CANADA Nov/Dec 2015

Latest news, 30+ trainees now working hard with Kip and co, and best results so far:

Yas Cooper wins U18 gold at Mt Norquay on Sunday 6 Dec and scores PB of 56 FIS points in slalom. Read Yas's report on her blog

Laurie Taylor scores PB of 40 points in slalom and finishes 5th overall. 

And the food sounds good! 

Summer 2015

Video by Natalia.

Summer Camp moves to Les Deux Alpes

Poor conditions on the Tignes glacier led to a decision by the BSA staff to move the venue of the summer camp with only 10 days notice to Les Deux Alpes.  What a good decision!  We arrived at our hotel (right next to the pistes) to a huge buffet spread for dinner and lots of ski storage, tuning and indoor activity space - we could definitely get used to this!
The skiing kicked off on the 28th July with a day of assessing technical skills and speed in gates whilst finding the ski legs again.  We were all surprised by the amount of snow up top and the frozen snow conditions.  Coming off the mountain at lunchtime gives us plenty of time to eat, rest and then refocus for fitness training.  We have health and fitness trainer Steve Cooper here with us to educate the athletes on nutrition, recovery and help the coaches deliver relevant fitness sessions.  On the first and second afternoons we we practised and assessed some fitness tests which we will use to gather information on the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete.

Splitting into smaller groups working with coaches Dave Morris, Natalia Pruska, Charley Stocker,
Lyndsay Strange, Dougie Mill and myself (Lynn Sharp Mill) the athletes proceeded to work through 2 more days on the GS skis before switching to Slalom on Friday.  Our focus has been to develop technique, take time to make some fundamental adjustments but making sure we are not just getting really good at one turn shape on one kind of gradient.  We have been coming back to racing at the end of the day - reminding the athletes what its all about and having some fun through the courses.  Some of the FIS athletes have been helping the coaches this week demonstrating and developing their own understanding by working with some of the younger athletes. It's great to see them being role models for some of our newer athletes and setting a good atmosphere around the camp.

Today we all have a day off, just in time for some bad weather passing through - rumour is that its snowing up top a little!  We've had an array of activities to sign up for including morning yoga with Lyndsay, ski tuning lessons with Lynn, educational ski videos with Charley and Dougie, rock climbing with Natalia and of course resting, recovering and tidying up.  Some of the athletes have been bowling and swimming this afternoon before we test their skiing knowledge in a camp quiz later on.  Here are some snapshots from the week so far.  Back soon.....

 

Norwich Slalom Camp

Our popular Race Camp returns to Norwich on August bank holiday week, Monday 24 to Friday 28 August.  Plenty of good training and always a happy get-together, numbers swelling but still plenty of space, including trainee accommodation.  Call the office for more information, or take link to website for entry form: http://www.britskiacad.org.uk/summer_camps.html nb. Tignes Summer camp now full.

New Technical Director and Head Coach, Kip Harrington

We are pleased to announce world cup medallist and Canadian Team coach for 10 years, Kip Harrington from Ontario will be heading up our coaching staff from October this year. 

Kip has been on the staff of the Canadian Ski Team since 2007. In recent years he was the Head Coach for the Canadian Men’s World Cup Technical Team and will join the BSA full time at the end of September 2015.

Kip has coaching experience at every level and a track record of success. He grew up in a ski racing family and raced from a young age. His stepfather was the local club coach for 40 years, and his stepbrother raced multiple seasons on the World Cup tour with the Canadian Team.

Malcolm, BSA founder and director: “I am thrilled to welcome Kip and look forward to a magnificent Canadian/British collaboration. Having led elite teams and managed world class support staff, he is ideally suited to steer the British Ski Academy. Kip will mainly be coaching our FIS team athletes but he will have a major impact for young racers at all levels.”

