3/23/09 WEEKLY UPDATE

by the way... GREAT party on Friday night! To those who came, thanks, and to those who missed, we missed ya... but there's always the next one!

The Mount Snow Freeskiing Open 2009
An open registration pro/semi-pro
slopestyle competition at Mt. Snow 3/21

Dale Talkington, hangin' out after the comp, waiting for awards... he's smiling for a reason -- he killed it all weekend and took 4th PLACE in the PRO DIVISION!!


Alex Buller, also chillin', most likely tired after something like 32 runs on the course. It paid off -- 4th PLACE, AMATEUR DIVISION... enjoy that Mountain Dew, you earned it buddy. Alex, here's my public apology -- my action shots of you were worthy of last place. I'll keep training -- I owe you one! Bruno, posting up to get the shot on the second jump... see that huge pack at his feet? That's the camera responsible for all the killer video-edits you've enjoyed this season, the very same that the OMS crew has worked tirelessly to raise the money to pay for.
Dale, cork 900 on the 2nd jump.Jeremy "Soulja Boy" Peterson, with his patented 720 opp. mute poke. He skied great on a BIG course, but a few unfortunate crashes on comp day left him sidelined with a sore leg... we hope you're feeling good now, Jeremy...
Graham Bunt, cork 720. Went big, went cleeeaan. His tricks looked sooo good I had to take a picture.

Sean, out with a broken wrist, along to support the boys.

Brendan Ladd, along to support the team and take some pictures... with REAL film, not this amateur digital stuff. Perhaps a little too much sun, eh BLadd??Andrew Holson, Rodeo 5 critical. Need I say more?Dr. Hurricane Holson, pondering how he might improve his rodeos... the answer is, "Sorry, you can't -- they're dirty!*" *(dirty is a good thing)RT (aka "Robbie" from Staten Island), somewhat ambivalent about being in front of the camera while not in costume (ahem, Joey Jam), which is a great segue to the following update...

Attention Okemo Freestyle, all programs, all parents, all coaches...

This weekend, 3/28-29, is IT!! Sadly, this weekend marks the end of Okemo Freestyle Team Training for the 2008-09 ski season. But we wouldn't let you go without a bang, would we???

Here it is:

• Weekend Program Awards, etc...

To all Competitors and Family:

Please join us on March 28^th, as we will be holding a Competition Department Family Fun Day and Awards Ceremony. The day will include dual Giant Slalom on Wardance, a halfpipe and slopestyle event, all competitors and family will be invited and encouraged to participate. At noon we will have a Barbeque at the Gate Shack, followed by awards outside of the Sugar House at 2pm (incase of rain, awards will be held at 3pm inside the Sugar House) Hope to see you there.

Best,

Pete, John & Ashley"

• Joey Jam

http://www.okemo.com/okemowinter/ourmountain/events/jamdetails.asp

Check the above link for details, but basically, if you want to see RT put on the performance of his life and win a Camaro, then find the time to check this event out!

• One more Freeride Event...
  

While this will interfere with Weekend Program Awards, the A Freeride team is going to Loon for March Mayhem on Saturday.
Event info: http://threeightwo.com/
Register here: http://threeightwo.50gigs.net/MMReg.html

We'll be leaving at 5:45 AM from the Chalet...

• And finally, One more A Mogul event...

The Killington Spring Klassic, 4/10-12. Info to follow as event draws near.

I would like to say to you all, especially those of you who will not be up this weekend, thank you for an outstanding season of Okemo Freestyle. I have witnessed our athletes grow, progress, and accomplish astounding feats, I have watched our coaches enthusiastically and tirelessly share their knowledge with our skiers, and I have watched and welcomed new families as they continue to meet, befriend, and gel with an existing group that I consider myself truly lucky to be a part of!

Thanks and have a great... Summer?!?
-Marks
And of course this isn't the last post of the season...(!)

3/17/09 WEEKLY UPDATE

And last, but MOST definitely not least, one more edit by an OMS Freerider, Sean Kennedy... you gotta hand it to these boys, demonstrating such impressive talents both on skis as well as with video editing...


Sean Kennedy Skii from Sean Kennedy on Vimeo.

Well Team... there is a new wordsmith in town, and he goes by the name of "Law." I'll say, take 1-part strong, black, police station coffee plus ten-parts 'the inspiration a coach gets from seeing his young skiers excel' and you get the following...

...so enjoy a little prose by Okemo Freestyle's very own Jon "Law" Norton. I'm gonna kick my feet up on this St. Patty's Day and let him do the writin'!

ps...scroll to the bottom of this post for more reminders...

