Jumping News

It isn’t too late to sign up for Ski Jumping. Online registration has been extended through the end of February, and the registration fee has been reduced. The program takes place at Oak Hill on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7:30 pm. Check out the Jumping page for more info or contact Program Head Heidi Nichols at HeidiNichols13@gmail.comContinue reading →

Ford Sayre alumnus Paddy Caldwell scored 10th in the Men’s Skiathlon at the FIS Nordic Junior World Championships yesterday. Congratulations, Paddy!More info

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To all parents glued to their smart phones this weekend, here is some food for thought. This article ran recently in Ski Racing. Find it here or below in a slightly longer, less official looking version. Based on reports from the field, as the competition season begins in earnest this message bears repeating. And trust me, Live-Timing addicts, I fully understand the power of the rabbit hole. Ok-read on!

You’ve probably seen one by now: A picture of an intensely focused ski racer arcing a beautiful turn in front of a cluster of spectators, all of whom have their attention fixed not on the racer, but on a little, “smart” screen. They’re not likely looking at a vital message from a loved one or a work emergency. No, they are probably looking at Live-Timing. Chances are also high that rather than results from a far-off race, they are checking the time of the kid just ahead of the kid they are all now ignoring.

As a coach, my usual position on race day is at the start, where everyone is full of optimism and energy and there is little time for anything but turning screws, cleaning boots and getting psyched. For those of us challenged at multi-tasking, this is a Live-Timing-free zone. As a parent I am beginning to see this enforced disconnect as a gift.

Don’t get me wrong—I am a huge fan of Live-Timing. Having a universally accessible real time scoreboard is liberating. In the old days, “live timing” was someone’s mother who shuffled between the timing shack and the scoreboard with the latest batch of times, then transcribed them, usually legibly, onto the board to break the suspense. Emotions ensued, the mother returned to the shack, the crowd dispersed, and the next wave of racers built in front of the board.

Live-Timing not only did away with that finish line ritual, but the God-like awareness ushered in a host of freedoms, like knowing exactly when to make your way to the course to race or to watch. It eliminated the need for detailed phone reports at the end of a long day, gave faraway family and friends a way to follow the races, and afforded absent parents a heads-up on the prevailing mood to expect upon homecoming. Heck, it even lifted the burden of performing basic math.

But as with many modern conveniences, this one offers up potential abuse, particularly by “Live-Timing parents,” members of the parental species who have become overinvested in their childrens’ results. Like many traits, overinvestment is often hard to recognize in oneself. It’s like in the movies when Harry breaks the truth to Sally that she is in fact a high maintenance woman: “You’re the worst kind; you’re high maintenance but you think you’re low maintenance.” If you’re not entirely sure whether you have been sucked down the rabbit hole, here are a few red flags:

Do you call or text the coach the second DNF pops up next to your kid’s name on Live-Timing?

Have you ever referred to your kid’s performance collectively, as in, “We need a good result today…We need to finish…We had a fast run”?

Do you, after monitoring Live-Timing, call other parents to update them on their and your kid’s results?

Have you shed tears (not of joy) over your child’s performance?

Do you regularly crow about your child’s results in social situations or (cringe) on a social network?

Do you remind your child before races or runs of what result he/she has to achieve to qualify or succeed according to some external standard?

This is a partial list, but if you answered yes to most of these questions, you may be a “Live-Timing” parent, and you may want to consider a step-down program. Why? First there is the practical consideration of lowering your own blood pressure, and that of anyone in close proximity. More important is the damaging effect that this hyperawareness of results can have. While it may seem harmless, consider the message it sends to our kids when we tell them to have fun, relax and do their best, then have our eyes on the screen each run, calculating place or race points to determine how close each kid is to qualifying for the next competition.

Knowing our kids’ results, often before they do, tempts us to put our own judgment on their performances before knowing how the kids feel about them. Maybe she was ok with the run until we walked up with a sad face to console her. Maybe he knows exactly where he had trouble and has a plan for the next run. Maybe the time was fast but she is nonetheless disappointed because she knows she held something back. Our kids have plenty to process without the addition of unsolicited parental input.

