The New York Ski Educational Foundation is raising the curtain on a program designed to give Junior and U-23 Cross-country skiers, whether in or out of school, a formal summer training program that works to build the training bases needed by high level competition. Post high school and college skiers often find themselves in a “black hole a place without organized programs to keep athletic efforts on track, and where the demands of work and/or school make sufficient effective training hours almost an impossibility. NYSEF may offer some work within its own junior summer program in exchange for tuition and we are compiling a list of supportive local employers able to offer work with flexible hours. A similar list of local landlords with reasonably priced housing will be available for NYSEF athletes who want to take advantage of the Adirondack region’s summer’s training opportunities.
Tuition for the entire summer is $750. Camp travel either here in North America or abroad is extra. Tuition includes an immediate review of current training, goal assessment, and design of a plan for spring and early summer. Plans will be adjusted after the program begins. Individual plans and progress will be monitored on an on-going basis. NYSEF is more than willing to help service plans and to consult with programs with which athletes are already comfortable, or that they may be preparing to work with on entrance to college. The goal is to build a training group, and then to help athletes work individually within it. There is not a lot of magic in training, and we don’t pretend to have a wand. What NYSEF has is time, experience, and the desire to help serious younger skiers get the most out of the summer hours they put in.
The outdoor training opportunities in the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks are exceptional. All the bases are well covered. Strength work is available at the Olympic Training Center. We stay in regular contact with the USST National Development Program and stay current with what is happening in that arena. Top level guest coaches or athletes from Europe and North America will participate in two concentrated camp weeks. A July camp will be at altitude some where in the west, and the other is scheduled for late August in conjunction with an elite group coming to the OTC from the western divisions.
Training for participants not attending school full time can continue throughout the fall, and college athletes are welcome to continue to work with NYSEF as the school year progresses. This could be a summer opportunity to build supervised hours, and could help committed skiers to experience college not as a barrier to eventual top performance, but as a way to stay refreshed intellectually, and as a period when the body matures, and tolerates more work. NYSEF hopes to give athletes the chance to get in extra work and get extra attention so they can perform better in the college athletic scene, and so they can come out of school ready to chase a more ambitious athletic goal, having achieved an academic one.
The program will be limited to ten athletes in the first year. Application form is available on line at NYSEF.org. Application deadline is May 1st 2006. To apply or for more information contact Pete Phillips at NYSEF:
Pete Phillips
gamlefisken@yahoo.com or petep@nysef.org.
518 523 3098 (O)
518 524 4127 (C)
