Monday, June 29, 2009

Recent Grads in Skiing

I'm proud to say that a couple of our '09 skiers are working in the ski world post-graduation:

Nick has been hired as the assistant coach of FXC (Fairbanks Cross Country), a junior racing team. I'm thrilled to have one of our skiers decide to pursue coaching. Nick did good work as a captain this year and showed that he wasn't afraid of responsibility, and I know he'll do well in this role. Fairbanks has an amazing xc ski community, and it should be a great place for him to break into the coaching ranks. Not a bad place to be a geologist, either.

Nat is now writing feature articles for Fasterskier. There aren't many professional nordic ski journalists around, so this is quite an accomplishment, even if this is a very part-time deal for the moment. Now that he's a member of the nordic ski media, I'll have to treat him with more respect, lest he write a scathing expose about our ski program. Seriously, his writing is a great addition to the site, and in this role he has the opportunity to explore big issues in the ski world from an objective viewpoint - something that's usually lacking in the US ski community. Here's one of his recent articles, which has generated a lot of thoughtful commentary.

We also have another team member from last year who's made a ski-related career move: Ollie accepted a position on the Green Team last spring, and he's currently in Craftsbury training hard for next season. I'm sad to lose Ollie - he did a great job for us last year - but I'm excited that he'll have the opportunity to see how good he can be in this sport. We'll look forward to seeing him at the races next year.