"Don't fight the law, 'cause the law will win!" This quote is my own, it comes true about 95% of the time. Like for instance, tonight I am just sitting down here to type an overdue wrap up on Regionals, and also on this weekend's Eastern B Chambionships. Now this is partially my fault, yes, because I need a kick in the butt sometimes! However, it is also the fault of the two people I had to deal with at work today. See, on my way home tonight I assisted a local police agency with rounding up two burglars. YES!!! I actually did some work. Well, there was a fight, and well the law won! Now Springfield Corrections have two new fine mates behind their walls for a while lets hope! WHOO HOO! But what really peaves me is the fact that one competitor had her skis stolen at EASTERNS! OK, so we didn't win that time. As of right now, they still have not been found! Katie, I hope you get them back, but to be the professional I am, I know it's going to be a very slight chance of that happening. It's unfortunate!

However, looking on the brighter side of things, let's recap the two weekends!!!!

Slopestyle:

Three boys competed at the Central Region Finals held at Killington Mtn. on 3/7/09. As I was training with the mogul skiers, and really don't know much about the slopestyle runs, I do know the results! Sam Pawlak came in 10th overall!!!! Jace Provance 22nd, & Christian Backe 30th. This was out of 36 male competitors! So to all three, awesome job guys!!

Moguls:

We had a good showing this year at the Central Region Finals for moguls held at Killington Mtn on 3/8/09. Training was a lot of fun, as always, as the snow conditions were soft and the trail itself was awesome. I myself, got to par-take a bit and make a few turns and jumps on the course with the kids, and I got to say I was bummed I couldn't compete! But anyway, the training day went like this, the girls were hard at work trying to land 3's! A couple were landed well, and many ended with slush in their faces. The boys also had lots of runs and plenty of falls! Spring weather, you gotta love it!.

We had 7 competitors show up for another spectacular day at Killington Mtn. The course held up very well even though the night before we ended up with a couple inches of rain! The girls were up first of course, and in a very hard fought game, Delia ended up in 5th, and Katie ended up in 7th overall out of 33 ladies! On the boys side everyone did very well, and ended up in: Sam 19th, Jace 39th, Christian 50th, Patrick 43rd & Kyle in 55th, and this was out of 57 guys! Now I got to say to everyone, that all of us coaches are very proud! We had a great showing at regionals, and as I suspect next year we will be looking for the gold!

Now onto Easterns B Championships held at Loon Mtn on 3/13 & 3/14/09....

Slopestyle: I was not there, due to a carbonmonoxide/fire issue at my house in the morning. However Head Coach Marks was, so I'll let him spill the beans! Marks here... Sam charged a course that proved more challenging than any seen in the regular season; while the rails were rather difficult, Sam stomped his airs beautifully (180, sw180, 180 over the BIG jump) and nabbed himself a 43rd place finish. He is a true competitor, hungering for more, and I look forward to next season to see if he can attempt to match the outstanding progress he's shown this year!

Moguls: Training, 3/13/09. Tough course to sell. The moguls were made this morning! They were very rough compared to the moguls at regionals. But, HEY, this is New England! So what do you expect! That's why we practice using your edges! Well, enough of a rant....training was good, the two girls Delia & Katie trained very hard on friday trying to find all of the "in's & out's" of this cruddy course. Saturday night was relaxation time, and come Sunday morning....Katie's skis were MIA! Yep, gone. They were there one minute before breakfast, then gone by the time we came back! So, she had to master a new pair of demo's thoughtfully named the "cool ones" made by head. Yeh, they were eye turners! Once on the hill, it was discovered that the trail was even more cruddy than Friday! Ruts as far as the eye can see with boiler plate ice moguls with a hint of groomed powder on top! The girls skied hard, showing a 15th place overall (Katie) and a 25th overall (Delia)!

My final thoughts are this.... Everyone on this team deserves a big pat on the back for the work they did this year! I had a blast and I hope everyone else did! Next stop a wedding this weekend, and hopefully making some turns with everyone the following weekend!" LAW

Thank you, Law!!



A Freeride...
We'll be leaving from the Chalet at 7:45 AM on Friday for training at Mount Snow!

EVERYONE...
Party update:
-Again, this Friday, 8PM at the Killarney. There will be live music, food and drink specials, a raffle, and oh so much more...
-AND, the polls are closed and the people have spoken -- the theme of this party is "Dress as your favorite coach," whatever THAT means. So, if you think you have one of us pegged, go for it -- should be a great laugh. And if you're not into that, joey attire and golf attire were a not-really-so-close second.
SEE YOU THERE!!

Video page...
Check the video link in the links section of this blog... I think you'll be pleased!

End of season...
UNFORTUNATELY, the Team's season is about to come to a close; join us once again, though, next weekend, for the closing awards ceremony. I have yet to be given the details, but will forward along ASAP.

Thanks and have a great week!
-Marks

3/9/09 WEEKLY UPDATE

CONGRATULATIONS
to our entire
B Regional Championship Team
including Top Finishers
Delia Whyte -- 5th moguls
Katie Craig -- 7th moguls
Sam Pawlak -- 10th slopestyle

Patrick Craig and Coach Franky P!

