Thomas Erhard, Men’s Head Coach: Time is moving fast!  Before we know it, we’ll be boarding a plane to New Zealand for our first on snow camp of the season.  The men’s team is looking strong and motivated; that is the simplest way to sum up what I have experienced so far this summer.  As school is ending and we transition into the core of our conditioning block, the guys have been training intelligently, but also really hard with great spirit.

Our first minicamp took place at FITS in Toronto at the end of May.  It was an impressive display of the teams heart and desire to do everything possible to be better ski racers.  Motivation to perform well was driving the amazing efforts put down by the guys in some very demanding routines.  The primary focus was on challenging their energy systems where the guys were pushed to their individual limits and none succumbed to the difficulty. Their overall power looked good -- a good indication because skiing is a power sport now. 

We are just over seven weeks out from our departure to New Zealand and I am very positive about the state of the men’s team.  I cannot wait to see the guys ski!  For a number of reasons, we decided to conduct our first on snow camp in New Zealand (which is a change from the trips to Chile in previous years).  We will primarily be skiing on Mt. Hutt providing us with excellent opportunity for high volume skiing (high speed lift with 683 vertical meters per run) and to train all disciplines.  The focus will be on free skiing and gate skiing fundamentals in GS and SL with some days of SG as well.  In NZ we have the benefit of sleeping at sea level (which promotes recovery) and training at higher altitude on winter snow conditions. 

We have another minicamp this coming Monday and Tuesday in Collingwood.  Here we will evaluate athlete conditioning through our testing protocol, the primary focus will be on team building and goal setting.  We have some strong leaders in the team.  If we can keep this energy up throughout the season we should be able to provide an environment in which all the guys progress.