Resort programs focus on competition

By Matt Boxler

Young snowboarders have a knack for disappearing. They spend hours in the car with their parents only to bid them sayonara once the SUV pulls into the resort parking lot. Some might hang long enough to get their lift ticket or a quick breakfast out of the deal before ditching the old folks, who are left hoping their sons and daughters return to them at the end of the day with limbs intact.

Competition teams help take riders as high as they want to go. (Photo provided by Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine)What do they do out there, you wonder? Most likely they’re flying, flipping and spinning through parks and trees, trying to mimic what they saw their favorite rider pull at Winter X. There’s got to be a better way, a safer way, you think. And you’re right.

Many New England resorts offer competition teams for young riders who like to kick it up a notch when it comes to learning. These teams allow riders to progress to the highest levels they choose, they allow kids to be around others with similar interests and goals, and they give parents security knowing that their children are under the supervision of some of the best coaches in the country.

Throughout New England, these teams are welcoming riders as young as age 7 in providing advanced coaching in the sport’s competitive disciplines – halfpipe, slopestyle (including big air), slalom, giant slalom and boardercross. Their seasons typically run every weekend from late November through the end of March, keying on both regional and national snowboard events while emphasizing individual progression in the sport.

Sunday River for instance, has partnered with nearby Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine to offer the Gould Academy Competition Program on weekends. Organizers this season are anticipating their largest-ever enrollment of snowboarders there.

“We prepare athletes to compete at the highest levels in every age group,” says Mark Godomsky, director of On-Snow Programs at Gould Academy. “The program strikes a balance of technical skills, free skiing/riding and gate training. Athletes learn how to conduct themselves with respect for others at Sunday River and while visiting away mountains.”

Godomsky says the overall goal for the program is to be the best junior competition program in the country.  Individually, this means everything from USASA (United States of America Snowboard Association) Championships to USSA (United States Ski and Snowboard Association) Championships to X Games medals.

“This can be an amateur who wants to go to the Olympics, the young kid who wants to hang out with his buddies and work on new tricks, or that eight-year-old kid who wants to learn his or her first trick,” Godomsky says. “Above all we are looking to provide an opportunity for riders to ride in a safe, controlled environment while progressing within their skill-set.”

Coaches at Gould and other competition programs throughout New England are among the best available, USSA certified and many with competitive successes of their own. They help young athletes progress through new tricks and maneuvers in a logical teaching progression and under the supervision of an adult.

From lift-off to landing, riders enrolled in snowboard competition teams get the best of coaching all season long. (Photo provided by Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine)“I would want parents to understand that being involved in a competitive snowboarding program is no different than youth soccer, baseball, lacrosse, etc.” Godomsky says. “The program will begin to teach kids the most basic of skills where they will progress and discover a love of the sport and eventually determine how competitive they want to be. We have some kids who attend every weekend but do not compete. We have others who compete all across the country.  Our goal is to provide the venue and the expertise that allows kids and families to decide how far they want to go.”

The Gould Academy competitive schedule focuses on USASA events in Maine, a local series that allows weekend athletes the opportunity to train and compete while still qualifying for the USASA National Championships. Program participants also have the USSA Revolution Tour on their schedule.

In New Hampshire, the Loon Snowboard Team provides structured weekend training for riders aged 7-17 in halfpipe, slopestyle, boardercross, slalom and giant slalom. The team follows a season-long competition circuit comprised of USASA and other regional events.

“Our numbers grow every season,” says Jay Scambio, Terrain Park Development manager for Boyne Resorts and a longtime coach at Loon. “The team/group aspect of our program creates a fun, not intimidating atmosphere for the kids to learn in.”

Scambio says cost is another reason competition teams are growing in popularity. A season-long private coach will run anywhere from $5,000 to 30,000, Scambio says, “and a lot of the time that doesn’t include expenses.”

Erin Lane who runs Loon’s seasonal and competition team programs, agrees. “Private coaching can be so costly that it’s really prohibitive for most people, especially those just starting out who aren’t even sure if they truly want to compete. “Attempting to learn on your own without guidance from a trained professional can be pretty dangerous.  I don’t wish to give the impression that training with a coach completely eliminates all risk, but it does ensure that a new learner isn’t getting in over their heads and trying elements that are beyond their abilities.”

A slightly different philosophy is at work in Enfield, N.H., where the Whaleback Snowboard Core is bridging the gap between the weekend competition program and the full-time academy experience. “We’re primarily a community mountain,” says Evan Dybvig, Whaleback’s owner who is also a two-time Olympian and two-time U.S. National Mogul Champion. Most of the kids in the program, which consists of about 25 riders this season, are local.

“We have night riding so kids can train up to five days a week while they still live at home and sleep in their own beds,” Dybvig says. “We also have a strong program for kids who come here for weekends only, but we are really geared locally.”

The Whaleback Snowboard Core emphasizes short, highly focused training sessions followed by plenty of freeriding time. Dybvig’s is also one of the few resorts to use trampoline training, which allows riders to practice safe repetition and progression in a fraction of the time it would take to achieve the same results on the snow.

Dybvig’s philosophy is to emphasize the fundamentals, fun and progression. Competitions are a good way to test a rider’s ability to perform, he says, but the most important measure is their own individual progression.

“Coming from competition myself, I really valued the competitive programs, where kids are in it for the full year whether they compete or not,” he says. “It’s what I did as an athlete. As a business, they’re your most dedicated customers so I really value what the program offers athletes. I feel we’re getting close to an academy level program at a very low cost and accessible format.”

(First published in December 2009 issue of new England Ski Journal)