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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 |
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