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