLED--Tuesday, January 1: 6:30-8:45PM Wednesday, January 2: 6:30-8:45PM Varsity/JV – Lanes B, C Thursday, January 3: 6:30-8:45PM Varsity/JV – Lanes 2, 3 Friday, January 4: 5:00-7:30PM Varsity/JV – Lanes 3, 4 Saturday, January 5: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV – Lanes A, B, C II. JV RACE: JANUARY 4, 2019 The first Hyland JV race is scheduled for Friday, January 4th at 4:30PM. MAST is responsible for supplying one gate judge station. It would be great if we could get TWO volunteers to share this duty. Please email DANIEL and MARK if you are willing to help. dpolland@gmail.com markrobertconway58@gmail.com. You will need to be on the hill for a gate judges meeting at 4PM on Friday. Overdress for warmth—it will likely be cold. Listed below are the athletes who have submitted their intention TO RACE next Friday in the Hyland JV Race. If you would like to race and your name is not listed, you need to STATE YOUR INTENTIONS NO LATER THAN NOON ON SUNDAY (DEC 30). Daniel and I need to submit a run order for the race Sunday evening. We will not be able to do this later in the week since we will be at Giants Ridge all week. Here is a link to STATE YOUR INTENTIONS. Athletes Racing on Jan 4 Ellie Arbeiter Jack Bajek Lewie Bent Chloe Bitney Finnegan Cherveny Braeden Dahmes Maximus Davis Andreas Drekonja Ian Foy Jackson George Gabby Harritt Ella Horgan Teddy Klarkowski Reese Kuehn Daxton Lamarche Kai Lamb Sam Leahy-Johnson Chloe LeVasseur Julia Maurice Markus Mitchell Quinn Nelson Simon Showalter-Loch Josie Spanier Leo Spanier Julia Westphal III. Future Races We have a fairly busy race schedule coming up. Some races are for Varsity racers only and others are for JV racers only. And some are for both Varsity and JV racers. If you are unsure whether you are Varsity or JV, or are floating between the levels, state your race intentions for all the races. No harm done by doing so. Also, please do not state your intention to race unless you are certain you are able to race. Check with your teachers, parents, neighbors, dog… anyone who has a claim on your time and life. Make sure you are really available before stating that you are available. Some notes on the races:
IV. Giants Ridge Parent Lift Tickets and Race Workers Giants Ridge is offering a group rate of $33/day for an adult lift ticket if purchased through MAST. If you are planning on joining us on the iron range during any or all of the four days of camp, you can order lift tickets ahead of time. Here is a link to order tickets: Giants Ridge Lift Ticket Order Form. On Thursday, our athletes are racing in the Hibbing Invitational. We need to provide some gate judges. If you are attending the race and are willing to gate judge, MAST will buy your lift ticket that day. Please email MARK at markrobertconway58@gmail.com if you would be willing to gate judge on Thursday at Giants Ridge. You will need to attend a gate judges meeting at 9AM in the timing building. V. Great Harvest Baker of the Day Fundraiser Our BIG Fundraiser is just around the corner. Please get cracking on selling the wonderful products from Great Harvest. It is the PRE SALE ORDERS that YOU collect that makes this a great fundraiser. Here is a link to information about the fundraiser, forms, and the volunteer sign up: January 13, 2019 Great Harvest Fundraiser. VI. Ski Area Release of Liability Waivers: Giants Ridge and Welch Village If you are attending the Giants Ridge Camp, please remember to complete the attached waiver and turn it into MARK at practice or give it to MARK at the bus on Monday morning. Do not forget or you won’t be skiing. Also, if you plan to race or train at Welch in January, you need to have a parent complete and sign TWO on line waivers for Welch Village. Please get this done as well. Welch Village Day Ticket Release Welch Village Race Release Whew! That is a lot of information. Thanks for reading. See you bright and early. Mark Good Evening MAST Athletes, Coaches and Parents:
We had a great day at Wild Mt on Friday. The snow hardened up and provided the racers with a terrific surface for all 142 boys and 143 girls entered in the race. We had some very good individual race runs and results. Unfortunately, we did not ski up to our potential as teams. That will come. On the girls’ side, Rachel Tanner and Ahnika Berg finished in the top ten. Rachel finished second to Becca Divine who is probably the top ranked female skier in the state right now. And Ahnika put down two excellent runs to finish in 7th. Also noteworthy, Anna Smalley started 64th and finished 24th in her first big invitational start of her career. Avery Taylor also made good on her first start, finishing 29th after starting 92nd. Nahlah Mkaouri started 66th and finished 33rd, while Gabby Harritt showed no fear while putting down two fast runs to finish in 40th place after starting 135th in the race. In the boys race, Luke Conway finished 2nd on both his first and second runs to finish 2nd overall, and Logan Griggs was not far behind in 6th place. Ryan Arnold had a solid day, finishing 30th overall and Charlie Smith and Alexander Heath finished 38th and 39th respectively. I want to thank the coaches and parents who worked so hard to make it such a wonderful day. Thank you to the parents for all the support you gave the athletes. I could hear you cheering for each one as they came through the finish line as I filmed from the middle of the hill. And thank you athletes for giving it all you had on Friday. If you didn’t perform as well as you wanted, do not get discouraged. You will have good days and bad days in ski racing. Just buckle up your boots and get back to work. And keep it fun. You are improving at a very high rate. Race results are posted and video from the race is uploaded to Sprongo. Also on Sprongo is some video I shot this weekend at Buck Hill. Entered in the race were some exceptional skiers who I encourage you to study, including Coach Sally Anderson’s brother Tommy who skis for the University of New Mexico, Isaiah Nelson who is a member of the US Ski Team, and Michael Ankeny who is a former Nor-Am slalom champion and World Cup racer. I encourage you to study their skiing technique and tactics over break and to implant their images in your head as much as possible. I also posted runs of some very highly ranked female racers, as well as video of Luke, Oliver and Zach who were also racing today. I. Hyland Training Winter Break Schedule Wednesday, Dec 26: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV -- Lanes 6, 7 Thursday, Dec 27: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV – Lanes 6, 7 Friday, Dec 28: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV -- Lanes 7, 8 Saturday, Dec 29: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV – Lanes 1, 2, 3 Monday, December 31: 3:00-5:00PM Varsity/JV – Lanes 1, 2 Tuesday, January 1: 6:30-8:45PM Varsity/JV – Lanes 1, 2 Wednesday, January 2: 6:30-8:45PM Varsity/JV – Lanes B, C Thursday, January 3: 6:30-8:45PM Varsity/JV – Lanes 2, 3 Friday, January 4: 5:00-7:30PM Varsity/JV – Lanes 3, 4 Saturday, January 5: 7:45-10:30AM Varsity/JV – Lanes A, B, C II. Racing Calendar Over Winter Break
III. GIANTS RIDGE CAMP: Monday, Dec 31-Thursday, Jan. 3 The Giants Ridge Camp is approaching quickly. Please plan to arrive at Washburn by 6AM to load gear. Please be sure to pack your skis in a bag. You will want to carry your boots with you on the bus. Eat breakfast before you arrive. We will not have another meal until lunch time on the hill. Attached is a packing list. Note that you will need money to purchase supper on the drive home on Thursday. IV. Ski Area Release of Liability Waivers: Giants Ridge and Welch Village Several Minnesota Ski Areas are now requiring all skiers to complete a Release of Liability Waiver/Agreement before they are allowed to purchase a lift ticket. We will be skiing at two of these ski areas over the next two months. I am sorry to report that you and your parents will need to complete and sign separate waivers for each ski area. (Yes, more paperwork.) One waiver is required for all athletes attending the Giants Ridge Camp. The Giants Ridge Release of Liability Waiver is attached. I would ask that all athletes complete and sign this waiver and return it to me during practice this week. If you are out of town, you can scan and email the waiver to me or bring it with you when you meet the bus on Dec. 31. Welch Village is requiring two waivers. The first is a Release of Liability for a Daily Lift Ticket. The second Welch Village waiver is Race Day Release of Liability Waiver. Please note: If you are under 18 years of age, a parent will need to sign these waivers as well. The Welch Village Waivers are to be completed online. Here are the links to BOTH Welch Village Waivers. If you plan to race or train at Welch Village this winter, you must complete and sign both waivers. We have two races and possibly two supplemental trainings scheduled for Welch in January. Welch Village Day Ticket Release Welch Village Race Release V. MAST Moms Ski Nights Who says the kids get to have all the fun? Get your gear together and join new and veteran MAST moms for a Sunday night ski and social time. WHEN: Sunday, January 6th and Sunday, January 