For the week of Dec 31, 2002 - Jan 7, 2003

Free your mind

SVSEF bumpers push the envelope

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By JODY ZARKOS
Express Staff Writer

Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation freestyle coach John Zuck is one of those guys who lets his skiing do the talking for him.

Zuck, in his 12th year as head coach of the SVSEF freestyle team, chooses his words as deliberately as his line down the mountain.

So when he says the 2002-03 team "is looking pretty good," that’s exactly what he means.

"We are pretty young. We are concentrating on basic skiing technique, learning how to use our skis," he said. "What we want to do is produce fundamentally sound skiers who can access all the terrain on Baldy."

As the sport of freestyle skiing evolves, how the team trains and competes evolves as well.

Zuck said a majority of the competitions this season include big air contests, half-pipe events and skier-cross, as well as the standard single and dual mogul events.

"The sport is evolving really fast and we are training with an eye to the future," Zuck said.

Of the 51 racers on the Sun Valley team, 21 are listed as "full-time" meaning they train six days a week.

Of the 21, Krista Burns and Scott Sanders are the only seniors on the team. Other veterans include Kylie Douglas, Katie Zuck, Britt Van Paepeghem, Corey Warren and Collin Collins.

Douglas and Burns both competed at U.S. World Cup selection event at Winter Park, Colo. earlier this month.

Burns finished 20th overall and Douglas was 29th. At a subsequent FIS NorAm race, Douglas was 27th. Burns also qualified for the event, but was unable to compete because of a sore back.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.