Kip's career coaching highlights and profile:
· Bronze medal at the Val d’Isere Alpine World Championships.
· Multiple top-five and top-ten finishes at World Cup.
· Multiple Nor Am titles.
· Nine athletes promoted from the Canadian National Development Team to the World Cup Teams in 3 years (Philip Brown, Trevor Philp, Morgan Pridy, Erik Read, Sasha Zaitsoff, Andy Trow, Morgan Megarry, Ford Swette, Benjamin Thomsen).

Kip writes: “I am excited about this new challenge and the opportunity to make a difference for ambitious British ski racers. If we bring people together and work hard, we can achieve great things in the sport.”

Further announcements on the BSA Coaching team will follow.

Ali Morton joins British Team Coaches

Goodbye and good luck, coach Ali. After seven years of OUTSTANDING service to the BSA, Ali is leaving to join the British Ski Team staff.  Congratulations Ali and thanks for everything. Have yourself a well-earned rest before getting stuck in. We'll miss you, Glen Farg tennis champ!

 

Ali Morton will be working with Tris Glasse-Davies who also cut his teeth coaching at the BSA before stepping up to the senior team. (Ace coach Lynn Sharp will be looking after our speedy BSA girls at summer camp in Tignes. We’ll announce new appointments by then.)
 

 

British Alpine Ski Championships BSA report

 

We have just finished an eventful week in Tignes at the British Children’s Championships. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work this season for our racers and it was great to see the progress that has been made. Snow conditions where awful at the start of the week. This along with some major organisational issues meant a number of postponements and cancellations in the scheduled programme.

On Monday the minis race had already been postponed the night before and the children’s race changed from SG to SL. We woke up on Monday to find a large snowfall and a whiteout meaning it was not possible for any racing. The lifts did eventually open after a large amount of avalanche control but conditions were not great. The minis did some training but most of the children took a day off with a light gym session in the afternoon to prepare for the next day.

On Tuesday the organisers went for exactly the same revised program as the previous day with the minis race again being postponed and the children hoping for a SL race. Conditions were far from ideal again and the children had to walk down the course in ski boots for inspection to boot pack it before it was salted and slipped smooth for the race. This is something that used to be done regularly before there was access to the snow preparation equipment we see today but it was certainly a new and tiring experience for the children. Conditions for the race were far from ideal and the course rutted up very badly but we did manage to get a 1 run race for both U14’s and U16’s. Due to timing problems during the U14 race, which was not communicated to us until later that evening, the results were declared null and void. This was hugely frustrating for BSA trainees George Case and Reece Bell who had both won the Male and Female races while Tom Hudson and Daisi Daniels had both finished in 3^rd. This was an incredibly disappointing outcome after some superb skiing in incredibly challenging conditions.

On Wednesday the organisers made the decision to run a one run U14 GS and a one run Minis GS leaving the U16s without a race. While conditions had improved slightly since the start of the week they were still far from ideal for racing hence the one run races. The racers battled some very tricky conditions and fortunately we managed to complete.

The U14 GS pushed the kids to the limit with a number our racers skiing really well but not quite making it. Daisi Daniels and George Case skied superbly and were both within a few gates of the finish line only to crash on the very difficult final pitch. Charles Rankin and Joe Christy both had to be taken away in blood wagons although both thankfully where ok. This did mean the end of Charles’s Championships which was a shame after such a brilliant season from him. There were some great performances from BSA racers and some big PB’s. Jonny Marshall gets a special mention for finishing 2nd 2002 born racer!

2^nd Jake Doyle Boys U14 GS

3^rd Euan Robertson Boys U14 GS

3^rd Rebecca CHastney Girls U14 GS

5^th Milly Cowell Girls U14 GS

In the Minis race they also managed to get their one run race completed  ok and while the course deteriorated and became very tricky there was also some great skiing.

3^rd Kita O’Neill Girls U10 GS

4^th Sophie Stocker Girls U10 GS

1^st Shona Rankin Girls U12 GS

4^th Ted Slade 4^th Boys U10 GS

 

*Shona Rankin winning the U12 GS!