20th (come to both or one) at 7:00pm WHERE: Buck Hill Ski Area, meet in the Black Diamond Bar & Restaurant WHAT ELSE: Show up at 7:00 to gear up. We'll buy tickets for 7:30 when they are $15. At 7:30, we'll head out to ski. All levels welcome! You can even just come to have a drink with us if you don't want to ski! No need to RSVP - just show up. QUESTIONS: Christine Smalley 612 704-6856 or smalleycm@gmail.com. Reminder: The Great Harvest Bread Company Baker of the Day Team Fundraiser is January 13. Please participate in this fantastic event. Check our website for details: https://www.mplsalpineski.org/great-harvest-baker-for-the-day.html Bring your order forms to your family gatherings this week. If everyone pre-sells $100 in bakery goods, we will raise over $10,000 for MAST. Let's make this happen! Thanks everyone. Keep up the hard work. Have a wonderful Holiday. Mark Conway 612-275-8392 Good Evening MAST Athletes, Coaches and Parents:
I. Schedule Changes We have two changes to the schedule this week. Monday’s practice (12/17) is at 6:30PM. There is NO 5-7:30PM practice on Monday. There IS a split practice on Wednesday. Varsity at 5-7:30PM and JV from 6:30-8:45PM. I apologize for the calendaring error. I just discovered that our lane schedule does not match our published calendar. So here is an updated schedule for the week. Monday, Dec 17:
II. Wild Mountain Invitational Time to announce our Wild Mt Invitational Teams. Thank you to all of you who stated your intentions for this race. I wish we could take all of you, but we are only allowed to enter a limited number of teams/athletes for this race. Attached is a race day schedule. We will all travel by bus TO Wild Mt. The plan right now is for you to ride home with your parent(s) if they are attending the race or with another teammate’s parents if they are not. No athletes are allowed to drive themselves to the race. We will load the bus at Washburn at 6am on Friday. Please eat breakfast before we depart. Do NOT attend Thursday’s practice. You need to tune your skis and get to bed early Thursday night. I will send a second email tomorrow with more information about the day to parents and athletes. I believe everyone listed has already indicated that you are available to race on Friday, but I know that plans can change. If you are unable to attend this race for any reason, please email immediately at markrobertconway58@gmail.com. Wild Mt Invite Teams Elise Legler (Roosevelt) Ian MacKimm (South) Washburn Boys Augie Bent Zach Bion Luke Conway Logan Griggs Willem Robertson Alexander Heath Alternate: Owen Hemer SW Boys Ryan Arnold Erik Arnold Tommy Lambauch Eli Showalter-Loch Charlie Smith Isaac Trockman Alternate: Clement Finney Washburn Girls Vada Arbeiter Ahnika Berg Gabrielle Harritt Quinn Jurek Nahlah Mkaouri Sonia Svedahl Alternate: Elizabeth Arbeiter SW Girls Meghan Abel Elsa Peterson Anna Smalley Addie Streble Rachel Tanner Avery Taylor Alternate: Mae Niebuhr III. Last Call-- Giants Ridge Camp If you still plan to register for the Giants Ridge Camp, please do so by Monday or email a message about your plans. I am closing registration at 10PM Monday night. Thanks everyone. Mark Mpls Alpine Ski Team
Update 11: Week Five (Monday, December 10, 2018) Hello MAST Families and Coaches: We had another excellent week of training. We are now skiing gates. If you are a new skier, you have seen a lot of panel gates and stubby gates to keep you focused on utilizing your newfound skills in the controlled environment of a race course. Varsity athletes are now skiing mostly tall gates. I encourage all our athletes to continue to work on your technical skills outside of the race course. That is how and where you make technical improvements. Just ask Mikaela Shiffrin, who captured her third World Cup win in a row over the weekend. Check out her panel slalom technique and victory here. And just let it keep playing to see her win in the Super G at St. Moritz. I want to thank all the athletes and coaches who have been working hard these first four weeks at training. Keep it up. A special thank you to the coaches who have given up their Saturday nights so that we can offer additional training at Wild Mt these past two Saturday afternoons and evenings. The coaches worked really hard to set up the training venue and give our athletes the best training experience possible. Thank you all. Without you, we could not do what we do. I want to remind ALL Athletes to STAY on the hill until the coaches have told you that we are done slipping in our lanes after training. After we are done skiing gates, we need to pull the courses and