Welcome to the Wintergreen Alpine Race Team

The Wintergreen Ski Race Team is going into its 19th season at Wintergreen Resort. The team is very strong once again with a lot of dedicated racers coming back to pursue top place finishes in our region. Ski racing in the south is an opportunity for dedicated kids to participate in a very unique and challenging sport. Wintergreen plans to continue to promote ski racing by offering the best coaching and training conditions in the region. The program is designed to help kids set goals, learn to be self disciplined in preparation for events and be competitive while supporting teammates and competitors. The social setting is very positive as families get to know each other by traveling to races and working together in volunteering to help with events and training.

About the Wintergreen Ski Race Team

• Team members are taught to set and reach their own goals as well as to evaluate their own abilities
• Training enables each skier to race at his or her own highest level
• Each racer will learn good sportsmanship and to represent Wintergreen in a positive manner
• Many top place finishes and lots of progress
• Training starts in early December, with the first scheduled race the day after Christmas
• Weeklong race camp for 5 days followed by traveling to regional races

The Ski Race Team is open to ages 9-18 and new applicants must be approved by the director or coach. Most of our racers have spent at least one year on our Developmental race team before moving up to the race team. If you are interested in the race team or if you have additional questions, please contact the director; Chris Shepard @ 434-325-8282 or cshepard@wintergreenresort.com.

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About the Development Team

The D-Team is designed as an entry program for the Wintergreen Ski Race team. It is a requirement for individuals who wish to eventually be on the competitive Ski Race team. With dedicated, certified coaches to help teach the skiing skills and training procedures, this season-long program is offered to ages 7-13.

The prerequisites to enter the program are:

• You must be at least seven years old by December 1st
• You must be able to stop on any terrain at Wintergreen resort with your skis in a parallel position (no wedging to stop anywhere).
• You must be independent on the mountain. This means you can get to any place on our slopes by yourself without an escort.
• You must be able to ride the lifts without assistance.
• You must be mature enough to listen to coaches during training times and disciplined enough to give good effort in attempting drills from coaches.
• You must have after a reasonable time an ability to set goals related to competitive ski racing.
• Starts the week after Christmas with the week long race camp and continues every Saturday and Sunday from 8 - 11am.
• You should be able to attend the week-long camp just after Christmas (mandatory if it is your first year) and at least half of the practices for the rest of the season.

Schedule - for the D-Team Tryouts will be held on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons at 1:00pm in early December and are mandatory for first year candidates. The exact dates will be determined by slope opening dates and there will be two tryouts if we open early enough.

The first D-Team practices will be held on December 27th-31st from 8:00am - 11:00am each morning. This is the Holiday race camp and it is mandatory for first year D-Teamers. These first five days of training set the stage for the whole year with five days of training and a timed race on the last day.

The rest of the season the D-Team will practice from 8:00am-11:00am every Saturday and Sunday except the two weekends we host races here at Wintergreen. We will also offer practice on the two holiday Mondays. The exact dates of races and a complete schedule will be posted before Christmas.

The D-Team will be limited to 40 participants with priority given to ones that have participated before and who show an interest in improving and are motivated toward competitive ski racing.

Any questions not answered here should be directed to Chris Shepard at 434-325-8282 or cshepard@wintergreenresort.com.

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