Admittedly, as a parent I do not always master the fine line between being supportive and being overinvested. Last year I was at a race away from my own team, without any coaching duties and with time to live-stalk on Live-Timing. I attempted to follow boys and girls races in two age groups at two separate mountains, while watching my own son in person at yet another mountain. At first I rationalized that I was merely checking up on my flock. But pretty soon there I was, like a rat in a Skinner Box, incessantly poking the refresh button for another hit of new information, cursing “that darned sun” while shielding my screen from its glare. Not surprisingly I was missing a lot of what was happening on the hill.

Quite simply, seeing the times is not the same as seeing the race. Live-Timing doesn’t show the spectacular recoveries, the partial yet brilliant runs, the massive physical divergences amongst same-aged juniors, the skills and moves that are mere glimpses of the possibilities that lie ahead. We have to be on the hill, lift our eyes and put away our smart phones to see all those things.
I suspect most of us struggle to define the etiquette of managing all the information at our fingertips. (Ok, perhaps the parent making Facebook posts of screen shots from Live-Timing—with his kid atop the results—is unburdened by this struggle). My own sanctuary is imposed ignorance at the start. When a kids reports after his run, “I got a 53!” that number means absolutely nothing to me, so I am left asking the same questions the old style, race-watching parents are asking their kids: “How did you feel? Was there any spot that gave you trouble? Was it easier or harder than you thought? What would you do differently next run?” And sometimes there is nothing to say. From their expressions or their body language you know to just give them a hug or a high five. Either way, you’ll want your hands free for that.

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CHITTENDEN, VT – The 9th Annual Mountain Top Paintball Biathlon hosted 275 participants this weekend and 48 local skiers from the Ford Sayre Ski Council braved the cold to enjoy an exciting day of skiing and shooting out on the course.  Racers did laps around a 1.3 km loop and then stopped at the range to take five shots with a paintball gun every lap.  Ten seconds was deducted from each racer’s final time for each shot that hit the target.

Craftsbury Nordic skier Alan Moody won the boys first- and second-grade race finishing the loop in 03:01.5 with perfect 5/5 shooting. Luke Rizio of Prospect Mountain BKL finished second in 04:16.0 with 3 hits, and Ford Sayre’s Caleb Zuckerman took the last podium spot in 05:09.5 with 4 hits. Other local finishers were James Underwood (6th, Woodstock Ski Runners, 05:39.5, 3 hits), Christian Blix (7th, Ford Sayre, 06:01.1, 2 hits), Andrew Davis (15th, Ford Sayre, 06:54.0, 0 hits), Felix DiGeorge (16th, Ford Sayre, 07:15.1, 1 hits), and Stephen Witwick (25th, Ford Sayre, 10:57.1, 2 hits).

In the first- and second-grade girls race, Mansfield Nordic BKL’s Virginia Cobb won with a time of 05:35.8 and went 3/5 at the range. Sadie Bell of Putney Ski Club relied on some very fast skiing to finish second in 05:51.4 without hitting the target.  Ada Mahood of the Woodstock Nordic Runners came in 10th with a time of 10:05.6.

Hanover’s Ann Rightmire won the girls third- and fourth-grade race with a blazing ski time of 09:39.9 despite having a tough day at the range.  Jane Skavlem of Berkshire Trails went 2/5 from the line and finished 2nd in 09:50.8.  Ford Sayre’s Katie Davis also hit the target twice and finished in third place with a time of 10:00.4.  Imogen Dietz (6th, Ford Sayre, 11:10.7) and Madeline Zuckerman (9th, Ford Sayre, 12:27.8) also finished very strongly.

Evan Nichols of Lyme won the boys third- and fourth-grade race in 07:24.8 with Neil Guy from Frost Mountain Nordic just behind a 07:27; both had three hits at the range.  A lot of local racers participated in this race including Matt Walsh (7th, Ford Sayre, 08:55.6, 3 hits), Joseph Davis (8th, Ford Sayre, 09:08.3, 3 hits), Hugh Clark (10th, Ford Sayre, 09:34.4, 2 hits), Gaven Schane (12th, Woodstock, 09:48.5, 4 hits), Jack Lange (14th, Ford Sayre, 09:59.3, 2 hits), Simon Phipps (16th, Ford Sayre, 10:02.3, 3 hits), Daniel Jaccaci (26th, Ford Sayre, 11:24.8, 4 hits), Forster Goodrich (29th, Ford Sayre, 13:06.8, 2 hits), Jasper Tuthill (30th, Ford Sayre, 13:12.9, 2 hits), Oscar Miller (31st, Ford Sayre, 13:19.1, 0 hits).