slip in our ruts. If you skied in a course, then you have a responsibility to stay on the hill until the ruts are fully filled in. The coaches will let you know when we are finished. Please do not leave the hill before this is done. I. Split Practices Begin This week marks the first week that we will hold SPLIT practices. This means that we have practice from 5-7:30PM and 6:30-8:45PM on both Tuesday and Wednesday. The 6:30 time slot is designated “Junior Varsity” and the 5PM practice is designated “Varsity”. One reason we make this designation is to control the number of athletes at each practice. We need to do this because we only have ONE lane to use for gate training at the 5PM time slot. We do have TWO lanes at the 7PM time slot. Remember, the 6:30 practices start on South Chair with directed free skiing. This time slot also gives the JV racers more time working on the fundamental technical skills they need to race at a high level when they reach the varsity level. Who is JV and who is Varsity. These are rather fluid designations. Many of you who were junior varsity last year are going to be varsity this year, if not now then by the end of the season. For now, consider these criteria for determining whether you should attend the Varsity practice or the Junior Varsity: Varsity Athletes:
II. Racing Begins This Week Our first race is on Friday, December 14th. We are calling this one The Minneapolis Public School Alpine Championships. Sort of a City Conference Championship. Here is the schedule: 4:45PM-5:15PM Bib Pick Up/ Warm Ups 5:15PM-5:45PM Course Inspection 5:50PM Forerunners 6:00PM First Run Start 6:30PM Quick Inspection/Slip Courses 6:40PM Second Run Start 7:15PM Hill Clean UP 7:30PM Awards The second race scheduled for December 21 is the Wild Mt Invitational. We only have 24 start positions for MAST athletes in the Wild Invite. Six boys and six girls from SW and six boys and six girls from Washburn. If you are from South or Roosevelt and would like to race in the Wild Mt Invitational, please send me an email directly and let me know you would like to race AND that you can commit to racing. These means you already know that you can miss a full day of school on the 21st. If you are sure you can race, I will do my best to get a start position for you in the race, but I can’t guarantee it. Email me. Who Races? December 14th Hyland Race: ALL MAST athletes are INVITED to race. December 21st Wild Mt Invitational: Six fastest boys and six fastest girls from SW; six fastest boys and six fastest girls from Washburn. Stating Your Race Intentions As in years past, ALL MAST Athletes need to STATE YOUR RACE INTENTIONS for EVERY RACE to which you are invited. For each race, you will have the option of clicking on one of two statements:
All Varsity MAST Athletes should state your race intentions for the Dec 21st Wild Mt Invite. Because we can only take six boys and six girls from SW and Washburn, final selections will be determined later this week by the coaches. We are going to time each night in practice this week and coaches will analyze these times to determine the top six boys and girls for each team, plus a couple of alternates. If you want to be considered for selection to the Wild Mt Invitational, be sure to State Your Race Intentions to the December 21st Wild Invite. Here is a link to Stating Your Race Day Intentions on our website. III. Giants Ridge Camp Attached is a list of athletes who are currently registered for the Giants Ridge Camp. If you are still thinking about attending, please register by next Sunday, December 16. We currently have 15 girls and 27 boys registered for camp. This means that there are about 9 spaces remaining for boys and 21 for girls due the way the lodging is set up. For More Information: 2019 Giants Ridge Camp To Register: 2019 Giants Ridge Camp Reminders:
See you on the hill. Mark We are in week four of our season and last night was what we call in the coaching business “a breakthrough night” for many of our skiers. This refers to those practices when a skill that you have been working hard to acquire suddenly “breaks through”. To get technical, the continuous movements you make doing our coach directed drills are finally becoming natural movements. Coaches can see the change and development, which is what happened last night for so many of you. Bigger edge angles. More balanced position over your skis. Stronger outside ski pressure. Tighter radius turns. More carving action. If you didn’t feel it last night, just keep at it. Break throughs will come. It just takes focused, intentional work on the slopes day in and day out.