On Thursday the Minis Combi was pushed back another day to Friday, the U16’s got their GS race and the U14’s a rerun of their SL. We had by far the best conditions of the week and both age groups managed to get 2 run races for the first time. Both George Case and Reece Bell where winning the first run in SL with some great skiing again but unfortunately couldn’t hold it together on the second run. There were still some great individual performances although without quite the success as in the previous SL. Harry Crompton gets particular mention for a superb first run and a huge improvement on previous performances.

4^th Anna Rodgers Girls U14 SL

5^th Daisi Daniels Girls U14 SL

4^th Ewan Robertson Boys U14 SL

5^th Jake Doyle Boys U14 SL

In the U16 GS there were some good performances from some of our 2000 born racers with Hannah Loeffen-Gallagher in 6^th and Matt Heginbotham in 7^th showing they will be in strong positions next season when they move to the top of their age group.

Friday finally brought the long postponed Minis Combi race and the U14/U16 SG race. The SG was a hugely technical hill and course  providing a great spectacle. Warm weather caused the snow to soften and made it a challenging ski for the later runners again. There were some exceptional performances from a number of our trainees and it was a great day to round off the week!

3^rd Hannah Loeffen-Gallagher Girls U16 SG

6^th Meghan Davis Girls U16 SG

6^th David Christey Boys U16 SG

Joint 2^nd Jake Doyle Boys U14 SG

Joint 2^nd Tom Hudson Boys U14 SG

4^th George Case Boys U14 SG

5^th Ewan Robertson Boys U14 SG

2^nd Daisi Daniels Girls U14 SG

 

*Jake Doyle and Tom Hudson Joint 2^nd in the U14 SG

The Minis Combi race took place in the freestyle park on a skier cross course and provided a great challenge for the younger racers. They had a great time and the snow held up really well.

1^st Ted Slade Boys U12 Minis Combi

4^th Sophie Stocker Girls U10 Minis Combi

*Jake Doyle, Ewan Robertson, Tom Hudson, Anna Rodgers and Rebecca Chastney winning the U14 team prize for BSA!

With the season now over for most of the racers it’s now time to return home and enjoy a well-earned rest before knuckling down to some serious fitness training in preparation for next season. I look forward to seeing you all on our summer and October Glacier camps!

Scott

On the hill

Early Season

It’s has been a somewhat tough start to the season this year and unseasonably warm weather has created challenges for many resorts throughout Europe. We began training on the 13^th December and as Les Houches was not yet open, we spent the first few weeks commuting each day through the Mont Blanc tunnel to La Thuile, Italy. Early season snow conditions in the Aosta Valley where excellent and we were able to get down to some really productive technical training and some SL gate training thanks to co-operation from the Italians. Following a little more snow and cold weather we were able to get skiing in Les Houches shortly after Christmas.

By the time things opened we had just over a week’s training left in our build up to hosting the Anglo Scottish races. With over 250 competitors due to attend we were all slightly nervous looking at the snow situation. Fortunately with cold enough temperatures to make snow and a lot of hard work form the resort, things where in shape ready to start racing on the 3^rd January.

*Coach Dave Tee working hard to get all the goggles dry for the start of the race

While snow conditions for the races where challenging with the only piste available being Maison Neuf Noir (middle section of the Chamonix world cup downhill), we managed to get all of them off with an incredible effort from the BSA team and the ESF staff. While it was probably the most difficult circumstances we have tried to run races in Les Houches, we have now only missed one day of racing in the last 7 years, due to too much snow (a pretty incredible record!). Unfortunately there was some controversy over the Super-G races which were not able to count for seeding. All I can say is that I have never had a smoother more positive day at super-G race whilst I have been skiing.

BSA had some exceptional results over the course of the races and some of the improvements in performance from our trainees on last season were quite staggering. Hannah LG won both GS races and SG’s by a considerable margin with some really impressive skiing. This resulted in a richly deserved call up to represent the GB U16 team at a new event taking place in Kitzbuhel, Austria at the end of the month, as part of the world cup weekend. There were also some of really promising results from U16 girls with Megan Davis narrowly missing the podium in the final GS and Charlotte Pantelli posting some strong top 10 results.

