Snow Training Sunday 18th January

What a difference a week makes!

Happy New Year to All. Great to see the snow has finally settled on the hill and we can finally get into some serious training.

The groups are listed below and the coaches this week will be Ali M, James P, John McR and myself. I've added coaches names to the tables, so you can see who you have.

Some of you may not have met Ali yet, but it's great to see him returning for snow training. Ali has been coaching with Gordon's for longer than any of the other coaches and has a pedigree to be proud of (including English Team Coach) He's been busy on placement as a Doctor in Inverness, so hasn't been able to join us in Alford.

The focus for training this week will be to prepare for the Lecht Open, the following weekend. So long as we have enough snow there will be gates.

If you haven't already registered for this race, then I encourage you to do so. It's a great race and it's our race. It's always nice to see a great turn from our own club and a perfect intro to racing, if you haven't tried it yet.

Honestly, it's not all about wax choice and edge angle. Training is where the learning and focus is gained. The racing is the fun part.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all there on Sunday morning, fresh faced and ready to go.  The coaches will be leaving the Blue Hut at 9am, to maximise our time on snow. Please be ready to ski with your coach at 9am with a lift pass.

If this is your first weekend, then the coaches will notify where we'll be training on the day. The coaches will take the groups back to the hut for a lunch break, which we'll stagger to avoid queues and chaos. The younger groups often have a hot chocolate break too. The lunch breaks tend to be very busy in the hut, so if your kids are younger, can parents please be available to ensure kids know which bag and lunch is theirs. This helps, more than you can imagine, when the groups are trying to leave for training so we can be sure everyone has been re-fueled. Please ensure lunch is available in the hut. It doesn't work to eat in the Lecht Cafeteria as the Q takes longer than lunch. If you do want to give the kids a hot lunch, then best to buy it early and take it to the hut. However, there are a couple of microwaves available in the hut, for re-heating etc.,

We do ask Parents to remember to sign the racers in and out. We will also issue bibs for the younger skiers. This makes it easier for coaches and parents to spot skiers on the hill.

The coaches will all be on radios and spare radio is left in the hut, for comms back to base. This is particularly useful to coordinate toilet stops for our younger skiers.

Parents are welcome to drop in on the training sessions to see how the kids are doing. You'll be impressed this year. The coaching team is very strong and the kids are all responding very well with some great improvements seen already.

All I ask is that you don't distract your little racers too much. They will be working hard and focussing on their coaches and peers.

Please get back to me if you have any concerns or anything is not clear.

Cheers All, Gary W

John McRae			Ali M
Josh	Allardyce		Hamish	Alexander
Lennon	Allardyce		Amelia	Allan
Finlay	Carry		Morven	Douglas
Daisy	Cowie		Lauren	Liversidge
Harriet	Dawson		Rachel	Morrison
Logan	Duncan		Ryan	Pye
Jacob	Ipsen		Vicky	Rasmusen
Torin	Liversedge		Kathleen	Ray
Izzy	Pfleger		Ben	Whatford
Fionn	Sewell
Jamie	Stephen
James Paxton			Gary Whatford
Phoebe	Allan		Tabitha	Allan
Louis	Amann		Rachel	Brown
Ellie	Green		Graeme	Campbell
Alex	Hay		Hannah	Morrison
Daniel	Lints		Eric	Rasmusen
Jack	Morrison		Andrew	Simpson
Harry	Pfleger		Neil	Simpson
Nathan	Smith		Rhiannon	Taylor
Harry	Stephen		Beth	Whatford
Seb	Stephen