We are practicing hard this week. Tonight, Wednesday and Thursday: 6:30-8:45PM. Meet on South Chair for directed free skiing. Friday: 5:00-7:30PM. Meet on North Chair for Warm Ups. Saturday: 7:45-10:30AM. Meet on North Chair for Warm Ups. ----AND--- Supplemental Training at WILD MOUNTAIN (YES, THIS IS A VENUE CHANGE) We are returning to Wild Mt on Saturday, December 8. (Yes, we were scheduled to go to Welch but that training fell through, so we are moving our Dec 8 training to Wild.) Our Dec 1st training was outstanding. Forty-six athletes. Lots of coaches. Excellent directed free skiing session. Two courses set side by side. A blizzard with howling winds. Happy skiers. Pumped up coaches. Beautiful hill clean-up at the end. Video taken and posted to Sprongo. I hope you will join us. 2:45PM Load Bus at Washburn. 10:30PM Return. Bring a sack lunch or some money to purchase a supper in the chalet. We are canceling our December 15th session, this will likely be our last Supplemental Training for December. Look for more supplemental training opportunities in January. Sign up here: December 8 Wild Mt Supplemental Training Registration When you check out, you will have two options for submitting payment. I would ask you to please PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD if possible. If you need to pay with a check, please send it to: Mpls Alpine, 4800 Harriet Ave. S., Mpls, 55419. Make checks payable to Mpls Alpine. City Kids Java Individual Fundraiser Congratulations to the 26 athletes who raised a total of $2643 selling City Kids Java. Your SIP accounts have been credited and you can now use the money you raised to pay for camp, supplemental training, or any other MAST expense that comes up this season or beyond. A BIG THANK YOU to Kirsten Arbeiter and Melissa Harritt for chairing this fundraiser. Giants Ridge Camp 33 athletes are registered as of today for the Giants Ridge Camp. Daylight training. Team bonding. Brisk temperatures. 60 gate course sets. Varied and fun terrain. OUTSTANDING coaching. Awesome views. Even more awesome free skiing terrain. Talent show. Coach bus transportation. Don’t miss this memorable experience. You will make new friends. Improve your skiing skills. Create some terrific memories. Move your ski racing skills to the next level. And you get to ski in DAYLIGHT, what little there is of it that far North. For More Information: 2019 Giants Ridge Camp To Register For Camp: 2019 Giants Ridge Camp Be sure to PAY BY CHECK. Checks should be made payable to Mpls Alpine and mailed to Mpls Alpine, 4800 Harriet Ave S, 55419. Reminders: · Check our website for the latest news. · Tune your skis now that we are skiing gates. The hard snow will dull your edges and dry your bases. You MUST HAVE sharp edges to ski race. A little work on the edges every day will keep them sharp. And the more times you can wax your skis in a week, the faster your skis will run on the snow.· Be ready to ski at the posted start time. · Stay on the hill to help with hill clean up until we are finished. · Stay on top of your school work. · Eat healthy meals and drink tons of water. I spied some of you drinking colored water the other night…. No, no, no!!! You know who you are. WATER!! Develop healthy hydration and nutritional habits now in your life. See you on the hill. Who will experience a breakthrough performance tonight? Mark 612-275-8392 Mpls Alpine Ski Team - Update 9: Week Three-Monday, November 26, 2018
Good Day MAST Athletes, Families and Coaches: I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are in week three of our season and once again we are busy...City Kids Java Fundraiser concludes...Hyland Training continues...Supplemental Training begins...Giants Ridge Camp Registration opens...We will continue to work on developing our fundamental skill sets using various free skiing drills. Please continue to focus hard on learning the proper execution of these drills. We will start to get into gates tonight, but our course sets will allow you to test out the skills you have been learning, like rolling up your edges using your lower legs and keeping your upper body disciplined and quiet. Don’t expect to see a true slalom course this week with corridors, delays, hairpins and flushes and all that jazz. I. City Kids Java Individual Fundraiser City Kids Java(CKJ) orders are due today. Please bring your order forms and the money you have collected to practice today. If you can’t make it to practice tonight, please email your order form to Kirsten Arbeiter or drop it off at her home today: 4841 Aldrich Ave. S. Kirsten needs the form to place the order first thing tomorrow morning. You can make arrangements via email to get the money to her at another time this week. Orders will be ready for pick up and distribution after practice on Saturday, Dec 1 at Fuller Park at 48th and Grand. II. Week Three Training Schedule The training schedule for the week is posted on our homepage. For Monday through Thursday practices this week, we will meet on South Chair for directed free skiing at 6:30pm. We will move over to our training lanes on either the North Chair or the rope tow at 7:15 or shortly thereafter. Be sure to wear ROPE TOW GLOVES so you can use the rope tow if we are on the lanes closest to the rope. And you can bring your shin guards if you have them as well as your pole guards. III. Supplemental Training at Wild Mt on Saturday, December 1 We will be holding our first Supplemental Training