Mammoth Mountain, CA – Over the past week, nearly a dozen of the most promising young alpine skiers in the country have been battling for a shot to train and race with the U.S. Ski Team during the 2012 season.
The “tryout camp” is the brainchild of men’s Head Coach Sasha Rearick and is designed to identify athletes who may not have the world ranking to make the U.S. Ski Team’s criteria, but have the ability to make the jump with the right opportunities.
“It’s not easy to make the U.S. Ski Team and that’s a good thing,” said Rearick. “But we also know that there are a number of skiers out there who might not necessarily have the world rank to make the team, but they do have the skills and ability to excel. This is about looking at other ways at finding talent.”
Among the talent pool is NCAA giant slalom champion from the University of Denver Seppi Stiegler, NCAA First Team All-American Robby Kelley from the University of Vermont, Dartmouth College standout Ace Tarberry and Christopher Acosta from the University of New Mexico. Also in the mix are Eastern Cup stars Taylor Wunsch and Bobby Farrell, along with Western Region athletes Miles Fink-Debray and Michael Radford, plus 2011 U.S. Development Team athletes Jared Goldberg and Andy Phillips.
“Essentially we’re spinning these guys through tons of drills while we evaluate their fundamentals and ability to adapt in tactical situations,” said Rearick. “A group of them will make it through to the next round which is physical testing. From there, we’ll go through all the evaluations, take into account their age and pick a group who we think can move up the rankings on the Europa Cup level.”
Top performers from the camp may be named to the U.S. C Team and will be added to the Europa Cup training group.
“We’re not sure how many guys will make it,” added Rearick. “It will depend on the talent. We’ll take the guys that we feel we can move at the appropriate level for the Europa Cup.”
Similar tryout camps are also currently being held in Mt. Bachelor for slots on the men’s U.S. Development Team. The women’s Development Team is using the tryout process as well with both physical testing at the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah, and on-snow training at Mammoth Mountain.
“We get feedback from regional coaches and NCAA coaches all the time and then we see these racers for a few days at U.S. Championships each year. This gives us an opportunity to look deeper into the amount of talent that’s out there and then see if they can be successful at the next level,” said Rearick.