Katie Craig and Delia Whyte

**Important Upcoming Dates**
As the season's end comes rocketing towards us, I wanted to make you aware of a few important dates coming up:

• Friday, March 20 -- Okemo Freestyle Team Spring Party/Get-together... 3/20, 8PM, Killarneys in Ludlow. We would like to welcome athletes, parents, coaches, alumni, and friends to The Killarney to celebrate a fun and successful season together. There will be an AWESOME band playing, a private area set aside for our team, and food and drink specials. Please make it up for this fun event! Be sure to go to the poll at the right, below the links, and vote on a theme!
  
• Saturday, March 28 -- Weekend program Season's End Awards Ceremony and activities... more info to come as I get it, but just wanted to make sure everyone is up for this final weekend.
  

A Freeride...

I cannot say enough about the importance of video in freestyle skiing progression -- as a coaching tool, as a source of inspiration, pride and confidence for the athletes, as a means of sharing one's passion with others worldwide... I could go on.
Below is another video edit by a member of our team. Alex Buller did a killer job putting this together, with skiing by OMS freeriders Sean Kennedy, Dale Talkington, and Alex himself... all filmed this season by Coach Bruno.

Okemo from Alex Buller on Vimeo.

Next up for A Freeride -- Mount Snow Freeskiing Open, Mt. Snow VT, 3/21-22... spectators welcome and encouraged!

A Moguls...
Again, there is one comp left for the A mogul Team, the Spring Klassic at Killington -- 4/10-12... mark it on your calendars!

Also, I will be emailing soon regarding summer mogul camps (we'd like to get everyone -- including those of you B's moving up to A's next year -- out to Momentum or another ski camp this summer in addition to our water ramp camps)... stay tuned! Conroy and Pazdar had a great experience at Momentum, in case anyone has questions...

B Moguls/Freeride...
Below are some of the runs from our B Team at Mogul Regional Championships at Killington on Sunday, courtesy of Joe "Jokemofreestyle" Kaufman. He did not get both runs from everyone, but he tried his best, so enjoy...

AND... stay tuned for a recap of the events, coming soon from Law. I'll post here...

Coming up, wish our B EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM (Pawlak, Whyte, K. Craig) luck as they head to Loon this weekend at Loon!!!

Thanks and have a great week!
-Marks

For your viewing pleasure...

A brief promo edit that Dale put together of his skiing from the 2008-09 season so far... more to come from some of the other freeriders as they finish theirs' up!


dale quick edit from Dale Talkington on Vimeo.

3/3/09 WEEKLY UPDATE

CONGRATULATIONS

DALE TALKINGTON

2009 USSA EASTERN DIVISIONAL SLOPESTYLE
CHAMPION

...and to ALEX BULLER as well, for his
10th place finish at Slopestyle Eastern Championships

A Freeride...
A large portion of the A Freeride team, including Dale Talkington, Alex Buller, Jeremy Peterson, Sean Kennedy, Tyler Galloway and coaches Bruno and RT descended upon Mt. Snow's USSA Eastern Championships for Slopestyle on Friday. The fog was thick and the snow was wet, but that did not stop our boys from throwing down. In addition to the above highlights, see full results here:
http://services.easternfreestyle.org/results/Rpt2009/36_S.pdf

Coming up next... Mount Snow Freeskiing Open, 3/21-22

A Moguls...
This past weekend's Eastern Championships for Moguls was held at Killington on Saturday and Sunday. Karns charged the hill, looking to continue a steady season-long climb to the top 10. While he put down his best airs of the season and a top-12 time, he unfortunately couldn't keep the turns as clean as they needed to be, landing him in 31st.

The team will be training this weekend, with one last comp left -- the Killington Spring Klassic in April. We're hoping to see Ryan back from Peru, Karns, Will, and maybe even Curtis????

B Moguls/Freeride...

Dicin' Delia Whyte dealing up a textbook Daffy...
check the "Photos" link at the right for more pics of our B competitors at the Whaleback Competition-->

Here is the deal for this weekend's Regional Championships at Killington...

• Slopestyle is Saturday. Mogul Training will be the same day for those competing in Sunday's mogul event. While a few parents have offered to carpool, WE WILL NOW BE TAKING A VAN OVER ON SATURDAY FOR BOTH SLOPESTYLE COMPETITORS AND THOSE TRAINING THE MOGUL COURSE.
  
• Again, on Sunday, we will be taking a van to the mogul event, so all are welcome to ride...
• Saturday's van will leave from the Chalet (Training Center) at 6:45 AM SHARP!
  

Any B skiers not competing at Regionals, or Fresh Start Grads, can meet the team for training at home!

Thanks and have a great week!
-Marks