Session at Wild Mt this Saturday. Note that the venue has changed. Welch is not yet ready to open their hills for gate training, so we switched to Wild. Meet the bus at 2:45pm at Washburn HS. We will return at 10:30. We will continue to test our fundamental skills with some directed free skiing and set some early season drill courses on South Wild, the same run we ski for the Section IV Championships. The cost is $50 for bus transportation, lift ticket, lane space and coaching. You will take a short break to eat supper. We encourage you to bring a sack supper so you can eat quickly and get back out onto the hill. If you prefer to eat ski area food, bring money. Please register online here. When you check out, you will have two options for submitting payment. I would ask you to please PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD if possible. If you need to pay with a check, please send it to: Mpls Alpine, 4800 Harriet Ave. S., Mpls, 55419. Make checks payable to Mpls Alpine. IV. Giants Ridge Camp The THIRTEENTH ANNUAL Giants Ridge Camp will be held from December 31, 2018 to January 3, 2019. Registration opens tomorrow, November 27. Who Can Attend? The camp is open to all MAST athletes on a first come, first serve basis. We can take roughly 35 boys and 35 girls. Seventh and eighth graders are encouraged to attend just as much as the everyone else on the team. What Happens? In addition to training on longer pitches and in 60 gate course sets for three days, you will enjoy a race on Thursday (day four) against the Northern high school teams in the Hibbing Invitational. Because camp falls on New Year’s, we will celebrate the arrival of 2019 back at Camp Chicagami. We will also hold our annual MAST Talent Show… so start thinking about what talent you might be able to share. In the past we have enjoyed dramatic readings, skits, stand-up comedy, magic, piano, fiddling, guitar, singing, and dance. Of course, you don’t have to participate, but please don’t be shy about doing so. How Much? The cost is $460 and includes bus transportation, camp lodging, meals, lift tickets, and race fees. You will need to bring money to purchase a meal in Cloquet on the drive home on Thursday. What About Parents and Siblings? - Parents, please consider joining us. You will need to arrange your own lodging, but you can pre-order daily lift tickets through MAST for $33 per day. We would love to have your help with the race on Thursday should you happen to be around that day. We will need gate judges, scoreboard recorders, and maybe a starter and assistant starter. Come and enjoy the beautiful scenery and slopes at Giants Ridge on the historic Iron Range of Northern Minnesota. . How To Register? Here is a link to more information about camp and registration. A note on submitting payment: Please PAY BY CHECK if possible. We get charged for credit card payment and if everyone pays by credit card we will incur nearly $1000 in credit card charges. As I have said before, we are very careful with your money. Consequently, we have set the price for the camp as low as possible. Any savings we can enjoy means we can keep those prices low for everyone. If you can pay the $460 by check, please do so. Checks can be made payable to MPLS Alpine and mailed to 4800 Harriet Ave S, Mpls 55419. Please do NOT hand me checks at practice. If you have earned and stored account credits through your Sports Illustrated Play account, you will be asked if you would like to apply those credits at check out. Registration is secure once payment is received in full. If you are waiting on credits you earned through the Hoigaards Tent Sale, please know we are still waiting on payment from Hoigaards/Vail. Since it is taking so long, MAST will post the credit you earned to your account by the end of the day tomorrow so you can use it to pay for camp or supplemental training. Hopefully, we will receive payment for the tent sale hours soon. And as soon as we have your CKJ sales numbers, we will enter those credits as well. V. Will There Be Training At Hyland While Camp Is In Session? That is the plan. We will confirm the exact times and days as we get closer to camp. Most likely, training will be some combination of morning and evening training, depending on coach availability. VI. Sprongo I ran into some technical difficulties trying to upload video to Sprongo last week. I hope to Have these solved by the end of the day Tuesday as well. Sorry for the delay. VII. Save the Date: Sunday, January 13, 2019 Steve and Gail Arnold are opening up the Great Harvest Bakery for a MAST Team Fundraiser on Sunday, January 13th. I am so grateful to them for this generous offer to help us raise money to keep our team financially accessible to more Minneapolis students. Families will be asked to PRE-sell bakery products prior to the 13th and then to come into the bakery in shifts to bake, sell, serve, and clean on January 13th. Parents are an integral part of this fundraiser as well. Please set aside January 13th to help with this very important fundraiser. In 2017, we netted almost $8000 for the team. Just so you know, Gail and Steve donate all bakery ingredients and payroll for the staff that they bring on to assist us. This is an unbelievable gift on their part, so please be sure to not only thank them, but to help with this fundraiser and frequent their wonderful bakery. See you on the hill. Mark 612-275-8392 |
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