A new season is upon us!

Welcome to the 2017-18 season! With a new season, comes a revitalized blog! This is the first of our weekly blog posts to keep people up to date on happenings as our season progresses. This year, the blog will be connected to our Instagram account, mmscwomensprogram. When a blog is posted, there will be an Instagram post directing followers to the blog! That being said, here is what we have been up to...

MMWA opening weekend was November 4th and 5th, one of the earliest starts to date. Athletes and parents were put through the rigors of orientation weekend as well as the MMWA 25th Anniversary Celebration in our new athletic center. It is always an exciting time of year as many of the student-athletes, parents, teachers, and community members have a chance to say hi after spending months apart.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of the first two weeks, please welcome Elle (pronounced ELL-ee) Gilbert to the MMWA/MMSC staff! Elle comes to us from Middlebury College where she was a four year member of the ski team and qualified to compete at the NCAA Skiing Championships. This is no small feat as the field is comprised of the 34 fastest collegiate female skiers in the country. We are fortunate to have Elle join the staff and she is fired up to share her experience, knowledge, and love of skiing with all of our athletes. Not only will she be helping athletes on snow, but she will also be teaching a couple of classes and is a dorm parent at MMWA. Welcome, Elle!

Elle keeping it safe!

Returning to our staff this year are Mike Anglin and Pat Quiet. They will both continue their respective roles from the 2016-17 season; Mike working primarily with the U16 team and Pat with the U19 team.

With a short first week, the athletes had a variety of morning activities as they prepped for Colorado. Their week consisted of very important wally ball training, time in the new gym, hiking around Spruce Peak and getting a tour of the new MMSC Service Center. The group flew to Colorado on November 9th to begin their on-snow training. Here are a few shots from the first week at MMWA:

Once on snow, we were fortunate to have a week of bluebird days! We started with skills and drills on SL skis while battling the Copper opening weekend crowds as well as the Snow Patrol who were doing everything they could to help keep everyone safe. And slow. With skills, drills, and mileage taking us through the weekend, we then moved into the lane space for some extended paneled SL with GS focused movements. While the struggle was real at the beginning of each session, we saw all of the athletes making gains by the end. The attitudes have been incredibly positive even during times of struggle. All of the athletes have been instructed to keep one important word in mind to help maintain the positive attitude: PERSPECTIVE. We come out here to get early season mileage, work on our fundamental base, and spend time together as a team. Making daily gains is about keeping things in PERSPECTIVE and respecting the PROCESS. Not unlike something as simple as fetching a bowl of cereal. There is a step by step process and each step deserves respect. All of the athletes have been tasked with finding a coach in the morning to tell them two things: 1) Something they saw in video that they were doing really well, and 2) something they are going to work on during training on that particular day. We were lucky enough to run into our favorite Colorado skiing enthusiast, Ski Funk! He stopped on one of his laps to put on a dance party for the team. This guy is the best and is absolutely loved by everyone in the group. His love of skiing and funky music is contagious! Check out our Instagram account for some footage of our Ski Funk experience!

We are currently taking our first day off so we can be well rested to finish our camp strong. We have three more days on snow before heading back to Vermont on November 21st. It seems as though we will be returning to a winter wonderland as Stowe opened for the season TODAY! We will be able to commence training following the Thanksgiving break and it will be nice to get on home snow and train at our altitude!

That's all for now but please stay tuned as we are looking forward to keeping you informed throughout the season!