Alpine

Good First Speed Camp for Abplanalp

by
USSA
2014-05-09 12:59
 

MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, CA (May 9) – The U.S. Ski Team women’s alpine speed team closed a week-long camp today at Mammoth Mountain, marking their first on-snow time with newly appointed speed Head Coach Stefan Abplanalp. The annual camp was focused on skiing basics with U.S. Ski Team fundamental skills development coach Michael Rogan on hand to run the athletes through specific drills. However, the biggest gain from the week was the time the athletes were able to spend working on communication with the new coaching staff.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The U.S. Ski Team women’s alpine speed team closed a one-week camp Friday at Mammoth Mountain, CA.
  • It was the first opportunity for newly appointed speed Head Coach Stefan Abplanalp to work with the team.
  • Camp attendees included Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR), Leanne Smith (N. Conway, NH), Katie Ryan (Aspen, CO), Abby Ghent (Edwards, CO) and Anna Marno (Steamboat Springs, CO). Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) was also on snow with coaches and Cook prior to the May 2 camp start.
  • Abplanalp and speed coaches Chris Knight, Wade Bishop and Pascal Hasler each spent individual time with the athletes to re-evaluate their skiing in order to build personalized preparation programs for the 2015 season. 
  • The tech heavy camp primarily utilized giant slalom, allowing for a lot of repetition and drills, with some super G and slalom mixed in.
  • The camp also served as an annual back-to-basics camp with U.S. Ski Team fundamental skills development coach and Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) Alpine Team leader Michael Rogan on hand to lead each athlete in personalized drills.
  • Conditions at Mammoth Mountain were excellent, allowing the team to train on varied terrain and conditions throughout the week. 
  • The athletes now move into a conditioning block with blocks of time spent training as a group at the Center of Excellence in Park City, UT.

QUOTES
Stefan Abplanalp, Head Coach – women’s speed
The goal for me was just to get an overview and a picture, to see where they are and I have to say, there is super motivation there and good spirit. These athletes all bring a lot of skill to the table and are ready to work hard.

Mostly I’m doing a lot of listening right now. They are all strong athletes and each of them needs a little bit of a different program to progress. For me, it’s about working with each of them on an individual basis, while maintaining a positive team environment. 

Mammoth was really helpful. It is my first time here, and it was a really good work relationship from the beginning. The whole environment here in Mammoth was a perfect site to achieve all the goals that we have."

Stacey Cook, thee-time Olympian
It’s been a long time since I’ve run this much GS, but it’s been good. I was able to get in some super G with Julia before she headed out and I’ve also been working a ton with Mike Rogan and that’s been great. It’s the third year we’ve worked with him and he’s really starting to know and understand our skiing.

We’ve also been doing a lot of one-on-one time with all the coaches. It’s something Stef [Abplanalp] has high on his value chart and it’s been huge in working on our communication. When he worked with Norway, they had a really small team and he found success in building strong personal relationships with each of the athletes and now we’re doing that with all of our coaches. It’s helped the other coaches re-evaluate our skiing and take a completely new path - especially when most of us are coming off a year were we didn't achieve our goals. 

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