Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Postby h.harb » Thu Apr 20, 2017 6:13 pm

It still amazes me to see how people who know that TTS don't work, see their kids look bad in races, and still go back to use USSA coaching and Skills Quest as a standard. They stay the course. While some know USSA and TTS programs don't work, yet, they still go back to get it.

Being successful in ski racing requires lots of talent. If you have less talent, you need really good movements and coaching to even have fun competing. It's no fun after awhile, starting number 50 and finishing 40th. Still, you won't make it without talent. How do you measure talent? It's easy in the USA. In the USA, if you aren't beating all of your peers by 2 seconds a run, you will never make it. How can I say this? Beating the rest of your peers by 2 seconds a run, is just the entry requirement for US skiers to be on an even level with the Europeans. So even a "phenom", which is what we would call a racer winning by 2 seconds a run in the US, still has a long way to go, by international standards. In Europe a racer like this is the average level. We are already outclassed and out skied before we even get a chance to ski against the best.

How do I know this? Because I've watched and coached for 40 years, that is 4, probably more like 6 generations of racers, from Tamara McKinney to Mikeala Shiffrin.. If you aren't beating your peers by 2 seconds and not getting good coaching, you are wasting your Daddy's time and money. If you are in it for your kids becoming good skiers, with good movements at the least, that is a good goal. But few programs have that built into their vision.

I know Vail doesn't. Except for what Crawford and Sarah Schleper are doing there, and they are coaching pure PMTS. Just look and watch the results of Vail and Aspen's race programs, they have not produced a top 30 skier, in the last 25 years. All the hype and money spent is an absurd farce, it is really sad. Yet, the millionaires think this is the way their kids will make the US Ski Team. Wow, I thought wealthy people were smart, they are being taken for a ride. Just for the coaching program alone, not anything special, it costs $17,000 for a season at Vail. That is no school, no housing, nothing, other then on the hill gates. BTW, you still have to buy a pass and your equipment, plus trips to Europe and south america for training, all not included..

Sure, many think if their kid is on the way to the US development program they are on track. They think programs like Vail and Aspen, have the in, to get their kids to the top. Sorry, why do you think Mikaela Shiffrin went to Burke, left her home where her parents live, in Vail, to go to Burke Mountain Academy in the North East kingdom of Vermont?

Well, following US development will get you one thing, if you make it. The opportunity to spend lots of money. The US Development Team isn't the standard at the world level. But that's Ok, if you just want to get a uniform that costs $40,000 a year, and a patch, that is one way. Buying your way to a US Ski Team uniform, it's the American way! And that $40,000 is just the entry fee.. And because the standard for the US Ski Team, "Pay Team" is going down every year, you just might make it.

Why is it that we have no depth in the US? Why does USSA and the US Ski Team, have no depth and no talent base, in their development programs? The pool that racing is drawing from is like the pool that the America's Cup is drawing from. And the 1% in this country don't have the talented offspring that you need to compete or supply athletes to compete at the world class level. The holes in the bullshit you get from the US Ski Team propaganda is so easy to see through. It's almost as good as, Trump Speak, which has almost the same slogan "We will make America Great again"!

It's amazing how the new generation of kids and parents have new life and motivation to spend money on ski racing, academies and training, while the results never merit this level of expenditure . The 1% would never spend this kind of money on their investment portfolio without doing better research. However, if ski racing is just a distraction for their kids, while they were growing up, it's not a bad thing, but don't listen to the BS coming out of Park City about how the US Ski Team is the Best in the world.
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Re: Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Postby Vailsteve » Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:36 am

Wow Harald... I was not aware of the actual dollar amounts to participate in the Vail racing program. I was aware of the lack of results. My next door neighbors have their 12 year old son at the Vail school and they specifically mentioned they were not happy with the coaching. In fact they just got back from a month skiing in Austria with one of the development teams there. Fortunately, the son held his own quite well...

In the past, you have posted about your repeated efforts to reach out to the US demo team in Park City. It is sad to see that the powers that be just can't or won't listen.

Vail this week is keeping the Golden Peak race course open for another week for multiple racing teams....I may have to stop by and see/watch Sarah Schleper....

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Re: Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Postby h.harb » Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:25 am

The contact that Tiger Shaw made to get me involved was just a smoke screen to keep me quiet. A colleague of mine, who Tiger didn't know, asked him at a fundraiser back east, what is happening with Harald's involvement with the ski team. Tiger basically lied to him about my efforts. That is the status of USSA, they want to cover up their ineptitude and use media and BS to deflect the fact they have nothing in the pipeline. Pray for a miracle, if teh US is to have a ski team or another Shiffrin.
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Re: Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Postby Basil j » Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:38 pm

Will you be running any summer camps for junior racers at Mt. Hood this summer? U16 specifically?
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Re: Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Postby h.harb » Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:28 pm

No, we are having a camp, already full, in New Zealand in late August. Racers may have an opportunity for one group, at a Hintertux camp next April.
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Re: Are parents wasting money trying for the US Ski Team?

Postby Basil j » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:33 pm

Are any of the PMTS coaches in the midwest coaching at any summer camps that you know of? I saw that they had some good results this season.
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