Will Koch from West River combined a marksman-like 9/10 from the range with fast skiing to win the boys fifth- and sixth-grade race in 10:40.8.  David Moody of Craftsbury Nordic finished second in 10:58.6 with 4 hits, and West River Nordic’s Asa Chalmers finished third in 11:16.9 and 6 hits. Other local finishers were Sam Murray (10th, Ford Sayre, 12:32.4, 7 hits), Peter Burnham (14th, Ford Sayre, 13:30.2, 5 hits), Vincent Nacio Levey (15th, Ford Sayre, 13:38.0, 5 hits), Noah Phipps (21st, Ford Sayre, 14:37.7, 4 hits), Erik Blix (24th, Ford Sayre, 15:21.3, 3 hits), Dirk Andrew (27th, Ford Sayre, 16:35.2, 3 hits).

In the girls fifth- and sixth-grade race, Phoebe Hussey of Frost Mountain Nordic won with a time of 10:54.5 with 6 hits. Malia Hodges of Frost Mountain Nordic finished second in 11:00.0 with 6 hits, and Ford Sayre’s Grace Dietz finished third in 12:00.4 and 7 hits. Other local finishers were Liz Rightmire (6th, Ford Sayre, 12:51.1, 3 hits), Eloise Silver-VanMeter (8th, Ford Sayre, 13:31.5, 4 hits), Hannah Chipman (9th, Ford Sayre, 13:38.1, 7 hits), Carly Milliken (10th, Ford Sayre, 13:53.6, 10 hits), Catherine Bregou (11th, Ford Sayre, 13:57.7, 0 hits), Meg Snyder (21st, Ford Sayre, 18:42.6, 4 hits), Lara Witwick (22nd, Ford Sayre, 20:57.3, 4 hits).

West River Nordic skier Mae Chalmers won the girls seventh- and eighth-grade race finishing the loop in 12:17.2 with 4 hits, and incredibly accurate shooting by Perrin Milliken of Ford Sayre won her a second place finish in 13:10.0 with 10 hits.  The Stratton Mountain School’s Anna Lehmann finished third in 13:16.7 and 4 hits.  This race had a very strong local turnout with Kennedy Lange (6th, Ford Sayre, 13:40.1, 11 hits), Ingrid Miller (8th, Ford Sayre, 13:53.7, 2 hits), Casey Nichols (9th, Ford Sayre, 14:01.7, 7 hits), Johanna Bandler (11th, Ford Sayre, 16:14.6, 1 hits), Margot Davis (14th, Ford Sayre, 16:39.8, 3 hits), Olivia Brooks (15th, Woodstock Nordic, 17:01.5, 3 hits), Maeve Goodrich (16th, Ford Sayre, 17:29.2, 4 hits), Emily Bregou (18th, Ford Sayre, 17:45.3, 4 hits), and Shannon Walsh (19th, Ford Sayre, 19:03.7, 3 hits).

In the boys seventh- and eighth-grade race, Greg Burt of Mansfield Nordic won with a time of 10:07.1 with 11 hits. Neil Thorley of West River finished second in 10:20.1 with 10 hits, and Frost Mountain Nordic’s Sam Hodges finished third in 10:27.2 and 4 hits. Ford Sayre’s Malcom Silver-VanMeter broke a pole but kept skiing hard around the course finishing 17th in 14:11.  Other Upper Valley racers included Andy Rightmire (10th, Ford Sayre, 12:33.4, 10 hits), Jack Burnham (14th, Ford Sayre, 14:10.6, 3 hits), Matt Ennis (18th, Woodstock Ski Runners, 14:54.6, 9 hits), Beaven Ankner-Edelstein (22nd, Ford Sayre, 16:15.6, 6 hits), and Justin Andrew (26th, Ford Sayre, 17:39.7, 10 hits).

See more of Randy Witwick’s photos here

See more of Scott Nichol’s photos here

 

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Noah Hoffman, one of the U.S. nordic skiers heading to Sochi, has posted a comprehensive schedule of when events are going to be broadcast on television.

U.S. Olympic TV Schedule

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