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Visit the J-IV Group Page at Stratton YourSpace!

2011 Race Schedule

1/15        SL    Willard - night race

1/23        GS    Magic

1/30        SL    Magic

2/6         GS    Mt. Snow

2/7         SG training at Stratton

2/8         SG    Stratton

2/18        State SG    Sugarbush

2/26        GS    Bromley

3/6         Open GS at Stratton

3/12-13     States at Stratton

J-IV General Info

The J-IV group (ages 11 and 12) continues mastering the fundamental skills of contemporary skiing and applying these skills to all-mountain skiing and racing. Our athletes will work at reaching their next performance level skiing all conditions and all terrain while having a blast, whether we're skiing groomed runs, bumps, terrain features, trees, steeps, gate drills, or a race course. Gate training will emphasize the concepts of proper technique and tactics as they relate to a race course, and also introduce Slalom (SL) and Super Giant Slalom (SG). This age group has 6 races: (3) GS, (2) SL, (1) SG. At the end of the season there is a State Championship where the three ski councils all send a team to compete. Participants are chosen using a formula based upon athlete's results throughout the season.

Our objectives:

Our technical skiing goal for our J-IV athletes is to be able to ski short, medium, and long radius turns in near-perfect balance including pivoting, steering, and carving on a groomed black trail. Our tactical goal for our J-IV athletes is to be able to demonstrate basic tactics and line adjustments in SL, GS, and SG courses on a groomed black trail.

Our plan:

Our plan to accomplish these goals is first to provide a fun and social environment for skiing and training. Our next priority is to develop strong skiing skills that can be applied to skiing all conditions and all terrain. This then becomes the foundation for combining skiing and tactics in the race course.

Our training program includes a series of progressions that teach the primary movements of high performance skiing. These movements directly affect ski performance while also emphasizing the basic skills of contemporary skiing.

The primary movements are first practiced with simple tasks that isolate the important components, and then are incorporated into free skiing and eventually in the race course. Our research shows that mastering the primary movements correlates strongly with race results. For example we can now tell an athlete which movements to master, along with the appropriate tactics, to achieve specific competitive goals.

A typical weekend of training will include approximately 20% gate drills/gate training, 20% progressions and drills, 35% all-mountain skiing to accomplish specific goals, and 25% free skiing for fun and mileage.

General Information:

Feel free to meet us at the end of training sessions (11:30AM or 2:30PM) to discuss your child's progress, training program, equipment needs, etc. If these times are not convenient let us know and we will schedule a time for you to meet with your child's coach.

Membership Information
VARA: www.vara.org
USSA: www.ussa.org

Equipment (all equipment should be purchased by the Christmas Holiday week):
« Giant Slalom (GS) Skis
« Slalom (SL) Skis
« GS Poles
« SL Poles with pole guards
« Helmet with a removable bar for SL
« Shin Guards (for SL)
« Zip Off Warm Ups and/or Shorts (recommended)
« GS Suit (recommended)
« Tinted and clear lenses for goggles (must have the clear lens for the night race at Willard Mt. on 1/16)
« Tuning equipment

Training Schedule:

Athletes meet in front of the Ski School Building at 8:25AM and depart promptly at 8:30. We return at 11:30AM and break for lunch, and depart again at 12:30PM. The afternoon session ends at 2:30PM.

Please check that your son or daughter is properly dressed for the cold weather. It is a good idea for athletes to keep a set of hand warmers in their jacket pocket, and also to carry a neck warmer if they are not wearing one. Keep in mind that it is usually colder and windier at the top of the mountain than the base area.

Our groups will usually stop for a warm-up/break mid morning. We will have time for a quick snack and drink, but we discourage the kids from eating a lot of food or junk food. A good breakfast before training starts is a must!

Updates on training, races, special events, etc will be posted on the J-IV News and Weekly Training Schedule. The training schedule for the upcoming weekends will be posted in the middle of the week.

Volunteering: Please be sure to sign up to help out on days when we host races at Stratton. These events are not possible without parent involvement. Also on race days both home and away, it is important that we have your help with coats. Please circle around to the start and carry down as many coats as possible to the finish area. This helps free up our coaches so they can spend more time preparing the athletes for their run, watching the athletes race and providing coaching.