In the U16 Boys, Kieren Troup showed the form we had been seeing in training in the first 2 SL races. Scott Buchan and David Christy really stepped up their skiing from last year. Scott topped off a great week by winning both SG’s with some incredibly fast skiing.

In the U14 girls Natasha Stocker and Rebecca Chastney showed some excellent skiing and BSA newcomer Katie Stuart great promise without having done a lot of training yet! .

In the under 14 boys the results where incredibly strong. George Case had a great set of races throughout, while Charles Rankin, Jake Doyle, Euan Robertson and Joe Christey all made the podium. Tom Hudson showed perhaps the biggest step up from last season to take victory in the 2^nd SL race!

Alas the parent’s race had to be cancelled to focus getting the other races off. Always a great spectacle, we look forward to seeing you again at interschool’s races in Les Houches in March!

In the minis competition, Brendon and Bori ran a really successful set of races and it was great to see some exceptional performances from a number of BSA trainees. Iona Ross and Ted Slade where really consistent on the podium throughout in the under 12’s as was Sophie Stocker in the U10’s.

BSA results are shown below.

Children Slalom 1

U14 Girls 5^th Natasha Stocker

U14 Boys 1^st George Case

U16 B 2^nd Kieren Troup, 5^th Scott Buchan

Mini Stubbie SL

U10 G Sophie Stocker 2^nd, Kita O’neil 4^th

U12 G Iona R 3^rd

U12 B Ted S 1^st, 4^th Euan McDougall

Children Slalom 2

U14 Boys 1^st Tom Hudson, Ewan Robertson2^nd, 4^th Joe Christey

U16 Boys 1^st Kieren Troup

Mini GS1

U10 Girls 2^nd Sophie Stocker, 4^th Kita O’neil

U12 Girls 2^nd Iona Ross, 5^th Ana Stocker

U12 Boys 2^nd Ted Slade

Children GS 1

U14 Girls 5^th Natasha Stocker

U14 Boys 2nd George Case, 3^rd Charles Rankin 4^th Joe Christey and Jake Doyle

U16 Girls 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallagher

U16 Boys 2^nd Matt Heginbotham, 4^th Scott Buchan, 5^th David Christey

Mini GS 2

U10 Girls 2^nd Sophie Stocker, 3^rd Kita O’Neil

U12 Girls 2^nd Iona Ross

U12 Boys 2^nd Ted Slade

Children GS 2

U14 Girls Natasha Stocker 5th

U14 Boys 2^nd Joe Christey, 3^rd Charles Rankin, 4^th Jake Doyle

U16 Girls 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallagher,  Megan Davis 4^th

U16 Boys 3^rd Scott Buchan, 4^th David Christey

Mini All Star GS

U12 Girls 3^rd Iona Ross, 4^th Anna Stocker

U12 Boys 4^th Ted Slade

Children SG 1

U16 Girls 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallager

U14 Girls 5^th Natasha Stocker

U16 Boys 1^st Scott Buchan, 3rd Kieran Troup, 5^th Matt Heginbotham

U14 Boys 2^nd George Case, 3^rd Jake Doyle, 4^th Tom Hudson, 5^th Ewan Robertson

Children SG 2

U16 Boys 1^st Hannah Loeffen-Gallager, 5^th Megan Davis

U16 Boys 1^st Scott Buchan, 4^th Kieran Troup

U14 Boys 2^nd George Case, 3^rd Jake Doyle, 4^th Tom Hudson, 5^th Charles Rankin

 

*Charles, Jake, George and Joe all on the podium

*Ewan Robertson taking the U14 overall prize!

Following the races, the staff had a well-earned break, and for the trainees it was time for school to begin and for a little more routine to settle into the program at BSA

Coming up next we have the Welsh Championships in Champaluc, Switzerland at the end of the week.

Scott