SV Freestyle Team
gears up for season
Inverted tricks a new twist
By MICHAEL AMES
Express Staff Writer
It starts in October with trampolines.
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation
Freestyle Team has been training since the fall, preparing for the high-impact
requirements of running moguls all year.
Coach John Zuck is returning for his 14th
year at the helm of the freestyle team he helped create in 1990. Zuck,
originally from Missoula, was a professional touring and competing freestyle
skier for 10 years before coming to Sun Valley.
This year Zuck is leading a relatively
young team: "We lost some people to graduation, but we still have some of the
older kids who went to the Junior Olympics last year," said Zuck.
Of particular note are Junior Olympic
veterans like Britt VanPaepeghem (junior), Collin Collins (senior) , Corey
Warren (senior), Kurtis Fieguth (sophomore) and his younger sister Katie Fieguth.
These freestylers all traveled to
Steamboat Springs, Colo. last year for JOs. They form the core of Zuck’s team
along with full-timers Reed Boeger, Karl Fostvedt and Sophia Schwartz who also
turned in consistently outstanding results last winter.
Of those not returning, Nick Hanscom is
the biggest loss. Hanscom was a two-time dual moguls champion at JOs. Another
loss was Kylie Douglas who has moved to Steamboat.
Team training that began in October with
the trampolines instilled "air sense and being in the air flipping and
twisting," Zuck said.
It was especially pertinent this year.
That’s because of one very major rule change: Inverted tricks will now be
permitted on the mogul field.
This is a huge addition to an already
dynamic sport. In the past, a half-inverted roll was a crowd-pleaser. This year
spectators will see fully inverted front and back flips stuck right into the
flow of a mogul run.
As far as Sun Valley’s highly touted and
much anticipated half-pipe goes, there will be no freestyle competitions held in
the home pipe this season.
The skiers have and will continue to
compete in pipes around the region, but Sun Valley-hosted pipe competitions will
have to wait for some time in the unknown future.
This past week, the freestyle team has
been setting the mogul course through methodical skiing of a set line, building
what will be their training bumps for the rest of the year.
The one home event of the year will be
Jan. 17-18 on Baldy. And the team’s first competition of the 2003-04 season will
be at Snowbird, Utah after New Years’ on Jan. 2-4.
Sun Valley
Freestyle Team
Freestyle team director—John Zuck
(14th year).
Coaches, staff—John Zuck and Tom
Kennedy (full-time team coaches); Andy Ware, Keith Potter, Justin Peterson and
Geoff Unger (part-time team coaches).
Freestyle full-time team—Collin
Collins, Karl Fostvedt, Austin Moses, Sophia Schwartz, Lauren Phillips, Katie
Fieguth, William DuBois, Jeremy Lato, Corey Warren, North Parker, Austin Bourret,
Reed Boeger, Kali Phillips, Kaylie Sheffield, Kurtis Fieguth, Chase Engelhardt,
Britt Van Paepeghem and Scott Sanders. (Tuition $1,660, including on-snow
sessions Tuesday through Sunday and dryland training starting in October).
Freestyle part-time team—Nathan
Moses, Sierra Brand, Collin Johnson, Connor McNamara, Kroger Schwartz, Chris
Clark, Paul Conn, Brian McGinnis, Bailey Malarkey, Sam Colesworthy, McKeanna
Collins, Parker Page, Hannah Stevenson, Michael Emily Coiner, Trevor Brand,
Alexandra Haupt, Camille Bourret, Luke Poster, Aunika Phillips, Bryce Ervin,
Grace Weaver, Austin Grill, Sylvie Krekow, Jake Kaiser, Trace Page, Katie Zuck,
Chloe Gordon, Taylor Lee Coiner and Hannah Haupt. (Tuition $600, non-travel
team, with on-snow training on weekends, Wednesdays and on holidays).
Sun Valley Freestyle Team 2003-04
schedule
January 2-4
Intermountain Freestyle Snowbird (Utah), M/M/DM
January 8-11
Intermountain Halfpipe, Moguls Brighton (Utah)
January 17-18
Intermountain Freestyle Sun Valley, M/M/DM
January 22-24
Intermountain Night Air, Big Air Utah Olympic Park, Park City
January 30-31
Sprint U.S. Freestyle Grand Nationals Deer Valley (Utah)
February 4-8
Intermountain Freestyle Deer Valley, M/M/DM/BA
February 12-16
Intermountain Freestyle Park City, M/M/DM/HP/NA
February 19-22
Intermountain Freestyle Pebble Creek, M/M/DM
February 26-29
Intermountain Freestyle Bogus Basin, M/M/DM/BA
March 3-7
Intermountain Divisional Championships Snowbird, Utah
March 11-16
U.S. National Qualifiers Alpine Meadows, Ca.
March 26-28
Chevy Truck U.S. Freestyle Championships Heavenly Valley, Ca.
NOTE—Schedule
for the 2004 U.S. Freestyle Championships at Heavenly Valley near Lake Tahoe: On
Friday, March 26, women’s and men’s moguls; on Saturday, March 27, women’s and
men’s aerials; on Sunday, March 28, women’s and men’s dual moguls.